FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon:

Here we go again.....
I've been monitoring the weather forecasts carefully. I give us a good to very good chance of holding the 6 FTC events this weekend.  Looks like things will warm up and rain on Friday/Saturday/Sunday.   The tricky part will be how much snow/ice we get Tues/Wed/Thurs and how quickly we warm up. However, for teams traveling over mountain passess, the news is not particularly good and we urge you (and everyone) to exercise caution when deciding to travel.

I have created an ORTOP INCLEMENT WEATHER PAGE to keep everyone informed of event status, resources for researching travel routes,  links to the National Weather Service forecasts and the ORTOP Event Inclement Weather Policy. 

You can access the ORTOP INCLEMENT WEATHER PAGE from  https://ortop.org/ , it is the first picture slider and the direct link is https://ortop.org/2020/01/inclementweather/  .

In other news, my sincere thanks to Nagesh Rao, Terry Alexander and Jacqueline Gault for managing very successful Portland Metro Inter-league Qualifying Tournaments this past weekend at Hillsboro High School.  Our amazing crew of 100 volunteers kept the action moving and 37 teams had a lot of fun.  We witnessed the thrills and spills of technology as Skystone stones were built and then crashed. Excellent robot action.
Event Results: BB-8  and R2D2

FTC Oregon Community 

Give Guide

Thank you for the positive GIVE! first year kickoff raising $500 in our first few days from 10 donors. Our goal is $10,000.  Give at ortop.org/GIVE to win incentives.  

 

• Signing up for ftcoregon-skystone@ortop.org email list. 
•  Mentors, you can forward this link to team parents and team members (13+) to  sign up and be placed on the new list for the Skystone season 
  
• FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon Non-League Qualifying Tournament Assignments 

• for Umatilla Dec 7 - Philomath  Jan 18 and Philomath  Jan19 and Tigard  Jan25
• Click here to see them! 
• Drive Team Buttons! Shipping to Leagues this week. 
• At their next or first event, teams will receive a bag of Drive Team buttons with team number on the back. Teams are to keep track of them for the entire season and use them at each event. If a team  advances to the State Championship and can show they still in possession of all four original buttons, the team will win a prize. 

Event Payments - please get them in if you haven't already. 

• LEAGUE Payment Deadline is extended  until November 7th.
  • PAY BY CREDIT CARD
  • PAY BY CHECK 
  • PAY BY Purchase Order followed by Check  
• NON-LEAGUE Payment Deadline is November 16, 2019
• PAY BY CREDIT CARD
• PAY BY CHECK 
• PAY BY Purchase Order followed by Check  
• FTC Oregon by the Numbers
• 200 teams  registered for events (down 8 teams from last season)
• Leagues  - 136 teams in 12 leagues 
• Non-League - 64 teams in 4 QT events 

Super-Qualifier February!! 

We are very close to dotting the i's and crossing the t's on our venues for Super-Qualifier February!  I feel confident enough to release the venue and date information!

Click here to see the SuperQualifier: Cities of Star Wars  venues and dates. League QTs and Non-League QTs will advance a total of 96 teams to SuperQualifier February.  This means about half of teams as each event will advance to SQs.  There will be four 24-team events.

Note about our SQ's. Because we are having four SQs that are geographically spread out we hope that will better serve our community. However, there is a likelihood that even with geographic distribution, some teams will be traveling to their event with a planned stay over because of distance. Please plan your fund raising accordingly.  Once a team is assigned the team will have the opportunity to simply accept or decline their SQ slot. All events will have 24 teams.  The SQs will each advance 9 teams plus one host team to the State Championship for a total of 40 teams.

FTC Update: October 30, 2019 - WW Giving Guide, Final Deadlines, What's in a Team Name?

Happy Halloween from FTC Oregon! 

Wishing our FTC Oregon League Meets this week all treats and no tricks!
Central Oregon - Rose City - SOAR - Capitol and Silicon Forest!
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Click here for more details! 

