[FTC]: Should FTC be more like FRC or FLL in regards to mentor involvement?

[Wayne TenBrink]

Originally Posted by Barry Bonzack

This is interesting. Are the middle school teams not competing against the high school teams in Michigan? Are the students aware that they are participating in a high school dominated competition, and if they reach the Championship Event that will be their allies and competitors? What a cool opportunity.

We will be FTC rookies this season and there is a lot we don't know. It is my understanding that there are only a few High School FTC teams in MI, and they will not be able to compete at the same events as the middle school teams - they must go out of state. At present, I think there are about 24 middle school FTC teams. I don't know how many competitions there will be this year. The eventual goal is for every team to go to at least two, and then have a State Championship (like FRC in the MI district). I don't know if that will all happen this year. The teams that qualify for CMP will play against HS teams at that point. We are looking forward to the season, and I think FTC will work well with middle schoolers. Our team (so far) all has FLL experience.