State Championships and FIRST news

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon

In this post you will find:

1. Youth Innovation Showcase opportunity - email only
2. FIRST LEGO League State Championship News
3. FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship News
4. WGBH Middle School Coaches survey
5. Demonstration Teams Needed for FIRST LEGO League Jr.

1) Youth Innovation Showcase opportunity - email only

By request of FIRST and NBC this announcement is only available in the email version of our newsletter.  Don't see our emails, you can sign up here!  Your team does not need to be going to state to apply.

2) FIRST LEGO League State Championship News
The Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championships presented by Rockwell Collins will be happening on March 4 & 5 at Glencoe High School. These events are open to the public and a great way for your team to see what 3 more months have allowed these teams to accomplish (thanks to the snow). Starting a new team for the 2017 season? Come see what a competition looks like and meet other teams from your local area!  Opening Ceremonies will be at 9:00am in the Main Gym. Matches will run until ~2:30pm each day. Each day will conclude with an award ceremony. The 1st place Championship team each day, will represent Oregon at the World Festival in Houston, TX in April. 

We are looking for volunteers for several roles. If you are interested in working behind the scenes at a FIRST LEGO League event, we need judges, practice table monitors, queuers, scorekeepers, and many others. Please sign-up using the FIRST system.

Even if your team is not competing please consider attending the tournament. It is a great way to see how others have solved the same challenges, keep inspired, and share the program with your principals and potential supporters.

If you are attending the championship, please look for an email tomorrow with specific details just for your team!

3) FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship News

This coming weekend, February 25 & 26 is the FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon State Championship tournament. This is a great opportunity to see the next level of FIRST competition. Watch live play from 9:30am on the 26th, until 5pm (there will be a lunch break midday) in the main gym of Benson Polytechnic High School, Portland.

If you are an adult who available to volunteer we are still looking for referees and a variety of logistics role help on Sunday. Please sign up in the FIRST Volunteer System.

4) WGBH Middle School Coaches survey
WGBH Education, a National FIRST Affiliation, is looking for feedback about the use of engineering and coding in your school. Help them learn more about how computational thinking might be best taught in middle school classrooms, and you’ll also have a chance to win a $50 gift card! Share your feedback by taking this survey by February 23rd.

5) Demonstration Teams Needed for FIRST LEGO League Jr.

We are in need of 4-8 teams to demonstrate FIRST LEGO League, both the robot game and share your ANIMAL ALLIES Project and of course your Core Values. If your team is available to share at OMSI on March 18 and/or 19 for the morning and/or afternoon expos. 

If selected, your team would bring their robot, prototypes (if you have one) and posters to share during the expo. Team members should be prepared to talk with FIRST LEGO League Jr members about the challenge and differences in the programs. Two coaches are encouraged to talk with FIRST LEGO League Jr coaches about the program.  Demonstrating team members will receive OMSI wristbands. Complete the online form to volunteer!  You will be notified the week after the State Championship.

FIRST LEGO League Oregon Champions Announcement 7: New Assignments are Public

 Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon Champions,

We are now less than a month from our rescheduled championship tournaments. Here are some updates for you!

1. Team Assignments
2. Pizza Pre-orders
3. Coming Soon!

1) Team Assignments
Team assignments have been posted on the website. Both the general page and the individual Saturday and Sunday pages have been updated. Sadly, 6 teams have had to decline to participate on the new weekend so our Sunday event will be smaller than the Saturday event. There is no statistical difference between the events so we will not need to adjust any of the awards. Whichever day your team participates we will have a lot of fun celebrating everyone's success!  I am also looking forward to seeing what an extra month has done to all of your robots and projects!

2) Pizza Pre-orders
Immediately across the street from Glencoe High School is Jersey Girl Pizza. Jersey Girl Pizza is a small shop, but is familiar with preparing for events at Glencoe High School. They will be donating 10% of all purchases made during the tournament to Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program for the FIRST LEGO League Program. All teams will need to bring or arrange for their own lunches at the FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournament.
Please use the Jersey Girl Pizza pre-order website to order your pizzas or sandwiches.

3) Coming Soon!
I am working on new documentation and maps for the new event. New schedules are being created for teams. Please be patient as some items change each day or two on the Championship Tournament website. There will be a new parent letter and a new coach letter with information specific to Glencoe High School. A new map is in the works! This year teams will get to celebrate that we are all on one floor!

Please note that there are no changes to the judging sheets or the Team Roster, both of which will be required at the championship.

Thank you everyone for all your help during this change of date and venue. This is a very exciting process. Please keep up all the hard work!

Best Wishes,
Loridee

Championship Announcement 6: The Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournaments ARE ON!

