Friday, August 18, 2017

THE NEW ORTOP WEBSITE COMETH!!!  

After 17 years and coinciding with the total eclipse of the sun, ORTOP will launch a brand new website on Monday, August 21st.  
We hope everyone will benefit from a streamlined website that will allow you to access materials quicker. 
We expect a few bad links and some 404 messages as we work out the bugs.  If there is something you'd like to see included on the FTC Oregon part of the new site or would like to report a bug issue, please email Cathy Swider. 
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SOLAR ECLIPSE OF THE SUN - Monday ! 
FIRST Tech Challenge Oregon extends a huge congratulations and good luck wishes to Tigard Tech for their NASA Solar Eclipse Balloon Project. The team which includes FIRST Tech Challenge team members and alumni will culminate their 14-month project by  launching a scientific weather balloon with attached video payload on Monday morning, August 21st from Culver High School in Central Oregon.   KPTV highlighted their project on their newsbroadcast on 8/15/17. 

In celebration of the Solar Eclipse, ORTOP Executive Director David Perry, declared Monday, August 21st as an official ORTOP Science Holiday. Our office will be closed  allowing staff to scatter throughout Oregon to their spots on the red line.

RELIC RECOVERY KICK-OFF!  Saturday, September 9, 2017

It's official! We have locations and times for our LIVE  Kick-offs.
Please plan to attend and please invite others who might be interested in starting FIRST Tech Challenge teams. I have MJ Murdock Grants for brand new teams! Please help us outreach to potential new teams. 
  • The following locations will have Relic Recovery fields set up for teams to explore and plot their path to a successful season. 
  • DOORS OPEN AT 8:30 AM / Game Animation at 9:00 am 
  • Each Kickoff site will feature a showing of the Game Animation video and Relic Recovery field.

  • BEND 
    • Summit High School 2855 NW Clearwater Dr, Bend, OR 97703
    • Additional details on presentations TBA
  • HILLSBORO 
  • HOOD RIVER 
  • MEDFORD 
    • St. Mary's School 
    • 816 Black Oak Dr, Medford, OR 97504
    • Teams will
      • watch the Relic Recovery animated video, see the arena 
      • listen to Matt Heverly from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and Mars Curiosity Rover driver talk about the methodical steps routinely used in solving an engineering challenge 
      • brainstorm solutions in a breakout session, 
      • have lunch (yes, there are free lunches!) with other teams
      • participate in practical educational sessions for old and new teams.  Topics may include: programming, control system Vuforia, engineering notebook, presentations to judges, season organization, SolidWorks CAD, 3D printing, etc.  
      • Let us know if your team is interested in making a presentation.  Every effort will be made to make it a worthwhile and action-packed day.  Let us know if you plan to come and how many are coming so that we can order the right amount of food.  Just bring your positive energy and a good appetite.  
      • CHECK OUT #8372 TNT - YouTube FTC Workshop Presentations Channel 

    ORTOP Team Support Awards $$$$

    To date we have received a relatively small amount applications for financial team support. For that reason, I have changed the grant deadline/notification schedule.   :-(
    What you need to know:
    • ODE: In case you are just tuning in, ORTOP was awarded the Oregon Department of Education: FIRST Robotics Grant.  In past years, public school teams applied directly to ODE for these funds. This year, public schools will complete an ORTOP Team Support Award Application for ODE funding. There are different applications for each FIRST program; FLL, FTC and FRC. 
    • ELIGIBILITY: If your team is not affiliated with a public school, you are still eligible to apply for a number of the corporate sponsored grants. 
    • THE ORTOP FTC APP: The ORTOP Team Support Award Application: FIRST Tech Challenge  acts as a "Common Application" that covers ALL sources of funding that ORTOP has available for FIRST Tech Challenge including ODE, corporate grants and corporate giving dollars. 
      • There are two types of applications 
        • NEW Team/School/Organization Application - brand new teams at new locations (referred to as  Rookie App)
        • EXISTING Team/School/Organization Application - locations where FIRST Tech Challenge already exists (referred to as  Veteran App).  If location (school or organization) wants to ADD additional new teams to their existing teams this is the application to use. 
    • NEW Deadline/Notification Schedule
      • Applications accepted from NOW - September 30th. No applications will be accepted after September 30th.
        • 1st round notifications will begin Sept 30th for all awards for applications submitted by September 15th. 
        • 2nd round notifications will happen on October 10th for all awards for applications submitted by September 30th. 
    • LINK TO THE ORTOP Team Support Award Information/Application page for FIRST Tech Challenge 
      •  





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    Wednesday, August 2, 2017









    Almost time to get back into the swing of things!  We have exciting news to share. 

