IS 72 SI at Tibetan Museum March 1

Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
338 Lighthouse Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10306

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Meg Ventrudo
February 21, 2008 718-987-3500
mventrudo@tibetanmuseum.org


I.S. 72 LEGO ROBOTICS TEAM GIVE TIBETAN MUSEUM AN ECO-FRIENDLY MAKEOVER
DISPLAY OF PRIZE WINNING PROJECT TO BE HELD AT MUSEUM
Saturday, March 1, 3:00pm
Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
Free with Regular Admission: $5 Adults, $3 Students/Seniors – light refreshments

STATEN ISLAND – Students from the I.S. 72 Rocco Laurie School Robotics Team will present their prize winning research project at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art on Saturday, March 1st. The Museum’s buildings, designed in the style of an Himalayan mountain monastery, were given an “Energy Makeover” in honor of the Museum’s recent 60th anniversary. The students were challenged by the need to preserve the authentic integrity of the Museum as well as to make it energy efficient.

The project which began with an energy audit of the Museum’s two fieldstone buildings, included proposals for solar power, windmills, and double paned, energy efficient windows. “We estimated that the new windows would save the Museum 25 – 50% on their heating bills,” said team member Heather Platt (age 12). Other team members are Thalia Collazo, Eileen Diih, Kevin Sheridan, John Guarco, Matthew Cassidy, Andrew Neil, Louis Matrone, Nicholas Anderson, Mayuran Sivakumar. The team is coached by Randi Huss, Olympia DiSpigna, and David Colasanto.
The students placed first in the Borough Wide Robotics Tournament held at Staten Island Technical High School in December and placed fifth in the city-wide finals out of a field of 80 teams.
The program begins at 3:00pm and light refreshments will be served. The program is free with regular museum admission.

The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art was founded in 1945 to foster the interest, study, and research of Tibetan art and culture. The Museum furthers its mission through exhibitions, educational programs and publications. Public programs at the Museum are funded, in part, by funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Located at 338 Lighthouse Avenue, the Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1:00pm – 5:00pm. For further information, please call 718-987-3500 or visit the website at www.tibetanmuseum.org.

FLL Teams Registered for Javits April 6

48 teams as of March 29, 2008

Pit Number Team Number Team Name School/Org Borough Contact

Queens Teams (8)
20 573 Mr Roboto IS 125, Woodside Queens Rudy Vera

22 1814 Transformatrix Intermediate School 230 Queens Sonya Rencher
23 2395 Robo Fusion 192 Renaissance Middle School/ I. S. 192 I Queens Eric Greene
24 2397 Robo Fusion 192 Renaissance Middle School/ I. S. 192 II Queens Eric Greene
25 3840 Cyberbots Brics-2-Bots Queens Veryl Greene
27 5618 LAMChops 1 Louis Armstrong Middle School (IS 227Q) Queens Richard B. Akalsk
28 5619 LAMChops 2 Louis Armstrong Middle School (IS 227Q) Queens Richard B. Akalsk
29 6292 Warbots Cambria Center for the Gifted Child Queens Sheryl Liles

Manhattan Teams (5)
31 4719 Green Eyed Peas The Epiphany School Manhattan Christine Cook-Alvarez
32 5115 Thing 1 Manhattan East Manhattan Ms. Cancel
33 5116 Thing 2 Manhattan East Manhattan Ms. Cancel
34 6540 MS 44 Robotic Wizards MS 44 William O'Shea Complex Manhattan Elvetta Harris

Staten Island Teams (5)
1 1963 Rocco Laurie IS 72 I IS 72 Staten Island Randi Huss/Danny Colasanto randihuss@gmail.com 718-698-5757 646-464-2343
2 1964 Rocco Laurie IS 72 II IS 72 Staten Island Randi Huss/Danny Colasanto
3 1965 Rocco Laurie IS 72 III IS 72 Staten Island Randi Huss/Danny Colasanto
4 1408 St. Clare's Transformers #1 St. Clare's School Staten Island Mary Lee, Barbara Grimaldi, Joe Grimald
5 1409 St. Clare's Transformers #2 St. Clare's School Staten Island Mary Lee, Barbara Grimaldi, Joe Grimaldi

