Out to New England FIRST Robotics Competition teams...
Week of January 25, 2016 |
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Media and Technology Innovation Award Sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal
The Media and Technology Innovation Award recognizes the team that develops and implements the most outstanding digital experience, marketing strategy, and rationale for digital channels to disseminate content to its audience and further the FIRST mission. Teams are asked to develop a marketing strategy complete with rationale for digital channels / devices to disseminate content. Digital media still includes websites, but can and should be augmented with digital media for disseminating content including social, viral and rich media.
Submissions for the Media and Technology Innovation open on at midnight Monday, Feb. 1 and close on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 at midnight. Submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by a Comcast executive judging panel. Entries can be submitted here when the challenge opens. This award is independent of current FIRST Program competition season judged awards. The winner of the Media and Technology Innovation Award will be announced at the FIRST Championship. More information about the Media and Technology Innovation Award can be found in section 6 of the Administrative Manual.
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Practice Field Elements in New England
As you might have noticed, this year's field setup is more elaborate than fields in previous years. Several teams have let us know that they're willing to share their field elements or practice field space, so we're working on a comprehensive list to share with the New England community . If your team is interested in sharing field elements or setting up a practice field/area and would like us to share that information with other teams, please email Steve Cremer at scremer@nefirst.org. If you are looking for people to partner with, email Steve as well. We will share the compiled list in the coming weeks.
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Last Call: Volunteer of the Year Nominations
Know of an individual who has made a huge difference for the FIRST community in your area for an extended period of time? This year, we are giving you the chance to nominate a FIRST community member for the Volunteer of the Year award! The deadline for nominations is Thursday, Feb. 4 and the nomination form can be found here.
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Consent & Release Form Reminders
FIRST Consent & Release Form
For all official FIRST events, your team needs to either have a roster of students and mentors from STIMS & TIMS respectively or have paper copies of the 2016 Consent & Release forms for all team members that will be present at the event.
Information about registering students in STIMS can be found here. Hard copies of the Consent & Release forms can be found here.
NE FIRST Consent & Release Form
All teams competing at an NE FIRST event must fill out an NE FIRST consent and release form in addition to the FIRST consent and release form. These forms should be completed and signed by parents/authorized adults and brought with the team and turned at the beginning of the team's first district event. The form will cover the team for additional plays in New England during the season and only needs to be filled out once. The form can be found here.
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FedEx Innovation Challenge
The FedEx Innovation Challenge is a social media-based competition consisting of math and science problems, scavenger hunt activities, trivia and more. Teams in the United States who are competing in the 2016 FIRST Robotics Competition and the FIRST Tech Challenge can participate for a chance to win.
- Gold Prize: $5,000 and a VIP Experience trip to the FIRST Championship
- Silver Prize: $3,000, a roboRIO controller and a Dell Alienware laptop
- Bronze Prize: $1,000, a roboRIO controller and a Dell Alienware laptop
All entries must be submitted by Monday, Feb. 22 at 3:00 a.m., and FedEx will notify the winners on Friday, Feb. 26. More information about the challenge can be found here.
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Referees Needed for FIRST LEGO League Scrimmage in Hartford
We're looking for 3-4 more referees for a FIRST LEGO League scrimmage on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Rawson School in Hartford. The event will run from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. The scrimmage currently has 9 teams registered, including several that registered with FIRST but ended up not making it to an official competition during the regular season.
This will be a fun and low-key event that gives teams the opportunity to get some practice before the 2016 competition season begins or demonstrate their hard work if they were not able to compete during the 2015 competition season. Interested volunteers should contact Lauren Jefferson at ljefferson@firstinspires.org.
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Upcoming Important Dates
Payment Due: Additional Regional, In-District & Inter-District Event(s)
Friday, Jan. 29, 5 p.m.
Chairman's Award Submission Due
Thursday, Feb. 4, 3 p.m.
Woodie Flowers Award Submission Due
Thursday, Feb. 4, 3 p.m.
Entrepreneurship Award Submission Due
Thursday, Feb. 11, 3 p.m.
Dean's List Award Submission Due
Thursday, Feb. 11, 3 p.m.
Award must be submitted through TIMS by a team mentor not related to the nominee. Check the Administrative Manual for more information.
Media and Technology Innovation Award Submission Due
Monday, Feb. 29, midnight
Please check the FIRST Calendar for a complete list of important dates.
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Upcoming Events
Week Zero
Saturday, Feb. 20
Merrimack High School
38 McElwain St, Merrimack, NH 03054
Teams can sign up for the waitlist here.
Suffield Shakedown
Saturday, Feb. 20
Suffield High School
1060 Sheldon St, West Suffield, CT 06093
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Contact Us NE FIRST Executive Director NE FIRST Advisor NE FIRST Regional Directors NE FIRST Senior Mentors |
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Archives of NE FIRST Things FIRST are available on the archive page and on the NE FIRST site under "News." Submissions can be sent to ljefferson@firstinspires.org.
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