**FIRST EMAIL**/Dean's 2009 Homework Update

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:



During the FRC Kickoff this year, Dean Kamen offered a homework assignment to every student – to assist FIRST in building both a current participant and an alumni participant database for FIRST.

Starting today, you can complete this part of Dean’s Homework (Part 1) by registering at:

http://firstcommunity.usfirst.org/

This site will allow the FIRST Community to stay connected. Whether you are currently active with FIRST or not, you can stay connected through this site. Signing up only takes a few minutes, and is free.

Please encourage former team members from your school or organization to sign up as well. The site shows the number of people signed up by state….so help your state surge ahead in participation!


During Week 1 Regionals, Dean added a Part 2 to the Homework for this year. As you know, the education of elected officials about FIRST is an ongoing process.

Part 2 of Dean’s Homework is to continue to contact your Senators and Congresspeople and invite them to this year’s FRC Events.
(Read the full assignment online <http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=11718> .)

Post your invitations and the responses in Dean’s Homework Forum

To help you with the assignment, FIRST has created "Dean's Homework Forum" in FIRST Forums, where you will find instructions, access directories of elected officials, copy suggested wording for your introduction, and see quotations from Dean, Woodie, and others that you might choose to use in your invitation.

We also have set up Forums for each state so you can post your invitations, and additional forums for responses (Acceptances and Declines).

Go to "Dean's Homework Forum" to get started, or to post invitations you already have sent!

If you want to post your invitation and don't already have a FIRST Forum username and password, click "Register" just below the FIRST logo. And if you have questions about the assignment, you can post them in the Homework Questions forum.

Go Teams!