Brooklyn Teams (10)
9 189 Robotnics Automotive High School Brooklyn Bruce Rajswasser
10 983 NXT 193 P.S. 193K Brooklyn Stacy Solomon
11 1090 Lego My Eggo Sunset Park Prep, M.S. 821 Brooklyn Mike Barry
12 1435 Pack-A-Watt Packer Collegiate Institute Brooklyn Maureen Reilly
13 1468 Warbots MS 50k Brooklyn Reginald Wilborn Jr.
14 1477 The Robot Shockers P.S. 58 The Carroll School Brooklyn Keith Wynne and Roger Levy
15 3555 Power Knights PS 8 Brooklyn Brandeis Hayes and Tracey Posluszny
16 3628 SkyBots I.S. 383 Philippa Schuyler Middle School Brooklyn Lindrick Outerbridge
17 5689 WWW.Robokids.com P.S. 81 Brooklyn Everbell Boampong-Bishop
18 6138 TheRobotMasters.com IS 318 Brooklyn Swaad Golam/Mohammad Jahan

Bronx Teams (13)
35 196 Solargy IS 123 Bronx Chris Gooding
36 705 GLOBE EXPLORERS GLOBE SCHOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Bronx PAUL RITER
37 707 GLOBE MASTERS GLOBE SCHOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Bronx PAUL RITER
38 1634 Team X IS 190 Bronx Maribeth Whitehouse
39 1673 Molecules PS 195 Bronx Zelma Torres-Rosado
40 2132 The Ridder Kids Hermann Ridder Intermediate School 98 Bronx Harold Smith

46 5703 TechnoBots Aspire Preparatory Middle School (MS322x) Bronx Deborah Ogedengbe
47 5744 Energy All-Stars P.S. 108x Bronx Vanessa Jones
48 6814 Phipps Lego Team Phipps Community Development Corp. @ P.S. 112 Bronx Matthew Miller
49 7100 BX Ryders I.S. 162 Bronx Charl Castelyn
50 7218 The Castle Hill Robots JHS 127 Bronx Joshua Mateo
51 7289 PS 196x Bronx Gladys Bharath

New Jersey Teams (6)
42 1221 Miller Street Panthers Miller St. NJ Newark Public Schools Stephanie Moore/Shafeek Mohammed
43 1229 ROBOWildcats Dr. Horton NJ Newark Public Schools Cynthia Byrd/Shafeek Mohammed
44 2254 Landroids Lancer Robotics Club NJ - Livingston John Yeh/Pearl

53 3936 North Star Robotics North Star Academy Charter School of Newark NJ - Newark Brian Smith
54 5593 NanoGurus SSM School, parisppany NJ - Parsippany, Annil and Shikha Saxena
57 3073 Atoms Family Atoms Family Roxbury Township, NJ Chris Shultz

NY State Teams (2)
6 3066 The IceBreakers Girl Scouts of Nassau County NY - Nassau County, Steve Kitchener
7 531 Techno Girls Girl Scouts of Heart of Hudson NY - Westchester Shohreh Anand

Penn Teams (2)
55 3129 SAP POSbots SAP Sponsored PA - Bristol Lee Gutherman and Paul Lownes
56 5597 RoboWarriors School Eden Christian Academy PA - Sewickley, Dana Coyne

NYCFIRST Update 22: Upcoming FLL at Javits April 6 and Riverbank a WOW

Feb 15, 2008

Happy post Valentine's Day

A newsletter for the NYCFIRST robotics community in New York City and the surrounding area.

NYC/NJ FIRST web site http://nycnjfirst.org/

ALL UPDATES POSTED AT http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
Do not rely solely on these updates for news as I post news regularly on the blog.


Breaking news:

• 40 FLL teams at Javits, Sunday April 6: FIRST COME FIRST SERVED
• St. Edmond's hosts FLL exhibition tournament (Brooklyn) March 12, 2008
• St. Clare's won the Championship at Riverbank and will be representing us at the World Festival in Atlanta in mid-April. GO St. Clare's. All Riverbank Award winners listed at: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/nycfirst-citywide-award-winners.html
• Asian Invitational FLL: Two NYC teams to go to the Asian Invitational in Tokyo the last week of April: Herman Ritter and Little Red Schoolhouse. Make sure to check out that great NY Times article on Ritter at http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/sam-freedman-on-robotics-in-bronx.html. Gary Israel and Norm Scott to go along to carry the baggage.
• LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates Apr. 19 or 20th
• Mott Hall 3 looking for science fair judges: March 20

FLL Event at Javits April 6
The Javits Convention Center will be the site of a major robotics event in NYC from April 4-6. FRC, FTC and FLL – a mini World Festival (without the world).

Official Announcement
New York City FIRST would like to invite 40 FLL teams to participate in the first ever New York City FLL Expo to be held at the Javits Center on Sunday, April 6, 2008.

