In my very short FIRST experience, the Lightsabers are probably the best organized group from top to bottom in central OK. They've expanded all the way down to Jr. FLL from FRC/FTC in the last year or two, and are very successful.
There are also a number of other teams that I am certain could use some CAD experience. Oklahoma has state-supported grants to help teams in public schools, so it is growing every year, but there is a lack of mentors in many of them, at least from what I have seen. PM me if you want other folks to contact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricWilliams
Also, consider this an open challenge to any FIRSTers in the center of the country to start evangelizing and expanding.
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I am still trying to figure this out, but there doesn't seem to be an organized group of teams in the OKC area that gets together regularly to do things like outreach. Individual groups probably do, but I'm an FLL coach and try to keep my ear to the ground about opportunities for my kids to get exposed to FTC/FRC so they can have that experience in the future, and I barely hear of anything outside of the FRC and FTC tournaments. And if I'm actively looking for those opportunities and can't find them, I'm pretty sure that the public-at-large isn't hearing about them. The FIRST events themselves are great, but there aren't too many other opportunities.
Some of our FLL and Jr. FLL teams (along with one FTC/FRC team) got together and showed off their robots and Nature's Fury projects for 5000 people at the National Weather Festival (
pics), but that's the biggest thing I know about. We're trying!
