Preparing for Next Season

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In this post you will find:

1. Good Luck Oregon Teams Going to the World Festival
2. Good Luck teams participating in Invitationals in May
3. Teams needed to do demonstrations on May 6
4. Getting Ready for Hydro Dynamics
5. DonorsChoose.org and Newscorp Partner for FIRST

1) Good Luck Oregon Teams Going to the World Festival

The FIRST World Championships and World Festival for Oregon teams will be in Houston, Texas on April 19-22nd. 

Representing Oregon will be:

FIRST LEGO League Jr team:

8286 Bumblebee Jr, Friends & Family, Portland - chosen by lottery in January

FIRST LEGO League our first place Champion's Award winners

11687, The Pandroids, Wy'east Middle School, Hood River

1833, The G.E.A.R.S. (Girls Engineering and Robotics Superstars), West Linn/Tualatin neighborhood team, Tualatin 

FIRST Tech Challenge teams:

750, Gears in Motion, Tigard High School, Tigard - Lottery Winner

3525, Dynamite Robotics, Banks High School, Banks - Lottery Winner

4855, Batteries in Black, Washington County 4H, Portland - 3rd Place Connect Award & Winning Alliance

7013, Hot Wired, Westview High School, Portland - 2nd Place Innovate Award

7750, Mechanical Maniacs, 4H, Sutherlin - Highest Ranked Team from Cascade Winning Division

8045, Gromit’s Grommets, Pleasant Hill High School, Pleasant Hill - Control Award Winner & Finalist Alliance

8176, Steelhead, Hood River Valley High School, Hood River - Think Award Winner; 3rd Place Motivate Award

9769, Total Chaos, Total Chaos 4H Club, Portland - Connect Award Winner

10060, Klamath Coyotes, Eagle Ridge High School, Klamath - 3rd Place Innovate Award

FIRST Robotics Competition teams are:
955, CV Robotics, Crescent Valley High School, Corvallis - Alternate
997, Spartan Robotics, Corvallis High School, Corvallis - Rankings
1425, Error Code Xero, Wilsonville High School, Wilsonville - Rankings
1540, Flaming Chickens, Catlin Gabel School, Portland - Chairmans
2990, Hotwire, Hotwire Robotics, Turner - Rankings
3024, My Favorite Team, Ashland High School, Ashland - Engineering Inspiration
4125, Confidential, Umatilla High School, Umatilla - Chairmans
4488, Shockwave, Glencoe High School, Hillsboro - Rankings
4662, Byte Sized Robotics, Scappoose High School, Scappoose - Rankings
5468, Chaos Theory, Summit High School, Bend - Lottery
5970, BeaverTronics, Beaverton High School, Beaverton - Rankings
6442, Modern Americans, Pendleton High School, Pendleton - Rookie All-Star
6443, Falcons, Liberty High School, Portland - Rookie All-Star
6445, CTEC Robotics, Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC), Salem - Rankings
2471, Team Mean Machine, Camas High School, Washougal High School, Hockinson High School, Camas WA - Rankings
3674, 4-H Clover Bots, Team 3674 4-H Clover Bots, Battleground WA - Rankings

2) Good Luck teams participating in Invitationals in May

Going to LEGOLAND's North America Open in May:

FIRST LEGO League second place Champion's Award winners

16182, Brainiacs with Blue, Portland Neighborhood, Portland

6493, Robotek Xtreme, Bethany Neighborhood, Portland

Going to the Razorback Open in Arkansas in May:

FIRST LEGO League third place Champion's Award winners

96, Gears In Motion, Stem4Girls, Portland

6246, Full STEAM, Wilsonville Neighborhood Team, Wilsonville

3) Teams needed to do demonstrations on May 6

ORTOP will be showcasing FIRST LEGO League at 2 different events.
FIRST LEGO League Jr at Evergreen Aviation Museum - two expos are being planned, one from 9:00am to 12:30pm and one from 1:00pm to 5:00pm.
Intel Ronler Acres Open House, ORTOP will have a FIRST LEGO League table and space to engage visitors at the Open House. Teams are needed to help from 10am to Noon and Noon to 2pm.

If your team would like to help at any of these events please complete this form.

4) Getting Ready for Hydro Dynamics

As we approach the end of the school year there is a LOT your team can be doing to prepare for next season. I've been thrilled to hear from many new teams that they are already hard at work doing the following things. I hope your team is too!

• Recruit new coach, assistants, and mentors
• Have them plan on attending Coach, Mentor, and Parent workshops hosted by ORTOP starting in June! (schedule to be posted in May)
• Recruit new team members or start a new team that will share your space or that you can help through their first year.
• Fundraise for registration and seasonal expenses - Registration opens in May for Hydro Dynamics!
• Learn to use a sensor, or use a sensor in a new way! 
• Showcase your robot or project at a local event or on the news! - if you do please send articles, video, or photos to ORTOP!
• Start your investigations into the theme of water. What are problems that people are solving that involve water? What happens to the water you use every day? How does it get to your faucet, where does it go when it goes down the drain? What about other parts of the world? We don't know the restrictions on the new theme, but if your team has a good idea of what is happening in the world they will have a good background to choose their problem to solve. 

Even if your team members aren't meeting right now, it's a great time to plan the occassional work day or encourage team members and coaches to come together (even if it's virtually) to think about the new season. If you wait until school starts there will be a lot to do in a short amount of time. It's best to organize as much as possible BEFORE the summer starts!

5) DonorsChoose.org and Newscorp Partner for FIRST

Through a generous donation from NewsCorp in partnership with DonorsChoose.org, funding is available to help start or support a FIRST® team. Funding is available to any educator in a public or public charter school located in the United States, employed full time by the school or school district and works directly with students at least 75 percent of the time. Funding can be used for registration fees, materials, reasonable and customary FIRST team travel costs. Tell the educators in your area to visit www.donorschoose.org/first to get started