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LEAGUE TEAM PAYMENT DEADLINES

• The deadline to pay for participation in a League is October 31 at 11:59 pm.  
• However, I have not sent out a bunch of reminders on this, so I am extending it to November 7 at 11:59 pm. This means if you haven't paid, please do so. 
• This extended deadline will also extend to taking a reduction on the full cost of program fee.  
• Any league team not paid by the new November 7th deadline will receive an invoice of $400 and loses eligibility for a discount. 
• NEW LEAGUE Payment Deadline is November 7, 2019
• Sliding scale is $400 full cost to $200 minimum fee. 
• League PAY BY CREDIT CARD
• League PAY BY CHECK 
• League PAY BY Purchase Order followed by Check  

NON-LEAGUE EVENT SIGN UP and EVENT PAYMENT DEADLINES 

• Deadline to sign-up for a Non-League Qualifying Tournament is November 1 at 11:59 pm.
• Link to Online Sign up for Non-League QT 

• Deadline to pay for a Non-League Qualifying Tournament is November 16, 2019. 
• Sliding scale is $300 full cost to $150 minimum fee.

• Any non-league team not paid by the new November 16th deadline will receive an invoice of $300 and loses eligibility for a discount.   
• NON-LEAGUE Payment Deadline is November 16, 2019
  • Non-League PAY BY CREDIT CARD
  • Non-League PAY BY CHECK 
  • Non-League PAY BY Purchase Order followed by Check  
• Non-League Qualifying Tournament Assignments will be released on Saturday, November 2nd. 

Need more information? 
Click here to transport to the ORTOP Registration and Event sign-up page 

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LET'S TALK ABOUT TEAM NAMES
Your team name on your FIRST Dashboard profile should be the same team name that you gave to ORTOP in the event registration, either on your original event registration, or when you updated it.

I will pull your team name for tournament documents from the Event Sign up in SalesForce. And you can still update it in the ORTOP system on future event documents, preferably as soon as possible. Anything submitted after Nov 15 will not be guaranteed to make it into event documentation.
Click here for name change link for ORTOP-SalesForce.  

The FTC live scoring software will pull your team number and team name from the FIRST Dashboard team profile for field matches. So update your national registration name there.

We are going for "matchy matchy" on the team names.... just like a bad '70's jogging suit.

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NEW EMAIL LIST for FTC Oregon Community starting later this week 
Reminder! On October 31 to be closer in compliance with GDPR guidelines, we will delete ftcoregon@ortop.org  and start new with  ftcoregon-skystone@ortop.org  

Subscribed to the new list will be all current Lead Mentor 1 and Lead Mentor 2 from the national reg and ORTOP event sign-up AND anyone who requested to be on the new list by signing up at this link.     This can be team members (13+,) team parents, volunteers.

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Finally, an update for you on Cathy's schedule. I am still recovering from my car accident and will be working half time, mostly from home, for the next month.

FTC Oregon Update: October 17, 2019 - League Assignments and FIRST Fair!

FTC Oregon Community:

We are close to ending sign-ups for FTC Oregon Events. So here are updates:

1. FIRST Tech Challenge National Registration and ORTOP Event Sign up Status

• Check this list to see your status for National Registration and if you have submitted an FTC Oregon Event Sign up form. 
• Is your team highlighted in a pretty color ? 
•   Please click here to link to National Registration and Event Sign up Links. 
• All teams must be nationally registered and paid to participate in League Events. Contact Cathy Swider if you are having bureaucratic issues with this. 
• Deadline Reminders 
• League Sign up - Closed 
• Payment to ORTOP for League Due Oct 31
• Non League Sign up - closes on November 1 
• Payment to ORTOP for Non League due on November 16 
• Non-League  QT Assignments (Philomath, Tigard and Umatilla) will be posted a few days after Nov 1. 

2. FTC Oregon League Assignments - 

• I have assigned teams to Leagues that are outside of the Portland Metro Area.  
• You can check this list for your Assigned League 
• If you submitted an application for Cedar Mill, Silicon Forest, Rose City, Tualatin Valley or Capitol, I have not made those assignments yet. There is some shuffling needed. I expect this to be settled by Friday, October 18th

3. FIRST Fair! It's on Saturday, October 19th at Gladstone HS 
See the OCT 9 blog for detailed information. 
FAQ: Does our team need to sign up?  A: No. There is no sign up for the overall event. Just show up. Exception for that would be a few individual workshops that require sign up because there are limited materials (see detailed information). 