    FUNDING and Team Support Awards, specifically Oregon Department of Education: FIRST Robotics Grant.
     
    We’re also happy to announce that for the first time, ORTOP has been selected by the Oregon Department of Education to administer the ODE: FIRST Robotics Grant application and award process. ODE funds will be distributed through ORTOP using the standard team support application process, which is currently open. We hope this will make the process slightly easier and more efficient for teams who require assistance. Because the budget process took longer than expected this year, we are left with a very tight timeline to process the applications and awards. Please apply as early as possible to ensure you receive the most support possible for your team. There is over $200K in funds to be awarded across FLL, FTC and FRC.  

     This means you can apply for the ODE funding and other ORTOP corporate giving team support awards using one common application for all teams in one school. This application is not meant to be filled out to cover multiple schools in a district.  One school per application per program.   This is different than the way ODE managed the grant last year. 
    You can find out more information and begin the application process by going to the FIRST Tech Challenge Team Support Awards Information Page - CLICK HERE 
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     MAKE FIRST LOUD opportunities  
    We are looking for teams to volunteer to inform the public about FIRST at the following events. If your team or a few team members are available to volunteer, please email Cathy Swider cathy-swider(at)ortop(dot)org
    • OREGON STATE FAIR - Wednesday, AUGUST 30th  
    • PORTLAND MINI MAKER FAIRE (OMSI) - SEPTEMBER 16th or 17th
    • OREGON INTERNATIONAL AIR SHOW (Hillsboro Airport) - SEPTEMBER 23rd or 24th 

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    FIRST RELIC RECOVERY will soon be here.  Here is a checklist. 


    ______ Contacted team members, recruited new team members

    ______ Created a funding plan and started fundraising, applying for grants and awards

     ______ Read the FTC Oregon blog posts to catch up on the new stuff 

     ______ Started or completed updating your national team profile and paying for  NATIONAL REGISTRATION - CLICK HERE FOR LINK 

     ______ Established a meeting place, time or thought about it? 

     ______ Thinking about joining/staying in a league or going non-league. (next blog will have updates for league places, dates, times - we are still working on the logistics) 

     ______ Join  #SLACK or FTC Oregon to be up-to-date on team tech support and team strategy info

     ______ Dismiss all thoughts of getting Relic Recovery game details out of Cathy before Sept 9, 2017 at 9:00 am PDT. (However, it is a very interesting game. Put your Indiana Jones hats on, there is thinkin' to be done!)______ Make plans to attend RELIC RECOVERY KICK OFF on Sept 9, 2017 either in person or virtually. More info on Oregon locations and time in next post. 

    SUMMER INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR
    FIRST Team Members and Alumni - ages 16 - 24 living in Multnomah and Washington Counties, through WorkSystems.org - Summerworks program 
    The position is for Cyber Security Researchers at Tripwire (in Portland).  (DO NOT CONTACT Tripwire directly)
    Link to application through Summer Works 

    The job description is pasted below:

    ***COMPLETION OF THE FIRST ROBOTICS PROGRAM IS A REQUIREMENT FOR THIS POSITION*****
    Summary of essential job functions
    As a Security Research Intern you will be doing research into defending against cyber security attacks. As such, you will learn how to:
    • Build a virtualized computer lab
    • Obtain and use offensive cyber security tools
    • Obtain and use defensive cyber security tools
    • Apply this learning to different situations such as online research, capture the flag program, responses to media events
    • Design and implement new ways to detect and defend against cyber attacks

    Minimum requirements
    • ANY CANDIDATE MUST BE A CURRENT PARTICIPANT IN THE FIRST ROBOTICS PROGRAM
    • COMPLETION OF ATTACHED SCREENING QUESTIONS
    • Willingness to learn, the ability to do online (internet) research and apply what has been learned to technical solutions. 
    • Problem solving, critical thinking and the ability to think outside of the box.
    • Comfortable working with technology.

    Preferences
    This position is a technical internship and will involve working with computers and applications, both through a gui and command line. Experience of installing and configuring computers will be a benefit. Experience of basic computer networking will be a benefit. 
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