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon Championship Teams,

In this post you will find:

1. The New Dates & Location For The State Championship
2. The Process For New Date Assignment
3. How to Volunteer - We NEED Volunteers!

1) The New Dates & Location For The State Championship

I am thrilled to announce that Hillsboro School District is able to provide Glencoe High School for the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournaments on Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5, 2017.

2) The Proces For New Date Assignment

All Championship Teams will receive a link to a Google Form on Monday, January 30, 2017 at 5:00pm. This form will be shorter than the application form that was completed in December. One person from each team should be designated to fill out this form. 

Each team needs to provide:

• The official team number and lead coach contact information
• The team day preference (either day, either day with Sat preference, either day with Sun preference, Sat Only, Sun Only, unable to attend either day - officially declining the state assignment, no new teams will be invited)
• If the team has to drive more than 3 hours to attend the event.
• How many team members have a conflict and will absolutely not be able to attend if the team does not get their first preference day, if applicable.
• Would your team be interested in a hotel room block for Friday or Saturday night (if available - we are looking into this now).

Assignments will be done based on the following criteria:

1. More than 3 hours of travel restricted due to school on Monday - we are no longer on a holiday weekend :(
2. Teams with conflicts resulting in a significant number of team members unable to attend.
3. First Completed Google Forms.
4. Tournament may not exceed 60 team capacity (our pit space is the same size as at Liberty and our schedule can not support more teams)

For all other tournament information your forms that were submitted in December will be used. 

4) How to Volunteer - We NEED Volunteers!

We still need 175 volunteers per day to hold this event. If you were signed up before the postponement please look for an email in the next couple weeks to confirm your availability. If you were not signed up the event is now open in the FIRST Volunteer System. We would love to see you there! 

Best Wishes,

Loridee

FIRST LEGO League Championship Announcement 5: Dates and Places Still UNKNOWN

Greetings Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship Teams and Volunteers,

First, I want to say I am very glad all of our teams were able to stay safe during the difficult road conditions caused by the storms earlier this month. Your heartfelt notes thanking us for postponing the state championship did make it easier to see how we had made the right decision (not that the school ended up being open either.)

However, all of this has resulted in our current status. Liberty High School is booked for all of the weekends we could possibly have the state championship. We will NOT have our event at Liberty High School this year. We aren't giving up though! We've looked carefully at the ORTOP competition calendar and chosen the dates February 18 & 19, March 4 & 5, and March 11 & 12. We are approaching all of our partnering schools in the metro area to see who has enough space available for us on one of those weekends to host the tournaments.

We are looking for a space with enough seating for at least 1500 that we can set up 3 competition tables at. This is most likely a large gymnasium, but may also be an auditorium. We are also looking for enough space for 60 6ft pit tables, 15 judging rooms, a volunteer hospitality room (with kitchen), and a space for spectators and teams to eat. The host location needs to be accessible for teams coming from South Oregon and East Oregon, and close to the bulk of our volunteers who currently reside in the and around the metro area. It takes 175 volunteers each day to have a FIRST LEGO League state championship for 60 teams.

I know this isn't the update you all wanted, but it is what I have as of 10am on January 23rd. I hope to turn around an email a confirmation with a location very soon.  Please know we are not giving up on the tournaments at this time.

Best Wishes,
Loridee

Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournaments POSTPONED

To ensure the safety of our participants and volunteers, and to provide the best possible experience for as many teams as possible, ORTOP has postponed the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League State Championships scheduled to take place this weekend. We will be working with partners to reschedule the tournament for a weekend in the near future. Details for that will be provided as we confirm them. Please watch the official website: www.ortop.org/fll for information as it becomes available.

FIRST LEGO League Championship Announcement 4: Snow, Travel, and Intentions

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Championship Teams,

1. Schedules will NOT be posted today
2. Your Response is NEEDED by 11pm January 12, 2017
3. Both Tournaments Are Still Happening!

1) Schedules will NOT be posted today
In the Coach Pre-Tournament Letter, which I am sure you have all read in it's entirety by now states that schedules will be posted on the website on Wednesday. That will NOT be happening today, please read the other items to understand why.

2) Your Response is NEEDED by 11pm January 12, 2017
I need a coach from EVERY team to fill out this Google Form before 11pm tomorrow!  Teams have already started to contact me about travel problems because of this latest storm to hit Oregon. Some areas may have flooding, others are bogged down in snow. In Hillsboro, there is a fair amount of snow on the ground and schools are currently closed. We do anticipate the schools to be open tomorrow or Friday. It does not appear that the events will be as Winter-Warm as I predicted in my last email, as we anticipate freezing and near freezing temperatures going into the weekend.

Please look at your local weather.
Please check TripCheck.

Talk with your team, then fill out this form. More decisions will be made after every team has submitted a form. Look for more communication soon!

