Hello FRC Team Leaders in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota,
Important reminder: This email is sent to the lead (2) mentors listed in each team’s registration. It does not go to all mentors on a team. Please share this information with mentors and your teams as is appropriate.
This week’s update:
  • Deadline Approaching: Kickoff Site selection
  • Event Preferencing and Wait-Lists
  • Event Hotels
  • Event Payments Coming Due
  • Robot Inspectors – Training offered at the Minne-Mini Regional event
  • Jumpstart Robotics, Sponsored by Medtronic
  • November FUM Mentor Meetup
  • Save the Date: 3rd Annual FIRST Alumni Reconnect, Sponsored by Medtronic
Kickoff Site Selection: Please be sure that your team has picked a Kickoff Site for the January 8, 2022 Kickoff Event. Important Note: The Twin Cities Kickoff is remote this year, which means that only the Kit of Parts will be available for pickup. The Event Site is Eagan High School, Eagan, MN. Other Kickoff sites are hosting live-events. You can check for additional information on these pages on the firstinspires.org website. Be sure to register your Kickoff Site by 12 noon Eastern Time, Monday, November 15.
Event Preferencing: Team Leads, we need your help to wrap-up event preferencing! IF your team has yet to make a preference for an event, please do so as soon as is possible. IF YOUR TEAM is on a wait-list and you get a notification from FIRST HQ asking if your team still wants that slot, please respond as quickly as possible. We anticipate that many teams currently on wait-lists for Minnesota events will be notified about their wait-list status shortly.
Event Hotels: Teams, we recommend that you call the hotels directly in the cities where your team may be registered to compete. When contacting hotels in Duluth, MN and in Grand Forks, ND, please state that you are with the FIRST Robotics Competition to get the rate reserved for FIRST.
 
Initial Event Payment Due: November 15 is the deadline for teams to secure their first-event registrations and ensure that they will receive the Kit of Parts. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Ken Rosen, Minnesota Regional Director, krosen@umn.edu.
 
Robot Inspectors – Training Offered!
Team leads, nothing helps prepare your team for competition than having a mentor learn how to be a robot inspector! Come be trained-in by our Minnesota LRIs at the Minne-Mini Regional event. Prior Lake High School, Saturday November 20. Please have volunteers email Laurie Shimizu, lshimizu@firstinspires.org.
 
Jumpstart Robotics, Sponsored by Medtronic 

The 3rd annual Jumpstart Robotics Sponsored by Medtronic training series has two more sessions left in this series.  Upcoming sessions include FRC from a Judge’s Prespective; Chairman’s Award-Telling Your Team’s Story; Innovative STEM Outreach and Research Diverse Communities; and Building Robot Manipulators. Agenda and participation details are emailed to registered attendees. Remaining dates are November 11 & 18, 3:00 – 5:00 PM CT. Have a seminar or workshop idea? Please submit an abstract to present.  Register using this online form  –   and bookmark this link for the most updated information. Sessions are archived via this link –  please share with your team members and mentors.

FUM Mentor Meetup – Thursday November 18
Many of our teams have new lead mentors and/or new mentors joining. And we have many others that NEED Team Leaders!!! Let’s crowd-source and make this a great experience for all our teams this season.  What do YOU wish you knew then that you know today? Please share your experience with our newest FRC mentors at the next scheduled FUM Mentor Meetup.  Check this link for the updated meeting information, add your action items to the agenda, and come prepared with helpful hints for our incoming rookie team mentors. What do you know today that you wish someone told you when you were first starting out as a mentor?
SAVE THE DATE: Third Annual FIRST Alumni Reconnect Event
Live, in-person – THURSDAY, JANUARY 6

We are excited to announce that Medtronic is now sponsoring this year’s event and we are busy planning an out of this world experience!  Teams, please reach out to your alumni and make sure they have this not to be missed experience on their calendar.  Registrations available soon and will be posted online via the FIRST in the Upper Midwest website.

Regards,

Laurie Shimizu

FIRST Senior Mentor || ​Minnesota

Chief Volunteer Coordinator, ​FIRST Robotics Competition

Pronouns: she/her/hers