FTC Oregon Update: DEADLINE NOTICE FOR League Sign up

Good morning FTC Oregon teams:

It's Sunday, October 13.... I am working the Event sign up lists.

I have 15 teams (in Hot Pink)  that are nationally registered but have not yet signed up for an event.
And there are 17 teams (in Orange)  that are neither nationally registered or signed up for an event.
If your team is dropping, please send me an email.

CLICK HERE and Look at Column A to see if ORTOP has received an Event Sign up for your team.

Yes, the due date is technically Oct 15th, but please.....
https://ortop.org/ftc/ftc-team-resources/ftc-registration/

WHY the urgency? I need to have all of the League Teams in the SalesForce database by Oct 15 at 5:00pm or sooner, please.  League Crates need to be ready for pickup on Oct 19th for FIRST Fair. I need to sort teams into Leagues, prepare PIT signs and Team Rosters and other stuff that depends on Signups in our SalesForce System.

And for the non-league teams --- please do sign up as well as soon as possible.
Assignments are on a first come, first serve basis.

I have some new developments to share:

ADDING A NEW LEAGUE -
There will be a Springwater FTC League Springwater Environmental School 16491 S Springwater Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045 (technically in Oregon City). 
 Here is the map to see the address.    The meets will be afterschool during the week. We are working out details today.
If you are interested in this league. EMAIL ME, even if you have signed up for another league or
It does not appear on the online Sign up.  Transfer will be handled by ORTOP.

NEEDING TEAMS:
The CAPITOL LEAGUE that meets on Saturday mornings in NE Salem, is in need of teams. Currently there are only 5 teams signed up. We need 8 to make a go of it.  If you have already submitted an event sign up and wish to switch to this league, email Cathy Swider.  If you haven't yet signed up, please do so.
____________________________

Woodie Flowers, Co-Founder of FIRST and father of Gracious Professionalism 
It is with great sadness that I share that Woodie Flowers passed on Friday, October 11, due to complex medical issues. 

To me, Woodie Flowers was the heart and soul of FIRST Robotics. He was Yoda.   He put a name and meaning to what it meant to be a gracious professional and what coopertition is.  He made FIRST about more than robots. He was the consummate FIRST Mentor to thousands. He was appreciated for his words and for how he listened to others.

 In FIRST Robotics Competition,  the Woodie Flowers Award names the most outstanding mentor of the year.  And at every FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge event at the World Championship, it was Woodie who personally awarded the Volunteer of the Year and Mentor of the Year awards.   I always looked forward to hearing Woodie speak at events. His words were inspirational and I always learned something new. He was humble and gracious and had a great sense of humor.  I invite you to watch Woodie acceptance speech in the STEM Hall of Fame in 2017. 

Each of us can draw upon what Woodie has shared with us and pay that forward in our words and actions.

FTC Oregon: October 9, 2019

Feels like fall!
Good time to hunker down and build a robot! Turn up the music!  But... before you do.

1) CHECKLIST FOR REGISTRATION : Is your team????

•  ▢ nationally registered and paid for the national registration. 
•  ▢ submitted an FTC Oregon Event application 
• Deadline for League signup participation is October 15
• Deadline for Non-League sign up is Nov 1
•  ▢ paid ORTOP for either League Participation (Deadline Oct 31) or Non-League Tournament (Nov 16)
• ▢ team name change in case you submitted TBD or Unknown at this time - then CLICK HERE AND submit your team name  with your team number. 

Click here to see Resource Page for Registration/Sign ups 

Click and Check your team's status!  - It gets updated after 3 pm each day. Please note, this is a comparison between Last Season and This Season - info in Columns C- F are from Rover Ruckus. Once Registration closes, we will publish current Team Info for Skystone. 

Please do not procrastinate these tasks. Especially if you want to be part of a league, please sign up as soon as possible so that I can go forward with planning for the events happening this month. 

