IO Pre-Season 1: Building the Launch List for INTO ORBIT Teams

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In this update, you will find:

1. Season Celebration - June 4
2. Changes for the INTO ORBIT Season!
3. Table Needs a New Home
4. Coach, Mentor, and Parent Workshops!
5. Team Financial Support Information
6. Team Goals - May/June

Use this link to read this update as a blog post

1) Season Celebration - June 4

Get your FREE tickets now the ORTOP Season Celebration at OMSI! Team Members, Coaches, Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, Friends, Family, and all current and future members of the FIRST Family are invited to join in our season celebration! Join other FIRST teams as we explore OMSI including the Robot Revolution exhibit.  

To continue to offer FIRST programs to ALL students, we need your help! Please consider donating to help us continue expanding our training, outreach, student support, and tournament expansion. When you order your tickets please consider contributing $5-20 per ticket. Don't want to use the Eventbrite payment system? You can use the ORTOP donation page, or contribute at the event! 

2) Changes for the INTO ORBIT Season!
Registration for INTO ORBIT is now open! Are you ready to join FIRST Launch 2019? We are beyond excited! One big change this year is that your Challenge Kit for INTO ORBIT is now INCLUDED in your team registration! This means your team profile now requires your shipping address! Please make sure to update that information BEFORE you pay registration.  This has also resulted in an increase in the individual team National Registration cost. Teams now cost $299 and will include a shipping cost (if anyone knows how much please share!)  Sadly, I do not have details on this process, but three teams are already registered for the new season and we are happy to have them returning!

IF YOUR TEAM IS APPLYING FOR ORTOP TEAM FINANCIAL SUPPORT DO NOT PAY YOUR REGISTRATION FEE! THIS CAN NOT BE REIMBURSED.

3) Table Needs a New Home

Jeff has a table in Tualatin that needs a new home. If your team needs a FIRST LEGO League practice table and can pick it up from Tualatin please contact Jeff at <email removed - see email version of the update>

4) Coach, Mentor, and Parent Workshops!

We have been hard at work getting our volunteer workshop trainers ready for another exciting summer of Coach, Mentor, and Parent Workshops.  These workshops have been updated with new information based on your emails and requests! If you have not attended a workshop in three years it is recommended you visit with us again! This is a great resource for coaches and parents who have never programmed in their life or those who would just like ideas on how to teach techniques to their team members! Each workshop series is broken up into 4 nights, or you can attend a one-day workshop to get the benefit of the first 3 workshops ALL IN ONE DAY!  More locations are coming for August and September as well as additional ONE DAY events being planned in LaGrande, Medford, Hood River, and possibly in Malheur County!

Don't see your town on the list, please request a workshop! It's not too late to add a few more to the summer's list.

Get all the information on our Workshop Website!

5) Team Financial Support Information

ORTOP is happy to once again be able to provide Team Financial Support Awards for FIRST LEGO League teams across the state of Oregon and in Skamania and Klickitat Counties in Washington. The ORTOP Team Financial Support Award Application is a one-stop shop for a variety of Team Support Awards for teams. Teams that qualify for Team Financial Support will be matched to available sponsors and grant programs including generous funds from Intel Foundation, Rockwell Collins, Google - The Dalles, Oregon Department of Education, and many others.  Team Financial Support and the new website will come online around Memorial Day.  Here are some key things to know so your team is ready to apply!

• If you are a returning team, update your team information in the FIRST Dashboard
• Add your shipping address to your team profile
• make sure BOTH coaches are affiliated with your team
• make sure BOTH coaches have current background checks, the background check is good for 4 years!
• make sure BOTH coaches have signed the 2019 consent form
• If you are a new team, have both coaches create a FIRST account and sign their consent form if they do not already have an account at www.firstinspires.org
• DO NOT PAY YOUR NATIONAL REGISTRATION - not all awards have the option to send checks to teams or schools, if your team pays their national registration this may be subtracted from your award subtracting from the final value of your team support award. Reimbursement won't be sent!
• Have both coaches (the people who work with the team) complete the FIRST Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Training - Completing this training and providing certificates with your application will improve your team's preparedness score, a big consideration when ORTOP decides who to fund!
• Watch your email for the announcement that the Team Support Award Application is online. 
• Have both coaches, and supporting parents, sign up for a Coach, Mentor, and Parent Workshop!
• Identify new team members and make a summer communication plan!

Awards will begin to go out when there are over 20 applications submitted, probably by mid-July. Funds may be depleted by September so please apply if you are even thinking of having a team, you can always decline your award and the money will go out to another team!

6) Team Goals - May/June

Welcome to the official end of the off-season and the beginning of the pre-season!  I hope your team members have spent this time learning a lot - even if it was how to apply the FIRST Core Values to their spring sport of choice. While school is ending and summer is approaching there are some very important tasks that need to be handled before everyone disperses for the sunny months.

• Know your core team for next year! Who will be the two primary coaches? Who is in charge of the snack rotation? Who will be returning to the team? Who are the new invitees to the team AND how will they be helped by the existing team members?  This doesn't mean you won't lose a student and gain another, but having a good idea of who is on the team before school ends will give your team a running start, especially if they can't meet over the summer!
• Recruit a new mentor or local INTO ORBIT expert!  We don't know a lot about the INTO ORBIT challenge, but the game table has been revealed (see the links on our Facebook page!) Now is a great time to find other adults who can come in for one or two meetings to benefit your team.
• Recruit a teen mentor!  Many FIRST high school teams are eager to help out local teams in their area, check the FIRST website to see if there is one near you or ask your local community! REMEMBER teen mentors must be 14 years of age on January 1, 2019 and can NOT be a team member on the FIRST LEGO League team, this means they should not touch the robot or the laptop, nor tell the team the solution to a problem, but guide them just like any other mentor. Teens CAN NOT coach FIRST LEGO League, this is a safety issue.
• Make a summer plan.  Even though school will be out there will still be announcements from FIRST and ORTOP, have a communication plan so your whole team can join in the fun. June will see a guess the mission game for INTO ORBIT!
• Make a plan to do some summer fundraising. The ORTOP Team Support Application should only be one of your funding options - teams that raise money on their own are more likely to find team support from ORTOP as it is another sign of being prepared for the season!
• Plan some summer team learning, even if you can't all meet in the same location nothing is stopping your team members from exploring space, programming, or even new concepts in mechanical design!  
• Plan a summer fun event before school returns!

I have lots more news coming. Please watch for a second newsletter this month and a June update with lots more help for teams.  Additionally, 4 Oregon teams are participating in the Razorback Open and the LEGOland Invitation this weekend and I hope to have news about them for you!  Make sure this email is on your whitelist as lots will be happening this summer and you don't want to miss out!

Best Wishes,
Loridee