**FIRST EMAIL*/Opportunity to host a potential team from New Zealand at the Champions

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings FRC Championship Teams,

We have a very active program underway to hold an FRC regional competition in Auckland, New Zealand in March 2009. As part of that effort we are bringing about 40 representatives, teachers and students, from potential New Zealand FRC teams to the 2008 Championship in Atlanta. I would like to place those people, probably one teacher and 1 student each, with teams in Atlanta so that they can experience and observe the whole process, and be mentored on how to run a team.

They will be attending a set of workshops on Wednesday on FIRST in general, and then I would like to have them received by a team on Thursday morning and stay with them throughout the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the Championship event. (They have their own hotel booked, the Westin, and are responsible for their own expenses etc).

Would your team be interested in participating? If so, please reply via email to FRCTeams@usfirst.org.

Kind regards,

Ian McEwan
Vice President Regional Operations

[Tottanka]

wow! that's awesome!
a good idea would be to make them join Israeli/Brazilian teams, as they are more or less on the same 'boat'.
Anyhow, it sounds cool. A New Zealand regiona will take all the glory from the Hawaii regional.

[fredliu168]

Nice a new zealand regional. I wonder how many US teams would actually go,

I'm hoping for a China regional next XD

[Mark McLeod]

Thank you all for your typical FIRST generosity and willingness to help. Within the first 1/2 hour of sending this email, we had an overwhelming response from teams willing to participate in hosting a potential team from New Zealand at the Championship. We now have more than enough teams who have expressed interest in participating, therefore, no further response is needed. Those who responded will be contacted with further information.

Thank you all. Have fun and good luck at the Championship!

Ian McEwan
Vice President Regional Operations

[rees2001]

Wow, I just checked the e-mails & it's already to late!
I love FIRST teams.

[Elgin Clock]

Sneaky sneaky FIRST giving us this hint before The Championship Event.

So who hosted our New Zealand guests & did you or they know about the new 2009 Regional before it was announced during the closing ceremonies???

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Sneaky sneaky FIRST giving us this hint before The Championship Event.

So who hosted our New Zealand guests & did you or they know about the new 2009 Regional before it was announced during the closing ceremonies???

I know that team 768 hosted a few members

[Billfred]

And Heidi Foster indicated that 116 hosted a few.

[Cory]

254 had a couple New Zealand people.

We found out in Hawaii that us and some of the other NASA house teams would be hosting the New Zealanders, and that there would be a NZ regional next year.

[chaoticprout]

1138 hosted 3 students and had a great time doing so. I can't even imagine what the prospect of the New Zealand regional
holds for the future of FIRST.

[Mr MOE]

MOE 365 hosted three students. We knew a few weeks before the Championship that a New Zealand regional was a consideration.

The New Zealand students that MOE hosted were well-versed in FIRST. They definitely did their homework and were ready to jump into the whole experience. It was a wonderful opportunity for our team members and their future team members. These students even walked down onto the Archimedes field with our MOE team members as we received our Division Finalist medals.

As we parted ways before the Finale, we were given a T-shirt that had "New Zealand Kiwis" on the back and "New Zealand FIRST regional 2009" on the front left.

We both learned very much through this experience.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Sneaky sneaky FIRST giving us this hint before The Championship Event.

So who hosted our New Zealand guests & did you or they know about the new 2009 Regional before it was announced during the closing ceremonies???

Sneaky? Hint? The first sentence of the email very clearly says, "We have a very active program underway to hold an FRC regional competition in Auckland, New Zealand in March 2009." Not much hidden meaning there.

1025 hosted a student and adult. Shawn was kind of quiet and I didn't get to speak with him. Tim, the adult, wanted some tips on strategy in playing the game and alliance selection, and we watched the action on Curie Saturday morning. He could have been a strategist for any team out there - watch out next year!

[mrs. p]

233 also had the pleasure of hosting a teacher and student from new zealand. as cory mentioned, we found out about this while in hawaii and also heard about the possibility of a new zealand regional. they were great! talked them into volunteering with me on thursday, blowing up balls!

[Mike o.]

They also actually made an announcement at the NASA/VCU Regional this year that there would be NZ Regional Next year. We had the pleasure of having a few of the Planning Committee Members at the NASA/VCU Regional. I look forward to seeing what great things come out of FIRST next year with the NZ Regional and years to come with more new Regionals around the world.

[dachickindapit]

HOT hosted a teacher and 2 students all weekend at the Championships. I spent a lot of time with them, and they were great! We're keeping in touch with them as they get things rolling "down under."