Volume 2019-02 February 2019
Rocky Mountain BEST Volunteer Newsletter
We are excited to announce the
10th Year of Rocky Mountain BEST!
We will be announcing our fall event schedule and more information about the Competition in the coming months. We hope you can participate at our 7 April Boosting BEST Fundraiser.

BOOSTING BEST Fundraiser - Sunday 7 April, 5:00 - 8:30 PM
You are invited to share with us the passion of introducing students to pursuits related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Your participation helps us bring our yearly robotics competition to middle and high school students - at no cost to the schools.   

Boosting BEST will be another fun fundraising evening with dinner, SILENT AUCTION and BEST Student Team Exhibit (5:00 - 6:30 PM). Following the 6:30 - 7:30 PM program described next, we will end the evening with Silent Auction Checkout (7:30 - 8:30 PM). 
We are thrilled to introduce you to two 2018 BEST competition student teams at the event. STRIVE Prep: Excel (RM BEST rookie team) will be showing their 2018 Team Exhibit and STEM School Highlands Ranch High School (FR BEST school competing since 2010) will be presenting their 2018 Marketing Presentation as part of our program. We hope you have a chance to talk to these talented Denver BEST Regional Championship teams.
Boost
We are excited and grateful to have Elaine Torres, Community Affairs Director at CBS4, KCNC-TV, as our Guest Speaker as part of our program from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. Ms. Torres will discuss the CBS4 FUTURE LEADERS program presented by Colorado School of Mines and PDC Energy.

This CBS4 program recognizes Colorado high school students who are excelling in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Each month from August 2018 through April 2019, one student is selected to receive this special recognition award that will include a $1,000 award along with a student profile on CBS4.  
Reaching out to Aurora Public Schools Students
The 4 th Annual Career Trek was hosted by Aurora Public Schools (APS) on 26-27 February 2019 with 2750 eighth grade students participating.

Students had the opportunity to interact with metro area companies and learn about careers. RM BEST attended the 26 February event to encourage students to study STEM-related topics and to show them that many opportunities exist in robotics and STEM.
Our thanks to JoAnne Fry, Lori Lazuk, Ben Straub and Lois Walton for supporting this outreach activity.
2019 Outreach
2019 OFF THE GRID Game Teaser Video

We are excited to bring the OFF THE GRID game created by BEST Robotics Inc. and Texas Instruments to Colorado schools this fall .

Draft OFF THE GRID game rules have been released for comment with new and exciting challenges for this year's teams. Volunteers will be evaluating the game with the 2 March Prototype Kickoff and at the 26-27 April Dallas Prototype Game Weekend. We are excited to start the activities to build this year's game field, finalize team robot kits, and prepare for the fall competition events.

Look for information on summer and fall event opportunities in the next few months on how you can help inspire hundreds of students to purse STEM careers.
Other Ways to Participate by Donating
Donations 
You can donate ANYTIME at  Rocky Mountain BEST at ColoradoGives.org. Thank you for donating $2250 during 2018 and $9000 during the 2018 Colorado Gives Day.
Benevity
If  your company has gift matching through Benevity, Rocky Mountain BEST is one of the eligible non-profit organizations. Please check with your company about gift matching! Thank you for the $1350 donation in 2018.
Kroger Gift Card
If you have a Rocky Mountain BEST King Soopers/City Market Gift Card, Kroger donates 5% of EVERY gift card purchase at any Kroger Store -- including card refills -- to Rocky Mountain BEST... all at no cost to you -- FOREVER!  Contact Lois at lois.walton@bestinc.org   to make arrangements to purchase a card and help increase the value we received. Thank you for helping us raise $1450 in 2018.
Amazon Smile
Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Rocky Mountain BEST whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.
Amazon Smile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.
Visit our Amazon Smile Sign In Page Thank you, your spending helped us raise a record $79 in the final quarter of 2018.
Wondering what to do with your used car or truck? 
Donating your old vehicle to ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEST is convenient, easy, and may qualify you for a tax deduction. And best of all, your donation of a used car or truck will make a big difference in supporting ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEST.
Why not donate your vehicle today? All you need to do is to complete our SIMPLE ONLINE FORM or call 1-866-628-2277 and we'll take care of the rest. We will pick up your vehicle, arrange to have your donation towed, and provide you with a tax-deductible receipt, all at no charge to you. 
Build a robot in six weeks;
inspire a youth for a lifetime
THANK YOU for making it possible!