The New York City FLL Expo will be taking place concurrently with the 2008 New York City FIRST Robotics Competition and our second annual New York City FIRST Science and Technology Career Expo. More than 3,000 people will be in attendance.

Thirty-five of the 40 teams will be selected on a first-come, first serve basis. Five slots may be reserved for teams selected by the New York City FIRST LEGO League Planning Committee to help ensure equitable participation across the boroughs.

More than one team from a site will only be allowed if we do not fill all 40 slots.

Details:

• 40 teams running 4 to 6 rounds of Power Puzzle.
• Scoring for robot performance at the game table.
• Trophies for top three places in robot performance
• No judging.
• Certificates of participation given to all teams
• Start – approximately 9:00am
• Finish – approximately 12:30pm

To register – send e-mail to norscot@aol.com containing the following information:

1. Team number
2. Team name
3. School/organizational affiliation
4. Borough
5. Team contact name
6. Team contact e-mail address
7. Team contact daytime phone

NOTE: This means ALL the information, not "Hi, Norm, I'm in. See you at Javits."

Only the 142 FLL teams that were that registered for "Power Puzzle" and took part in the qualifying tournament are eligible.

If you were one of the special situation teams that did not make it to a qualifier and discussed it with me contact me ASAP.

Slots are limited and they are going to fill quickly. Don't delay in registering.

Visit our website at www.nycnjfirst.org for more information.


Email me immediately if interested. First come first served.

Friday April 4 will be available for school visits to observe the FRC tournament practice rounds. Full competition begins Sat. Apr. 5.

We may need a few teams to man/woman an FLL exhibition table and answer questions from the public on all 3 days. Bring your research project too.
Let me know if interested.



Edmond's FLL Exhibition Tournament (Brooklyn) March 12, 2008
This is an afternoon (starting at 4pm) event.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Ms. Zaremba
St. Edmund Elementary School

Edmond's FLL Exhibition Tournament March 12, 2008

Brooklyn, NY – St. Edmund Elementary School is pleased to invite you to the first ever St. Edmund's Exhibition Tournament. Our team wasn't ready for the competition season to be over, and we hope yours isn't either!

The tournament will be strictly Robot Performance and is FREE for all to attend. We are accepting 10-12 teams and would love to see you there!
The date is Wednesday, March 12th with registration and setup at 4pm and matches beginning at 4:30. The location is St. Edmund Prep High School, located at 2474 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229. The school is easily accessible to public transportation via the B2, B3, B31 and B49 buses, as well as the B & Q trains at Avenue U. It is also easily reached via the Belt Parkway.
Please contact Christine Zaremba via email for more information and to register: Christine.Zaremba@gmail.com. Remember, registration is first come, first served, so please register as soon as possible!


Want to host an FLL at your site? Contact Norm.


Riverbank a great experience for all: Congrats to St. Clare's
Close but no cigar for a few years, St. Clare's finally is going to Atlanta for the World Festival. NYC will have superb representation.
This is the first update since Riverbank and we want to congratulate every one of the 142 teams that took part in our qualifiers and the 82 teams that participated at Riverbank. All Riverbank Award winners are posted at: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/01/nycfirst-citywide-award-winners.html

The program guide is available for downloading at the NYC/NJ FIRST web site:
http://nycnjfirst.org/



Trophies not delivered from last year's tournament (07)
Found: one 3rd place teamwork trophy and a 5th place robot design.
Not sure if it's from Sunday or Saturday.
Contact me if you won and are missing your trophy.



Revisiting why we went to a one day tournament
There were lots of questions about overcrowding and why don't we still have 2-day tournaments. So here is why.

As you saw, 82 teams are too many and Riverbank was over very crowded. A more reasonable number of teams would be about 72. That would max us out at 144 even with 2 days. This year we had 192 registered. 142 actually took part in the qualifiers. Some teams dropped because they could not get ready in time, so even if we held a 2-day event not all could get in. A THIRD DAY IS NOT AN OPTION!

With interest growing, we expect to head toward 250 teams in the next year or two. So, we had no choice but to move to qualifying rounds.
Next year we will look to provide more options by moving some of them into January and we might move Citywide later into Feb. or March.


LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates Apr. 19 or 20th.
Click here for details: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/2008/02/lego-fun-at-lyndhurst-estates-in-april.html


Mott Hall 3 looking for science fair judges: March 20
Dear Friends and Esteemed Colleagues,
You're cordially invited to meet the young scientists of Mott Hall 3. We thought that you would make the perfect judge for our school-wide science fair on Thursday, March 20. The presentations at the fair will be from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. with judging following immediately afterwards. In addition, you are welcome to stay for our awards ceremony beginning promptly at 1:00 p.m.

We would greatly appreciate your involvement in this event, and to show our gratitude we will be providing lunch on that day. As such, it is important to respond via e-mail or contact Derrick Wu (derrick.wu@gmail.com) by February 29th to let us know if you will be attending.

Our students have spent a good deal of time on their projects, and they are looking forward to having outside judges assess their work. In order to make this possible, we are looking to have 20 judges, so please forward this email to anyone else who you think would make a good candidate.

Sincerely,
Kelly Vaughan, Patricia Waters, and Derrick Wu



If you want to be removed from this list type "unsubscribe" in the subject area and hit return. If you already asked and it didn't happen yet, ask again as sometimes I get behind in paperwork.

Compiled by Norm Scott
NYCFIRST Registration coordinator
norscot@aol.com
normsco@gmail.com
917-992-3734


--
Have a good day

Norm

St. Edmund’s Exhibition FLL Tournament March 12

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Ms. Zaremba
St. Edmund Elementary School

Brooklyn, NY – St. Edmund Elementary School is pleased to invite you to the first ever St. Edmund’s Exhibition Tournament. Our team wasn’t ready for the competition season to be over, and we hope yours isn’t either!

The tournament will be strictly Robot Performance and is FREE for all to attend. We are accepting 10-12 teams and would love to see you there!
The date is Wednesday, March 12th with registration and setup at 4pm and matches beginning at 4:30. The location is St. Edmund Prep High School, located at 2474 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229. The school is easily accessible to public transportation via the B2, B3, B31 and B49 buses, as well as the B & Q trains at Avenue U. It is also easily reached via the Belt Parkway.
Please contact Christine Zaremba via email for more information and to register: Christine.Zaremba@gmail.com. Remember, registration is first come, first served, so please register as soon as possible!

LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates in April

Once again, NYC Schools have the opportunity to showcase their FLL teams at LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst Estates in Tarrytown New York on Saturday April 19 or Sunday April 20 from noon to 4pm.

Last year thousands of people attended the LEGO Fun at Lyndhurst a National Trust historic site on the Hudson River.

There will be two FLL tables set up for the FLL teams to demonstrate their robots in this year's Power Puzzle. In addition to showcasing the team's robot at this LEGO event, students will be able to participate in the other activities during the day.

Arthur Gugick, winner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation 2005 BrickFest, will be featured both days. His award winning scale model of the Lyndhurst Mansion will be displayed accompanied by his other replicas of famous buildings including the Taj Mahal which are all made out of LEGO pieces. It took eight weeks working in the evening hours to create the Lyndhurst replica.

A middle school Math teacher by day, Mr. Gugick will present demonstrations on combining math skills with creative thinking using LEGO pieces. He noted that “math skills are essential to figuring out the layout and scale… and you really learn about architecture in the process.”

Other activities include: a LEGO play area where children and adults can try their newly acquired building skills; “Guess the Number of LEGO Pieces” contest; a movie short created with LEGO figures and a ‘Find the LEGO shapes inside the Mansion “ hunt.
http://www.mocpages.com/folder.php/4399

For more information about LYNDHURST and their educational mission:
http://www.lyndhurst.org/education03.html

For more information or if you are interested in participating at this event please contact me ASAP.

