Hello Teams and Volunteers,
Welcome to Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics third email blast of the 2024-2025 Season! The new overall theme for all programs is FIRST DIVESM presented by Qualcomm. The variation on that theme for FTC is INTO THE DEEPSM, once again proudly presented by RTX and launching September 7, 2024.
This first 2 email blasts this season was dedicated to new season registration. As always, previous emails can be found on our website in the COMMUNICATION Archives.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/communications
Great news for the upcoming Sep 7th FTC Season Kickoff. We are happy to announce that we have arranged for “live” and in-person fields at 5 locations in the state! The Team Powered events will host other FIRST Tech Challenge teams from within their region. This is in addition to the Virtual broadcast we are planning that can be attended by all teams and will also be webcast to the in-person events. The advantage…there will be a field with the INTO THE DEEP challenge set up to augment the season and game experience at the in-person events. Our Head Referee, Noah Dillard, will review the game rules through livestreaming The hosting organizations will also have lunch, refreshments and snacks available for teams and volunteers. They may also have planned additional activities, such as workshops, which are noted in the details of the respective kickoffs. Please note that FTC Teams do not need to be fully registered with FIRST HQ to attend kickoff events, but please ID your current team number and/or name on the forms.
If you have not visited our website, the summary of the kickoff locations follows. Teams must register for a live kickoff. Please be sure to log into our website to see the links and for registration and more information.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/ftc-events/2024-2025-season
Kickoff Registration:
https://www.ftcpenn.org/event-registration
11:15 am – Virtual Kickoff: Livestreaming
GoTo Meeting – https://meet.goto.com/208417477
You can also dial in using your phone.
Access Code: 208-417-477
United States: +1 (872) 240-3311
10:30 am – Philadelphia: Temple University
College of Engineering Building
Room 126 Lecture Hall1947 N 12th St,
Philadelphia, PA 19122
10:30 am – East: Unionville High School (Team Powered)
Auditorium and Cafeteria 750 Unionville Road,
Kennett Square, PA
10:30 am – Exton: The Program, Activity & Resource Campus (Team Powered)
Chester County Council – Scouting America
2nd Floor, Assembly and STEM Rooms
1 Scouting Way,
Exton, PA 19341
10:00 am– South Central: York Country Day School (Team Powered)
Auditorium1000 Indian Rock Dam Rd,
York, PA 17403
Workshops included
10:45 am – West: Discovery Christian Church (Team Powered)
Gymnasium 170 Scharberry Ln.
Mars, PA 16046
Also note that we will be holding Coaches Calls on two consecutive Wednesday’s Sep 11th and 18th, 2024. Registration not required. We may also carry on with monthly Coaches Calls throughout the season as well.
Team Registration with FIRST
Please be reminded that Team REGISTRATION with FIRST opened on Wed May 15th, 2024. We currently have 29 teams registered in PA and 7 up and coming rookies in he confirmation process. Please be sure to registerer ASAP and let us know if you have any questions or require assistance with the FIRST registration process.
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc
Website Updates
As noted in the last email, we’ve made several updates to the website. Maps have been added to the Teams, the FTC Events, and the individual event pages. The Teams page now recognizes teams who reach specific season registration milestones, plus the Teams Table now includes a Season Count column. And finally, there is a refinement in the results when you click on a team number on any page. See this announcement on our website for details.
We want to thank PFR co-founder and Webmaster Dave Hackett for stepping up to not only update but improve the functionality and enhance maintainability of our very cool and informative website. Please have a look and thank you Dave for your ongoing contributions.
PA Events Posted
Kickoff Registration is open however Qualifier Registration does not open until October 1st, 2024 to assure that we have a substantial number of teams registered with FIRST before we open up PA events.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/ftc-events/2024-2025-season
Grant Opportunities
In our next blast we will also address upcoming Grant opportunities administered by Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics, especially to start new FTC teams for middle school aged students across the state.
Thank you for your attention and there will be more to come.
Sincerely,
Tom Zawislak and the FTC PA Team
Pennsylvania FIRST® Robotics
FIRST Tech Challenge® Program Delivery Partner
phone: (302) 383-9925
email: ftc@pennfirst.org
Website: www.FTCPenn.org