<p>Just wanted to plug this amazing organization for all that it does to engage high school boys and girls in science and technology. The regional competition was in my area over the weekend, and there were 50 teams, over 1000 high school students, in attendance representing countless hours of planning, design, build, testing and just plain hard work. </p>
<p>The challenge was to build a robot that would ride on a slick surface representing the low gravity of the moon, pick up light “moon rocks” and dump them into trailers attached to the opposing teams’ robots. The more moon rocks in the opponents’ trailers, the more points each alliance of teams scored. The highest scoring alliance of 3 teams was invited to the national competition in Atlanta in April.</p>
<p>The enthusiasm and creativity shown by all teams regardless of their standing in the rankings was phenomenal. Kudos to the kids and to the small army of mentors, judges, volunteers and organizers who gave so much of their time to this exciting event.</p>
<p>And a small brag: my son’s team was on the winning alliance and is making plans to attend the national competition. We’re all thrilled for him and for the boys and girls on his team.</p>
<p>My son’s robotics team was on the winning alliance (second place) for a regional tournament in Trenton, NJ in February. This weekend they will be competing in Philadelphia at another regional. The team has never placed in the top 15 prior to the NJ tournament and there is no talk of going to the National one in Georgia, mostly because it’s very expensive but also because they have never done it. The FIRST website is really not that straightforward about how new teams qualify or logistics like hotel discounts, etc.</p>
<p>Vballmom, how does your school fund your robotics team? Has your team been to the National tournament before?</p>
<p>Thanks kathiep. My son’s team has never been to Nationals, as far as I know (he’s only been on the team for 2 years). They have reached out to some of the high-tech companies here in Silicon Valley for sponsorships, and have been very frugal with the money they’ve received. They also have a sponsor that does all of their metal fabrication from CAD drawings, so this is one less expense to the team. Even so, going to the National tournament will be very expensive ($6000 for registration fees alone) and so they’re soliciting more donations from sponsors and are asking parents to pay a good chunk of the travel costs. I’m not sure if their high school will be able to give them additional funds or not.</p>
<p>The FIRST website doesn’t make it easy to find information. From what I understand, the regional competitions can send at least 5 teams to National: the winning alliance (3 teams), the recipient of the rookie team award, and the recipient of the regional chairman’s award. In addition, any team that simply wants to go to the finals and can pay the registration fee is able to attend.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son in the Philadelphia regional.</p>
<p>One more update; most of the team was able to make the trip to Atlanta this weekend, along with most of their mentors. My son’s team, along with the 2 other teams in their alliance, won the World Championship in Atlanta earlier this evening. They’re beyond thrilled!</p>
<p>Each team can pay their way into nationals only once every 4 years. and The engineering inspiration award from regionals also will send your team to nationals.</p>
<p>Not true, my team and a TON of other teams have done this for many years. There used to be a tiered system for championship registration a few years back, but I think they got rid of that in either 2006 or 2007. Unfortunately this year we weren’t able to go due to late registration/budget reasons (Of course this happened my senior year =/, this is my first time not going in three years).</p>
<p>I watched most of the Championship on Gameday this weekend since I can’t seem to let go of FIRST even though I can’t be there. vballmom, was your son on Team 971? Congrats! That alliance did a great job in the finals on Einstein.</p>
<p>I can definitely testify to the amazing effects FIRST has on students, being active and moving up the leadership ladder on my school’s team for 4 years. It’s an experience like no other. It’s the reason why I’m going to be a mechanical engineer and hopefully volunteer at events or mentor a team while in college.</p>
<p>Being on the team has been an extraordinary growth experience for him. He’s the only senior on the team and has stepped up to take on a lot of responsibility. FIRST stresses teamwork, both within every team itself due to all of the different facets of building a robot, fundraising, building a website, etc., but also among the teams as they work together in shifting alliances. I think this experience will serve him well as he dives into his EE major next year.</p>