Team leaders, welcome to the 2019 season. As usual, I will be using last year’s mailing list contacts until team registration is completed. There will be a time when you get double emails from me. Also remember, these emails only go to the TIMS team main contact and, sometimes, the alternate contact. It is your responsibility to pass the information along to your students and mentors. Sorry for the length of this email but there is a lot going on.
1st event registration is opening September 20th! If you want to go to a particular event make sure that it is your team’s first pick. Please see Frank’s Blog for details (https://www.firstinspires.org
Volunteer training will be at MRI – Roseville
Help Fuel The Mission – Join us as a FIRST Volunteer
Every year at the event we call the MRI (Minnesota Robotics Invitational), we offer rookie/new/”thinking about it but aren’t sure about it” volunteers the opportunity to test-run a volunteer role. Training runs 7-9 pm on Friday, October 12th; volunteers then ‘do’ the role on Sat October 13. Registration, orientation, and a light dinner will precede training on Friday evening, beginning at 6 pm. All roles are open to train! Please register via this form: https://goo.gl/forms/dPJ91Dot9
Not sure what to try first? Here is the link to event roles and descriptions: https://www.firstinspires.org/
For more information, please email Laurie Shimizu, lshimizu@firstinspires.org.
Jumpstart for Mentors – St. Cloud
This is a training day specifically for mentors at St. Cloud State University. Hosted by CIS, Team 4607, the seminars run from 9am to 2pm on October 27th. Please see this page for details (https://mnfirst.org/training/
Ann Bancroft Foundation awards – from Toby McAdams (NoMythic, Team 2491)
This program targets low-income girls. It is a one-time grant that pays up to $500 for the girl’s costs, such as being on a robotics team. So it would only probably be worth it to teams that charge more to students/families. The grant does NOT pay general team expenses. We’ve had six girls receive grants over the past 4 years. The grant paid their annual team fee plus their travel fee to our out-of-area competition. As with all grants, it takes some real work on the part of both the girl and the mentor, both now and at the end of the year. But for some girls, this makes a huge difference.
The deadline for fall grants is October 1, and students get notified by November 20th.
See this page for details:
Society of Women Engineers National Conference (WE18) – Minneapolis
The annual SWE conference (15,000 attendees) will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center Oct 18th – 20th . As part of the event, there are a couple of opportunities for local female participation.
SWENext Northrop Grumman Community Award
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has an exciting awards program for freshman and sophomore high school students.
Awardees will attend WE18 Conference for free, where they’ll network with women engineers, take part in leadership training, receive a t-shirt, and be presented with a certificate.
To participate, your students need to do two things:
1 If they aren’t already, have them join our free online membership SWENext. As a SWENexter, they’ll also be eligible for scholarships, engineering challenges, and more.
2 Then, they’ll complete the awards application (https://app.smarterselect.com
Invent it. Build it.
Invent it. Build it. is an experience designed to encourage middle school and high school girls to choose a career in engineering. This is an all-day event on Saturday, October 20th. Students participate in a hands-on engineering experience with members of the Society of Women Engineers. While the girls are having fun building and inventing, parents and educators learn about engineering careers, scholarships, college admission and resources. All attendees learn about engineering clubs, camps, after-school programs and competitions at the Invent it. Build it. EXPO.
Please have any interested students and adults register for tickets (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
Dunwoody training – Minneapolis
For the ninth consecutive year, Dunwoody College’s Robotics & Manufacturing Department will be hosting free training sessions on Electronics, CAD software, Machine Shop, LabVIEW Programming and FANUC Industrial Robots. Specifically we are targeting high school robotics students, but we are always open to anyone that just wants to learn.
Visit the following website to learn more and SIGN UP!
Thank you,
E.J. Daigle
Dean – Robotics & Manufacturing Technology
Dunwoody College of Technology
818 Dunwoody Blvd.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Direct: 612.381.8172
Email: edaigle@dunwoody.edu
www.youtube.com/dunwoodyRoboti
UMD Duluth Kickoff
To the teams that are attending the Duluth Kickoff at UMD.
We always have alumni speak at our event. When we do not get any ideas for alumni to speak at the event, we select from our own group, which we had to do last year.
If you have an alumnus that you think would be an interesting and inspiring speaker at the Kickoff in January, please send me their name and both e-mail and phone number so we can contact them.
Thanks, Tim Velner
Duluth East Daredevils Robotics Team 2512 Coach
timothy.velner@isd709.org
Minnesota Off-Season Events
Please see this page for upcoming competitions this fall:
https://mnfirst.org/off-season
Even if you don’t come to play, it’s a great place to give rookies a feel for the competition and continue your team-to-team relationships.
New Purdue off-season event:
Purdue FIRST Programs is hosting an off-season tournament called “Boiler Bot Battle.” They wanted me to reach out to MN teams to inform you of this event.
The event is at Purdue University on Friday October 26th (load in and team social) and Saturday October 27th (Competition)
Here are the links:
Register Teams: https://goo.gl/forms/KmjqnvNMZ
Volunteers: https://goo.gl/forms/KmSmiE1NK
Regards, Mark Lawrence
Chairman, MN FIRST Regional Planning Committee