Team Leaders, its hard to believe that school and the fall are quickly approaching. I hope you and your team members have remained safe. Here are a few items of interest. Please pass this information along to team members.
COVID-19 Responses
We heard from Governor Walz (https://mn.gov/governor/covid-19/news/#/detail/appId/1/id/442187 ) when he announced the Safe Learning plan (https://mn.gov/covid19/for-minnesotans/safe-learning-plan/overview.jsp ) and the guidelines that would pertain to any competitions or scrimmages (https://staysafe.mn.gov/industry-guidance/entertainment.jsp ). The MSHSL also released their guidelines for Fall sports (https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/league-news/mshsl-covid-notification-information ) and (https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/league-news/mshsl-fall-approved-sports-information ). Frank Merrick also outlined the efforts going on at FIRST headquarters to deal with changes that will have to happen if we’re to hold in-person competitions (https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/blog/2021-season ). As expected, the announcements were quite restrictive on gatherings of any size. I encourage you to work with your school district administration on protocols for meeting as a team. If you have questions or concerns about FIRST issues, please contact Ken Rosen, MN FIRST Regional Director (krosen@firstinspires.org ). I’m sure he would like to hear about your fall and season plans.
Core Values workshops
Last season, 17 FRC teams in Minnesota and Illinois developed team-specific core values with a two-hour facilitated core values workshop. This opportunity to build on the foundations of gracious professionalism is available again this season to teams in Minnesota and beyond, now in a virtual format. More information is attached and also available at https://firstuppermidwest.org/training/core-values-workshop/.
Contact Yoji Shimizu directly at shimi002@umn.edu if you would like further details.
Duluth – Best of the Best
Good news! The Duluth Regional Competitions made it into the next round of voting for the Duluth News Tribune’s Best of the Best 2020 competition!
You can vote once a day (per email address) between now and August 26th at http://dntbest.com/. You can find our listing under Arts & Entertainment, then Best Local Tournament.
Here’s hoping for a repeat award (the events won in this category last year)!
Lori Frisk
Volunteer Coordinator for Duluth events
Regards, Mark Lawrence
Chairman, MN FIRST Regional Planning Committee