Gary Israel
Robotics Consultant
Leadership LSO

1230 Zerega Avenue
Bronx, NY 10462
Cell: 845-893-0327
ggimhs@aol.com

Robotics Academy February Botline

February 2008

News, Information & Updates from the Robotics Academy Robotics Academy Launches Redesigned Website Find even more resources at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy website which has been redesigned for teachers looking for the latest robotics education support. It’s now even easier to start and support a robotics program with links to STEM and national standards, robotics curriculum research, professional development, etc. Comprehensive resources for the LEGO and VEX platforms will keep your classes relevant and current. Stay tuned as we continually update the site with the latest in robotics education! ROBOTC version 1.13 for IFI VEX Released There are many new features that have been added to the latest release of ROBOTC for FIRST and VEX teams. ROBOTC is a C-based programming language with a Windows environment for writing and debugging programs. ROBOTC is the only solution that offers a comprehensive, real-time debugger. Download a free 30-day trial. All FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams who are registered for the 2008 season are eligible to receive a free single-user copy of ROBOTC for IFI. ROBOTC Web Help Documentation Enjoy a preview of the new help documentation by the Robotics Academy. "ROBOTC for IFI - Users Manual" is currently under development. ROBOTC for Mindstorms" will be receiving the same treatment in the very near future. Take a look at: http://www.robotc.net/ifi_webhelp/ which is updated nightly with new content. Register for Summer Teacher Training Courses The Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy will be conducting five training sessions for teachers on how to use robots to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts. During each five day session, teachers will learn how to build and program robots using multi-media teaching tools developed at the CMU Robotics Academy. These classes will be held at the National Robotics Engineering Center in Pittsburgh, PA. • Teaching Robotics using LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots • Teaching Robotics using ROBOTC and VEX Robots Teacher training can also be conducted at your location. For more information, Contact Robin Shoop, Director of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy at rshoop@cmu.edu . 2008 Robotics Educators Conference - August 6-8, 2008. Call for Presenters! Join Robotics Educators from around the world to learn strategies and real-world techniques to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts through robotics at the 2008 Robotics Educators Conference. Share your experiences by being a presenter. Submit a one-page synopsis of your presentation by April 15th to Robin Shoop, Director of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy at rshoop@cmu.edu. FRC Pittsburgh Regional Competition supported by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy March 13-15, 2008 at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA. FLL Pittsburgh Championship Tournament Results Take a look at Game Day Excitement....! Unsubscribe © Copyright 2008 Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy			Bot Links CMU Robotics Academy ROBOTC version 1.13 for IFI VEX Released Summer Courses for Teachers LEGO VEX Robotics Educators Conference California University of PA April Robotics Competition FRC Pittsburgh Regional Competition FLL Pittsburgh Championship Results

the classic Honda Chain reaction commercial

Thanks to Jan Kowalczyk from the RISF listserve for this link to the classic Honda Chain reaction commercial: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6006084025483872237

"Ridder Kids" Subject of LEGO Education Press Release

Greetings,

The response to last week's NY Times article by Samuel Freedman about the FLL team from I.S 98 has been extrordinary with many Ridder alumni and non alumni wanting to contribute to the cost of the team's trip to Japan.

This Friday the team has been invited to attend the State of the Borough Address by Adolfo Carrion at Fordham University where the Borough President will mention the "Ridder Kids" and their financial needs to travel to Japan.

Last month LEGO Education kicked off their support for the "Ridder Kids" with their blog which continues to receive supportive comments by the public. You can let the students know your thoughts by entering your comments on the LEGO Education blog titled I.S 98 Herman Ridder Goes to Japan

Click below

http://www.legoeducation.com/community/9/blogs/fll/archive/2008/01/04/is-98-herman-ridder-goes-to-japan.aspx

LEGO Education continues to show their support for the "Ridder Kids" and their trip to Japan by sending the attached press release to 50+ media sources.

Gary Israel
Robotics Consultant
Leadership LSO
1230 Zerega Avenue
Bronx, NY 10462
Cell: 845-893-0327

ggimhs@aol.com

Daily News article about PS 21 and FLL

PS 21 best in toy robotics contest

BY JOYCE SHELBY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, February 5th 2008, 4:00 AM

Siesel for News

Aaisha Nance, 8 (l.), Kiya Franklin, 10, and Amanda Crawford, 8 (r.), members of robotics club at PS 21 in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Six months after being introduced to robotics, the kids at Public School 21 in Bedford-Stuyvesant have scored big.

They were named the top team in Brooklyn during the FIRST LEGO League robotics competition at Brooklyn Tech last month.

FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology - is a group that creates innovative ways to get youngsters interested in science, technology and engineering. And the LEGO company creates and markets the popular multicolored interlocking plastic bricks, and other toys.

"It's unusual to win a top award the first time out," said Norman Scott, a retired teacher who serves as contest liaison.

On Jan. 26, the PS 21 kids won a Team Spirit Award during the New York City FIRST LEGO League Championship, a citywide competition held at Riverbank State Park in Manhattan.

Teams from St. Clare Elementary School on Staten Island landed the competition's top honors, the Champion's Award. The school's Transformers 2 Team will represent New York City at an international competition in Atlanta.

The third-place Championship Award winner was Intermediate School 75 in Staten Island.

Brooklyn's Benjamin Banneker Academy won the Teamwork Award and Bedford Academy copped the tournament's Against All Odds Award.

During the competition, students vied to see how many tasks their robots could complete in 21/2 minutes.

