Taken from the local newspaper, Newsday
Newsday. Take this for what you wish, but I'm worried about it.
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Robotics Contest in Jeopardy
A robotics competition that has attracted the interest of dozens of high schools in the region is in jeopardy, organizers say, due to a shortage of corporate sponsorships.
"We are far behind in our fund-raising pace of last year", said Fred Breithut, president of the School Business Partnerships of Long Island and coordinator of the robotics contest. "Many leaders of our local business community have told us that their budgets are tight this year as the result of business concerns about the economy."
Forty-four student teams are to compete this year in the regional competition, which will be March 14-16 at Suffolk Community College. Students who design the winning robot are to go on to a national event in April.
So far, Breithut's group has raised about a quarter of the more than $200,000 needed to fund the event, although several companies such as FESTOand Verizon have pledged major donations. The national robotics competition, known as FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was organized in 1989 to interest teens in science and engineering. Breithut may be contacted at 631-692-2962. - Hildebrand
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While this could be a really underhanded way of gaining for sponsors our the local competition... I don't know. I'm worried.