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A monthly newsletter to keep you informed. Dig it.
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Looking for news just about your program? Click the name below.*
The jump will only work if you are viewing this email in it's entirety, not a truncated version.*
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It's a brand new month and a brand new
newsletter!
And it's more exciting than putting leggings on a giraffe
.
Ready for Some Down Time?
As you will see, we have many great things
to share- Newsletter Changes, 2017-18 Season Info, Off-Season Events, Worlds Results,
and more- whew
!!
So hold on to your bumpershoot-
a
nd keep reading for these topics
and more.
And please pass this newsletter on to teams, parents and students.
(a web link is at the top of this email- the "click here")
To subscribe to the newsletter, just fill out this form.
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Readers, we have heard you! And in light of your suggestions, we are going to make a few changes.
To enhance your reading experience, we are now going to distribute the majority of information on our
FIRST Family blog
.
The newsletter will be reduced to a quarterly publication.
This is our last monthly Hear
FIRST newsletter, and the quarterly newsletters will begin in July.
Thank you as always for your input!!
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 FTC 2017-18 Season News
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To accommodate teams, volunteers, and staff who participate in both FTC and FRC, we are moving the Virginia FTC build and competition season up in the calendar. The tentative event schedule is as follows. Stay tuned for more information.
- Game reveal and
tentative season kick off workshop: Sept. 9.
We are super excited to be adding a new event, South Central, this year. Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg was such a gracious host for our Championship last year, we are happy to be returning there for this new event. Teams in the southern part of the state now have an option that is closer than 3 hours for at least one event. Central teams will have the option to go south rather than north, which should free up some extra spots in the North Central event for the NOVA teams. And we have additional capacity for everyone else!
We are also super excited to announce a new home for our Eastern qualifier. We felt it was important to move this event closer to the teams. A huge Thank You to Norfolk State University for being such an incredible host for the past several years, and a warm Welcome (and also many Thanks!) to Heritage High School for offering to be our new host.
We are still looking for just the right location for our Central event, and for the State Championship. We will be sending out updates throughout the summer months so please keep in touch!
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Tentative Qualifier events and Championship:
- 11-Nov: Central VA*
- 18-Nov: N. Central, Orange HS, Orange
- 2-Dec: Northern, Battlefield HS, Haymarket
- 9-Dec: Southwest, Southwest Community College, Cedar Bluff
- 16-Dec: Shenandoah, UVA Slaughter Center, Charlottesville
- 6-Jan: Eastern, NEW LOCATION, Heritage HS, Newport News
- 13-Jan: S. Central VA, NEW EVENT, Virginia Episcopal School, Lynchburg
- 3-Feb: Virginia State Championship*
*
location tbd
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Virginia FTC Teams Results From World Championship (St. Louis)
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Two teams finished in top 10 overall:
7117 - The Blockheads - #6
519 - ED Too - #9
Other rankings:
8498 - Evil Purple Sox - #19
5414 - Tri Robotics - #23
8297 - Geared UP! - #24, Motivate Award finalist
4924 - Tuxedo Pandas - #29
33 - Enigma - #64
2 FTC Dean's Scholars:
Kieran Beaumont, Team 6700, X BOTS, Fairfax, Va.
Marissa Hibbert, Team 8095, Bulldogs, Norfolk, Va.
Congrats to everyone for a job well done!
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Evil Purple Socks and Blockheads
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Here are some upcoming FIRST and STEM-related events. Click through the links
for more information or visit the FIRST Chesapeake calendar.
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- Jun 19-20 FIRST® LEGO® League Global Innovation Award (Wash DC)
- If you'd like to volunteer, please use the Volunteer Information and Matching System (VIMS).
- If you have any questions, or for more information, please contact the Global Innovation Award Volunteer Coordinator, JT Yoerger, at JT@CentralFloridaRobotics.org.
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Jul 17-18-
FIRST GLOBAL CHALLENGE (
DAR Constitution Hall- Washington, DC)
- Oct 21- FRC IROC (Haymarket, VA)
Learn more about volunteering with FIRST Chesapeake here.
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STEM Summer Camps and Programs
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NATIONAL MATH FESTIVAL
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The
National Math Festival took place in April in Washington DC, wowing thousands of visitors with mathematics games, puzzles, and activities. Two
FIRST Chesapeake / Virginia
FIRST teams demonstrated as part of the event.
FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1629 "GaCo" of Garrett County, MD emphasized
how they are driven to help make students in and about Garrett County STEM ready. In addition to demonstrating their FRC robot, they highlighted their "STEM Waypoint" initiatives (including LEGO Top Spinners, Golden Ratio Calipers, VibroBots, and Binary Number Trick) as ways to engage students. FRC Team 1629 is one of two Chairman's Award winners that represented FIRST Chesapeake at the championship in St. Louis.
FIRST Tech Challenge Team 7217 "Hail Hydraulics" of Bristol, VA presented a session entitled "Math and the Holonomic Drive: the Pursuit of a Smooth Ride". (A holonomic drive system allows a vehicle to travel in any direction without changing its orientation.) FTC Team #7217 has won the Motivate Award, PTC Design Award, and the Control Award over the past few years in regional robotics competitions. Team members William Barrett (programmer) and Walker Little (team captain) presented, working together to explain the application of mathematics in the development of a functioning robot.
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All
FIRST
programs registrations and payments officially opened on May 11th. If your program or school district has funding that they need to allocate before the end of the fiscal year, now is the time at act!
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| FIRST Chesapeake FRC Teams Results From World Championship (St. Louis) |
30 FIRST Chesapeake Teams attended Worlds in St. Louis: 18 Virginia, 10 Maryland, 2 DC (2 teams from DC ranked for the first time in the history)
- 9 FIRST Chesapeake Teams Advanced to Finals: 6 - VA, 3 - MD
- 3 FIRST Chesapeake Teams Advanced to Einstein - Sparky 384 (VA - Curie Subdivision Winner), 1885 ILITE (VA - Chairman's Award Finalist), 2537 Space Raiders (MD))
- FRC Team 1086 Blue Cheese won the FedEx Innovation Challenge ($5K)
Congrats to everyone for a job well done!
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Looking for current FIRST Chesapeake news, information and announcements?
Some recent topics:
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This year,
FIRST
Global is holding the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge this July (16th-18th) at the D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. There are 155 nations attending, including 6 continental teams, so it is sure to be an exciting event! Help be a part of
FIRST
history and
FIRST
Global history by signing-up to volunteer!
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Volunteer Thank You
Message
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The success of our programs has always been due to the dedication and competence of our volunteers- many of whom take it one step beyond. Thanks to every one of you. We are humbled and grateful to all of you who stepped up and stepped in.
Dee Tomczak, Director of Community Engagement,
FIRST Chesapeake/ VirginiaFIRST
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Did you know we have TWO Facebook pages and a Twitter feed?
Keep up with all things VirginiaFIRST and FIRST Chesapeake by liking and or following all our social media accounts!
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Support
FIRST Chesapeake / Virginia
FIRST!
Fundraising that's easy and free to you!
When prompted to select a charitable organization,
please select
Funds raised through this program will be earmarked for emergency team support. The more who sign up, the more teams we can help.
Our latest disbursement was 50% larger than before!! Keep signing up! THANK YOU
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