**FIRST EMAIL**/FIRST Future Innovator Award/FIRST Scholarship News/2012 Travel Disco

[Mark McLeod]

**FIRST EMAIL**/FIRST Future Innovator Award/FIRST Scholarship News/2012 Travel Discounts/FIRST Virtual Technical Advisor/Welcome to Week Three!/Event Reminders/CMP Registration



Greetings Teams:

FIRST Future Innovator Award: Do you have an innovation inspired by your FRC season experience you think is worthy of recognition? Apply for the FIRST Future Innovator Award, presented by the Abbott Fund! The submission deadline has been extended to 3/30/12. For more information on the award, please visit: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...nnovator-award.

FIRST Scholarship News – March Update: Find out about three new FIRST Scholarship opportunities for 2012 and about LOTS of scholarships whose deadline dates are fast approaching! Also read messages from some of our FIRST Scholarship Providers.http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...ws_3-13-12.pdf

2012 Travel Discounts & Airline Discount Codes: For a detailed listing of 2012 Travel Discounts, please visit: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/travel-discounts.

Please note: When booking airfare for large groups, please call American Airlines and Delta directly. Contact phone numbers are available on the Travel Discounts page.

FIRST Virtual Technical Advisor: Do you have questions about your robot? Do you have technical expertise and want to help a team? It’s never too late! FIRST Virtual Technical Advisor is here to help! Sign up to give/get support from anywhere in the world: https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/L...ual_login.aspx.

Welcome to Week Three! As you are getting ready for your upcoming event(s), please review the important reminders below.

Team Rosters and Consent & Release Forms: We must remind everyone to print out your Team Roster! When you go to register at your Initial Event, you will be asked to produce your Team Roster along with any hard-copy Consent & Release forms attached to the Roster itself. Without these items, you will not be allowed to register for your event!

Remember: Even if none of your student team members filled out an Electronic Consent and Release form, you must still print out your Team Roster and physically pencil in the names of the students who have hard-copies of the form. If you cannot pencil in all the student names in to the space allotted on the printed Team Roster, you may attach an additional sheet with the rest of the student names. Also, don’t forget that each Mentor on the team must have completed a hard-copy or electronic version of the Consent and Release Form in order to gain entrance in to the event!

For more information about the 2012 Consent and Release Form, including FAQ’s and a helpful Process Overview, please visit: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...d-consent-form.

Extended Team Support Hours: Team Support will be available on Saturdays during Competition Event weeks from 12-5 pm ET. For assistance, please call 1-800-871-8326 x 0.

Other Event Reminders:

• Don’t forget your Safety Glasses! As most of you know, everyone is required to wear Safety Glasses at all times in the Pit area. When you are packing up to go to your Event(s), please remember to pack Safety Glasses for every Student and Mentor who will be in the Pit area (it’s also helpful to pack Safety Glasses for spectators attending on behalf of your team). FIRST has only a limited supply of extra Safety Glasses on hand, so we appreciate your efforts to supply enough Safety Glasses for your entire team!
• Please review the Safety Manual! You can view the Safety Manual here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...deo-and-manual. It is important that teams obey all safety items, including wearing closed toe shoes, wearing gloves and practicing safe lifting techniques.
• Respect boundaries in the Pit area! Please be respectful of your fellow FRC teams by being aware of how much space your team is using in the Pit area. Per Manual Section 4.8.2.2, every team is usually allocated a 10’x10’x10’ Pit space. Please be conscious of how much space your team is using in order to allow adequate workspace for your neighboring teams, and to ensure overall safety for everyone. We appreciate your Gracious Professionalism™!
• Lost and Found Items: All Lost and Found items get packed on our trucks and come back to FIRST headquarters. All lost item requests will be addressed after the Championship Event (when all trucks are back in Manchester).

Championship (CMP) Qualification: Please visit: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ility-criteria to see a full listing of the merit based qualifying criteria.

Championship Registration process:

1. If your team qualifies at a Competition Event to attend the CMP, you will automatically be moved to the CMP Waitlist the Monday following your competition.

2. On or before Tuesday @ 5 PM ET following your event, call FIRST Finance to make payment arrangements 1-800-871-8326 ext. 563. Payment arrangements can be made by Check, Credit Card, Purchase Order from school or Commitment Letter from Corporate sponsor. One of these forms must be received by the Tuesday following the qualifying Regional by 5pm ET. Commitment Letters and Purchase Orders must be paid to FIRST by check or credit card prior to Friday, April 13, 2012 for Regional events and Tuesday, April 17, 2012 for District Championship Events.

3. IMPORTANT - If you do not register by the Tuesday deadline, your team will be removed from the Waitlist and ineligible to register for the CMP (i.e., your spot will not be held past the Tuesday deadline!).

Making CMP Hotel Reservations:
Please go to the Steele Meetings website at http://www.firstchampionshiphousing.com/ to make your housing arrangements.

IMPORTANT I: Each season there are teams who make CMP hotel arrangements in the hopes they will qualify at a regional event. Teams that do this do so at their own risk. You will be responsible for any cancellation fees incurred per Steele Meetings Policies. If you have any questions, please contact Steele Meetings directly for any further clarification at: first@steelemeetings.com

IMPORTANT II: DO NOT ship your robot to the CMP event unless you qualify at your regional event, or if your team pre-qualified and is already registered! If your team qualifies at an event, please stop by Pit Admin to receive your shipping documents. Teams not registered for the CMP will be responsible for all costs associated with shipping their robot to and from the CMP. Only teams officially registered to attend the CMP will have their shipments home covered by the FedEx Donation.

Go Teams!

FRC Team Support