Are you interested in getting more awareness and support for FIRST in the U.S.?
Do you or any other teams in your area want to get your voices heard?
Would you like to know what you can do to make a difference for every student in the U.S.?
If any of this interests you, then the 2018 National Advocacy Conference can help you reach those goals.
The 2018 National Advocacy Conference will take place on June 24, 25, 26th at the Holiday Inn Capitol Hotel in Washington, DC. We will train you and send you out to meet with your Senators and Members of Congress. No previous advocacy experience is needed! We focus on building relationships with your elected officials and growing FIRST!
The cost to attend is $250 per person through 5/15/2018, and $280 per person after that date. Space is limited so make sure to register as soon as you can!
We NEED your help to be heard! The more states and more teams we have represented, the more Congress will take FIRST seriously, and the more they will listen to our desire to promote STEM opportunities for kids all across America!
If you have participated before, please feel free to post a message in this thread telling us about your experience. If you have not participated, please email [email protected] if you have any questions.
A Special Thank You to: FRC 93 NEW Apple Corps, FRC 1086 Blue Cheese, FRC 1511 The Rolling Thunder, FRC 1676 Pascack Pi-oneers, FRC 1718 The Fighting Pi, FRC 1735 The Green Reapers, FRC 1816 The Green Machine, FRC 2655 The Flying Platypi, FRC 2834 Bionic Blackhawks, and FTC 11256 Nano Nerds for their help in promoting and organizing this event!
Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for those who have participated and recruited new teams in the past and continue to do so now.
Noodles,
This opportunity has always been public. We are trying to expand it to include as many states as possible. It is not directly linked to FIRST although they are involved. Don Bossi has spoken at the conferences. It is run by Steve Hyer and his team with help from some FRC teams including mine. Please check out the website for the details of the conference. You can also write to [email protected] or contact me if you have any other questions.
We as a program were fortunate to attend NAC for three years. It was an amazing experience for our team and impacted our team in so many ways. I cannot express the importance and impact it will have on the individuals who attend.
Without us attending NAC, we would never have been able to start SACOT here in Texas. I cannot say that if not for other Texas teams attending NAC (148 and 3310), we would not have been able to get the word out about the importance of political advocacy within our state. I would encourage you to get your team involved as well as get some other teams from your state there with you. You as a group then can work and make a greater impact.
NAC is one of the most important things Blue Cheese has been fortunate enough to be a part of. It’s impact cannot be understated on the law makers and my students. We have seen our Congressman’s stance slowly align with our own over the past few years. I credit NAC for this.
I STRONGLY encourage any team to take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t be afraid if you have never done anything like this. You are trained while you are there and we can even arrange for a veteran member of these activities to accompany you.
NAC is a great whey to advocate for STEM. My team and I had made a commercial for NAC which you can find here: https://youtu.be/XSmahyrU3Jc This can be used as a faster way to get people informed and interested in NAC.
I have escorted students to several of these events in recent years. It is both empowering and fun for the kids. If they haven’t been to DC before, that adds an additional excitement factor. Keep in mind that it does NOT have to be the whole team that goes. It can be a few interested kids and an adult. Test the waters with low risk and see what you think.
If it’s like the last couple of years, the cost does not include room and board, though there are rooms blocked off as indicated on the registration sheet. I believe the only meals supplied are lunch on the second day and some finger food at the reception on the third day.
That being said, NAC is a great experience and I definitely encourage all teams to attend at least one time. We will be there again this year for a third time.
As a mentor relatively new to FIRST, going to NAC last year was a very powerful experience for me. Our kids learned a lot, stepped up as leaders, and really advocated for this program they love so much. As a team we learned how to effectively advocate back home and have continued our efforts back in New York. We also had time to sight see and it was a lot of fun! I would highly recommend going to NAC!
I strongly recommend going if your team can afford it. Their are people out their willing to help financially but the team might not be able to afford the time. I recommend moving any things you need to do that day so you can go. My team can’t because we barely even can afford the competitions every year and our robot! We tried getting help last year and we got just enough for the entire team but no one wanted to go except 2 people which didn’t end up going because they felt odd being the only 2 on our team. The problem was mostly parents didn’t want to send their kids away and the parents couldn’t go because of work. I suggest talking with the entire team way ahead of time and having the team pay for it. If the team cannot then ask in this thread for financial help. Last year one guy (I feel bad that I forget who) was willing to pay for the whole thing! It could have been a few people and I just remember it wrong but in any case don’t be afraid to ask for help!
I went to NAC for the first time last year. It was a great experience to learn more about how the government works. It was also fun talking to representatives about our experiences in FIRST. Looking forward to going again this year.
I was fortunate enough to attend NAC’s inaugural year as an alum. Even after 9 years in FIRST, I was blown away by how informative and inspirational the conference was for both students and mentors. Not only is it an incredible networking opportunity for students, it’s an awesome way to make an impact for the greater FIRST community (and a cool thing to include on a resume/college app!). I recently graduated from Indiana University and as I was recruiting for full time jobs, every single one of my interviewers - from consultants to tech marketers - asked about my FIRST and NAC experience. I highly recommend going to NAC if it’s at all feasible for your team, or even going as an alum/mentor if the opportunity is presented. You absolutely won’t regret it.
This year some Platypi students and past NAC attendees made a video to talk about why the experience was valuable to them. Take a look if you need some more convincing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYmrlf7asQ