Team Leaders, a few announcements of upcoming activities immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Alumni Reunion

Lead mentors, please help to make FIRST strong in Minnesota!  Pass along this invitation to all current high school seniors and any FIRST alumni that you know.  We want them to join us for the FIRST Robotics Alumni Reunion and Networking event being held on Thursday, January 2, 2020.  This event targets students who are seniors in high school, currently in college and/or recent (or not so recent) graduates who have been involved in any FIRST Robotics program.

Alumni and alumni to be,

We will come together to share knowledge and connections with other FIRST alumni as well as a host of invited guests.   Rub shoulders with event MC’s Yoji Shimazu and Colton Mehlhoff!  Bring some business cards and copies of your resumes to share with others.  Enjoy some treats and place your name in the basket for raffle prizes.

Attendance is free for all FIRST Alumni.  Please check out additional information regarding the event on the website (https://alumni.team2502.com ).

Have additional questions?  Contact Sandy Olson at sandy.olson@team2502.com.

MURA Open House

Almost 2 years ago, we started an initiative in north Minneapolis to build a practice facility for the Minneapolis and suburban high school teams. The facility is called the MURA Field (MURA stands for Minneapolis Urban Robotics Alliance) and is in the gym of the decommissioned Lincoln Junior High School (2131 N 12th Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55411).  This initial effort led to a $100K grant from the 2019 state legislature to improve that facility and provide seed money to start 4 other similar facilities around the state. To showcase this concept facility and the robots from all the FIRST programs (e.g., LEGO League (gr K-7) and FIRST Tech Challenge (gr 7-12), MURA is hosting an Open House on Sunday, Dec 8th, from 1pm – 3pm.  Please come and check out the facility because you’ll probably want to take advantage of it during the no-bag competition season.

JumpStart

JUMPSTART TRAINING AT SCSU
It is that time of year again, JUMPSTART Training Event at SCSU is scheduled for Friday December 6 and Saturday December 7.  Information and Registration can be found here (https://sites.google.com/frc4607cis.com/cis4607/events/jumpstart-training-events/jumpstart-scsu?authuser=0 ).

Lunch is free, but space is limited and registration closes on Wednesday, November 27 at 5pm CST.  Once registered your team will get an email about the Friday night sessions (scheduled send on Wednesday, Nov 27 at 9PM).

Thank you to all that have made JUMPSTART such a success over the last five years – the success and growth goes to those that have given their time, talents, and presentations!

7 Rivers Training Day

If you’re in Southeast MN, there’s a great opportunity for you, too.  The training will be in Onalaska, WI, on Dec 7th.  Please see this page for details (https://www.7rrc.org/training-day ).

Regards, Mark Lawrence
Chairman, MN FIRST Regional Planning Committee