The upper elementary and middle school students also made presentations on how they built and programmed their robots, and how the world could be made better through energy conservation. PS 21 ranked 32nd among the 82 teams competing.

"They were excellent," teacher and coach Carla Arnold said.

"They had only a few months of exposure to robotics and did a great job. We are very, very proud of them."

"Everyone had fun," said Andrey Ivannikov, a senior at Polytechnic University who served as PS 21's mentor. "We brought cheerleaders along and they cheered for everybody, not just our team. We had a great time."

Learning, not winning, was the most valuable part of the experience, the school's principal, Harold Anderson, said. And the exposure to building robots might have a long-term impact.

Thomas Smith, 10, programmed the PS 21 robot during the competition. "I'm thinking about becoming an engineer," he said.

"I hope my school does this again next year."

jshelby@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/02/05/2008-02-05_ps_21_best_in_toy_robotics_contest-2.html

NYC FIRST Robotics Competition Volunteers - We need YOU!

Volunteers Needed: 2008 New York City FIRST Robotics Competition.

Dear Norm You are receiving this email because you have volunteered for the New York City FRC event in the past or have expressed an interest in FIRST. The 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition is now well underway and the teams are busy building their robots! So it is time to start thinking about the upcoming 2008 New York City FIRST Robotics Competition at the Javits Convention Center. We would like to sign you up for this season. Please mark your calendar for April 4th -6th! (Additional event details are provided below.) If you are new to FIRST - Welcome! If you are a returning volunteer - Thank you for your continued support. All volunteers are required to register in VIMS, FIRST's volunteer registration system! (Please review the VIMS registration information below.) Feel free to contact me at (212) 325 2349 with any questions. Thank you for being willing to share your time, talents and energy helping kids prepare to face their futures with greater confidence and competence. FIRST volunteers are true FIRST Champions! I look forward to seeing you at this year's competition. Best regards, Tony Paxton, Volunteer Coordinator, New York City FIRST Robotics Competition P.S. please forward this to anyone who might have missed it by clicking here. Calling All Volunteers New York City FIRST Robotics Competition April 4 to 6, 2008 Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY The New York City FIRST Robotics Competition will be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan on April 4 - 6, 2008. The event is a world-class celebration of teams of high school students working smart in science and technology. The 2008 competition will include 63 FIRST Robotics teams from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Virginia and the United Kingdom. More details on the event are available on the New York City/New Jersey FIRST web site. For more information about FIRST and its programs around the world, please visit www.usfirst.org In this year's game, "FIRST Overdrive", students have to design and build a robot to race around a track knocking down 40" inflated Trackballs and moving them around the track, passing them either over or under a 6'6" overpass. Extra points are scored by robots positioning the Trackballs back on the overpass before the end of the 2 minute and 15 second match. To see an animation of this year's game click here. Volunteers, please register in VIMS today! (Note: If you are new to FIRST, please feel free to send me an email or call me at (212) 325-2349 before registering in VIMS. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about FIRST, the New York City event, VIMS or your volunteer preferences.) If you have not yet registered in VIMS, the first step in volunteering this year is to register in the Volunteer Information Management System (VIMS). (Even if you have registered previously in VIMS, you must still access your VIMS account, re-confirm your contact information, and register for the NYC FRC event.) If you have already registered in VIMS - Thank You! I will be in contact with you shortly before the event to confirm your volunteer assignment. To register in VIMS: Go to: VIMS Web Site If you are new to volunteering with FIRST, click on 'Sign Me Up', otherwise login with the email address and password you previously registered. Complete (or verify) your contact information. Tell us about your expertise. IMPORTANT: On the Volunteer Preferences page, select 'FIRST Robotics Competition - Events' and then select the 'New York City Regional'. Please indicate the days you are available and the roles your are interested in. Note that the New York City event runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you are a new volunteer please provide reference information so you can be screened (all volunteers must be screened in order to volunteer). Once you have registered in VIMS you will receive an email acknowledgement. I will be in contact with you shortly before the event to confirm your volunteer assignment. Ways you can help: FIRST Competitions are made possible through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. You can help by devoting one, two or three days to serving in one of many different roles, each of which are critical to the success of the event. VIP hosts Ushers Safety glass distributors Team queuing Volunteer registration and reception Information Desk Media reception Judges Pit administration Trophy and medallion preparation Robot traffic control Plus many other roles...... Most volunteer roles require no previous experience. On-the-job training will be provided!

Pics from Riverbank: Jan. 26, 2008