3) Both Tournaments Are Still Happening!
As of 3pm Wednesday, January 11, 2017 both State Championship Tournaments are scheduled to happen on the 14th and 15th. Our volunteers are scheduled (although we still need a few more), our venue is still planning to be open, and we hope that most of you are still planning on attending.

What could cause a cancellation:

• If Hillsboro School District declares the facilities closed on January 14 & 15 we will not be able to hold the tournaments. We must abide by their facility decisions
• If the Liberty High School grounds are considered unsafe on Friday, with that situation unlikely to improve by Saturday.
• If the weather reports are drastically wrong and we get another storm - very unlikely
• If a significant number of teams (like most of you) are unable to attend because of concerns over safe travel - also unlikely.
• If the interstates closest to Liberty High School (primarily 26) is closed and there is no viable alternative route. - I've never seen this, but I'll put it on the list so you know I'm looking at everything.

If the tournaments are going to be canceled:

• Your emergency contact information will be used to notify all teams of a cancellation affecting their tournament AS SOON as ORTOP makes a cancellation decision OR the school district notifies us of building closure. 
• An email will be sent to this list and a blog posted.
• I will be on my phone all day making sure that you have been notified.
• You WILL be asked to fill out a form that acknowledges your team knows the event has been canceled.

BOTH CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENTS ARE STILL SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND!

Here is a cute video of our animal allies at the Oregon Zoo enjoying today's snow:

Best Wishes,

Loridee

State Championship Weekend, Volunteers Needed!

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In this post you will find:

1. Spectator Information for the Championships
2. Volunteers Needed for the Championships
3. Your Team's Story

1) Spectator Information for the Championships

This weekend is the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League State Championship presented by Rockwell Collins. These 2 tournaments, one on Saturday the 14th and one on Sunday the 15th, will take place at Liberty High School in the main gymnasium. Both days are open to the public. This is a great opportunity for your team to see what is possible through FIRST LEGO League, and to see different engineering solutions to the same challenges your team worked to overcome. Even though your team may not be competing they can gain a lot by coming and supporting their peers at our state championship.

Things for a FIRST LEGO League Team to do at the Championship when they aren't competing:

• Watch for sensor use - How do competition robots know where they are on the field? What are the queues the robots use to determine their location on the field? Are teams using sensors to help with mission elements? What sensors are commonly used?  Future games are designed with the LEGO sensors in mind.
• Watch the technicians at the table - teams utilize a variety of strategies in how they put on attachments, choose who is at the tables, when they technicians switch, if they switch, and other game strategies. What does the team see? How would that process work for your team next season?
• Meet teams and coaches - Teams are busy throughout the event, but that doesn't mean you can't say hi and exchange contact information. Most teams at the state championship are eager to help other teams. Events are one of the best ways for coaches to meet each other - the other is through workshops. Good coaches have little to do at a tournament, this is one of the times where we encourage the coaches to reach out and get involved.
• Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism - Watch for examples in the arena, bring your own Gracious Professionalism by supporting the competing teams with your enthusiasm. Have Fun! The state championship is for ALL of Oregon's teams!
• Meet FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition Teams - These teams will be showing off their robots from 3-4pm each day!

2) Volunteers Needed for the Championships

It takes 175 volunteers a day to put on a FIRST LEGO League state championship tournament in Oregon. We are still looking for several more people to fill in the needed roles. Volunteers can be teens or adults, both are needed. 

This is a terrific opportunity for:

• Parents, Mentors, & Coaches who would like to learn more about FIRST LEGO League tournaments.
• Sponsors, Supporters, and Fans who are ready to become more involved and be inspired by all these kids have accomplished.
• Teachers, Administrators, Scout Leaders, 4-H Leaders, Youth Program Managers - we could especially use your help in the judging rooms! 
• Teens who have community service hour requirements for clubs and organizations, or who would just like to give back! It's a lot more fun than picking trash ;)
• Friends and Neighbors who keep asking you what FIRST LEGO League is all about - we'll help you answer that question in full!
• Anyone who wants their child to be on a team next year, or who is thinking of becoming a mentor.

Please sign up to volunteer on the FIRST website, make sure you apply for the event. If you are unsure what role you would like please select Assign as Needed. Don't forget to complete the free background screen - your social security number is optional (select I do not have a Social Security number and your screening will proceed without problems).

3) Your Team's Story

I am looking for your team or individual stories! Please help me understand what is happening in your team meetings and with your team members, so that we can both celebrate your successes and improve the program for all community members.  I want to know: What surprised you? What really worked with your team? What inspired you to get through the challenges? What challenges nearly made you want to stop?

Every team has a story to share, please share yours with me!

Best Wishes,

Loridee