Oklahoma Regional & State Grant Media

[Tonya Scott 476]

Hi Everyone! FIRST is spreading like a wildfire through the Plains of Oklahoma. We filled our regional to capacity by 5pm on opening day of registration. We have a lot of incredible veteran and rookie teams, with many coming from our State Career Tech system that utilize Pre-Engineering Academies using Project Lead the Way curriculum. We were able to get a $100,000 grant from our Legislature to start new teams with $5000 grants. We will post some of our media, and links to media so that some of you can use our success to bring your legislature, and other educational programs, to FIRST! Good luck everyone!

[Andy Baker]

Congrats to all who have worked long and hard on this. Tonya and many others have been diligent on getting a regional in Oklahoma for over 5 years now, and this is the result.

Way to go!

Andy Baker

[Barry Bonzack]

I'm in the VIMS for the event. I can't wait!

[asher]

I'm hoping to volunteer at the regional now that I'm back in the Oklahoma area - believe it or not I remember starting 476 and thinking it was crazy to have two teams in Oklahoma!

I googled to find this forum again after I got a call about the story on the news, hopefully they are still taking volunteers...

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Tonya,
Congratulations, I know how happy you must be. Filling the regional is almost as exciting as getting the grants I bet. Good luck with the regional.
Al

[UCGL_Guy]

Here is a link to a recent new story run here in OK
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1231009890

We are also posting quite a bit of info on www.okrobotics.org

[Tonya Scott 476]

Thank you Al, Andy & Barry. Between myself, Ken York (mentor) and Ed & Jean Latimer (Mentors) we have been doing this together since our rookie year 2000. Our dream has been to have a regional in Oklahoma for 8 years. WOW--unbelievable. Countless presentations across the state have really paid off. We went from having 2 teams in the state in 2000, 12 last year, now over 30 teams!!!

As for all the offers to volunteer----We need volunteers badly!!! Please sign up through the VIMS system and our Volunteer Coordinator will be much relieved. If there are any experienced volunteers that would like to come to Oklahoma March 20-22, we need you!!!

Thanks to all of you that have given us advice, and led the way by working hard in your own states, and then sharing best practices with all other FIRST teams. By working together, we can bring FIRST to the forefront of Education and state politics. In order to maintain, or improve, our way of life, we must find different and new ways to educate our kids, and give them unique learning experiences.

We are very happy to host an event in Oklahoma---I can only encourage you to get on our wait list if you want to come. Our goal is for teams to experience "Oklahoma Hospitality".

Congrats to the Kansas City Regional in their 2nd year---they also filled up quickly!! Kansas City was a wonderful regional last year, we hope that our regional goes as well.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped us (and there are a lot of you) We particulary want to thank our Houston friends---the Houston Regional has been our 2nd home, with many incredible experiences and memories. It is most unfortunate that the Oklahoma Regional and Houston Regional are the same weekend.

Thanks everyone

Tonya

[JaneYoung]

It was amazing to watch Oklahoma fill up so fast!
It shows that a need has been filled and that the teams in Oklahoma have been ready for this to happen.

All your years of hard work are going to feel so incredible for you at opening ceremonies and through the whole competition. You will have to take many pictures and post them!

For Oklahoma and Lone Star to share the same weekend is something we'll all have to make the best of, rooting for each other. Volunteers who sign up and help out at this new regional are going to be in for the time of their lives - I can just betcha!

All the best and congratulations,
Jane

[lynca]

This is Amazing, the Oklahoma Regional filled up within the first day.

I've never seen so many new teams in one state at one time.

How are you going to support the schools with mentors ?

[Tonya Scott 476]

Andrew,

Are you volunteering to be a mentor? (haha)

we are networking with colleges, universities, CareerTech schools, and thru word of mouth, and by networking through engineering organizations. The veteran teams are also going to "adopt" the rookies, and mentor them.

We are currently trying to organize teleconference/videoconferences for the rookies. We recently had a "Team Summit" at OSU College of Education on Sep. 15 in which some of the veteran teams presented workshops for the rookies. It was a wonderful training opportunity, and John Herrington (Astronaut) spoke to the group during lunch. We had about 300 in attendance. It was an incredible experience! Most of the workshops and presentations are posted on www.okrobotics.org.

We will also make a couple of live presentations, complete with robot, at central locations before kickoff.

The veteran teams are going to keep close contact with the rookies and help them as much as possible.

It will be a lot of work, but we hope to help the rookies be as strong and well prepared as possible.

tonya

[UCGL_Guy]

Here is the link to a thread discussing state funding that contains the language from the Oklahoma House Bill.

[Barry Bonzack]

Here is a link to a thread that discusses other recent Oklahoma FIRST media.

[Barry Bonzack]

New article out a week ago.

NASA grants GCTC robotics team $6,000

Oklahoma teams receive $90,000, more financing than any other state

Shawnee News-Star

12/01/2007



OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fifteen Oklahoma high school rookie robotics teams received NASA Program Growth Grants of $6,000 each to compete in regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competitions.

"This is very exciting for our state," said John Herrington, Rocketplane pilot and former NASA astronaut. "One of NASA's missions is to inspire the next generation of explorers. These grants will clearly benefit the students of our state by providing resources to promote math and science education through the use of robotics."

NASA awarded 66 growth grants to first-year teams in the United States for the 2008 season. The grants provide financing for registration costs and for the team to build a robot for competition in one regional FIRST event.

Research has shown FIRST Robotics competitors are 35 percent more likely to attend college. In addition, they are more than twice as likely to pursue a career in science or technology and nearly four times as likely to pursue a career in engineering.

FIRST challenges teams of high school students to use their creativity, knowledge and leadership skills to build robots to compete against other robots.

For the first time, Oklahoma City will host one of the qualifying events as part of the state's efforts to meet the Oklahoma 's growing needs for a workforce with mathematics and science skills.

More than 3,000 competitors are expected to participate in the regional event March 20-22 at the Cox Business Services Convention Center .

Oklahoma NASA Program Growth Grant recipients are: Gordon Cooper Technology Center; Fairview High School; Sapulpa High School; Duncan High School; Edmond Santa Fe High; Morris High School; Elgin Public Schools; Caddo Kiowa Technology Center, Fort Cobb; Bishop Kelley High School, Tulsa; Taloga High School; Wright Christian Academy, Tulsa; Broken Arrow Senior High School; Oklahoma City Homeschool Robotics Team; Great Plains Technology Center, Lawton; and Idabel High School.