2) WORKSHOP TRAINING :
FIRST Fair - Saturday, October 19th at Gladstone HS 18800 Portland Ave, Gladstone, OR 97027
Judging from the number of sign-ups I don't think many of you have clicked on the provided links to learn about this valuable opportunity.
Here are the complete Class Descriptions   and the Schedule of Classes.   Some require signing up, most do not. Sessions** requiring sign-ups up are here. 
Team members, mentors and team parents are welcome to attend.
Here are the titles of what is being offered for specifically for FTC to peak your interest. 

TIME	WORKSHOP
9:30 AM - 10:25 AM	FTC Mechanical Overview for Rookies - Also a GO TO TRAINING Workshop
9:30 AM - 10:25 AM	FTC Preparing to pass Inspection/What's new!
10:30:00 AM - 11:25 AM	FTC Overview of Skystone (for Team Members)
10:30:00 AM - 11:25 AM	FTC Mentor Roundtable Overview for new mentors by having a discussion with experienced mentors
10:30:00 AM - 11:25 AM	Overview: Using TensorFlow to Locate Scoring Objects on the FTC Field - Applying Deep Learning / Also a GO TO TRAINING session
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM	FTC Referee Training for Skystone (REFEREES ONLY)
11:30 AM - 12:25 PM	Strategies for keeping up with the FTC Engineering Notebook throughout the season so that you have a good notebook to turn in at competition.
11:30 AM - 12:25 PM	FTC - Ask The FIELD TECHNICAL ADVISOR: Ask about all that techy stuff - phones, SDK installs, navitagating GitHub, what's Vuforia?
1:00 PM - 2:55 PM	2 hours - FTC OnBot Java PROGRAMMING** sign up

TITLES  of SESSIONS FOR BOTH FTC AND FRC 

•  FIRST Grant Writing
•  FTC/FRC SIEMENS Solid Edge
•  FTC/FRC Fundraising 
• FTC/FRC 3D Printing Part 1**
• FTC/FRC Synthesis
• Presentation Best (& Worst) Practices
• FTC/FRC 3D Printing Part 2 -Hands on Lab**
• FTC/FRC FIRST Equity & Inclusion Training Roundtable - Registration Required**
• FTC/FRC Interviewer Training** - ORTOP is looking for Mentors/ Volunteers to conduct interviews of team members for an evaluation study. Valuable training and stipend provided. 

3)   This week on the ORTOP FTC Resource Page we are highlighting KEY links that are hard to find on the national FTC page. 

• Cost and Registration
• Game and Season Materials 
• Robot Building Resources 
• Programming Resources 
• Team Management Resources 
• Preparing for Competition
• FTC HQ – Team Blast Email Archive 
• FTC Resource Library
• Know what the Volunteers Know 

FTC Oregon Update: Oct 1, 2019

EMAIL  SENT ON  OCTOBER 1 - 11:03 AM 

FTC Oregon Teams:

It's FTC Oregon Event Sign up Day TODAY at 5:00 pm !! 
I'll be sending out the link to the ONLINE form at 5:00 today.

I'm asking teams to not delay in signing up for events. 
Not yet paid your national reg?  Don't delay signing  up for an event.
Don't have a team name yet? Don't delay signing  up for an event. 

You will need to pay national reg and have a team name by the end of the month but don't delay in signing up for events if you intend to participate this season. 

To help you prepare for this afternoon, please review the information on this page. 

___________________________________________________________________________

EMAIL  SENT ON  OCTOBER 1 - 5:00 PM 

Slow down, enter the information carefully. 

Remember, even if you haven't quite finished paying national reg, or you don't have a team name, please sign up for a League or Non-League events so that I can go ahead and prepare for the season.

LINK TO REGISTRATION PAGE with the link to ONLINE SIGN UP 

--

Cathy Swider, Program Manager

FIRST Tech Challenge

Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program (ORTOP)

Office Phone: 503.486.7622 x 103

Cathy-Swider@ortop.org  | www.ortop.org Pronouns: she/her/hers

4800 SW Griffith Dr., Suite 215  | Beaverton, OR 97005