Michigan Engineering Zone Fundraiser

FIRST General Forum
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The Michigan Engineering Zone (The MEZ) needs your votes in November to win $250,000! The Pepsi Refresh Project is giving away $1.3 million each month this year to help fund worthy causes, and the winners are determined by how many votes they get at
www.refresheverything.com.

What is The MEZ?

The Michigan Engineering Zone in downtown Detroit is a partnership between the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Detroit Public Schools and FIRST Robotics. The MEZ is a fully-equipped robotics workspace and academic support facility where Detroit area high school students learn and experience engineering. The students work in teams with their peers, teachers, and University of Michigan engineering student and alumni mentors to design, build and test robots for FIRST Robotics competitions. Beginning in 2010, 200+ students have used the facility in downtown Detroit. For 2011, we plan to double the number of students participating, expand our mentoring, and add a tutoring program.

Why support The MEZ?

Detroit struggles with the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the nation. Only 25% of students in Detroit graduate from high school. As research shows, low income and minority youth participants in FIRST Robotics competitions are more likely to pursue interests in science and math, graduate from high school, and go on to college to major in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In the twenty-first century, one of our greatest challenges is developing a workforce that can compete on the global stage where science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are driving our economy. Through hands-on learning, role-modeling, tutoring, and mentoring, The MEZ seeks to help the youth of Detroit build bright futures for themselves and their city.

Help us get out the vote:

· Email [email protected] or join The MEZ on Facebook for daily reminders to vote and campaign progress reports.
· Vote for The MEZ at www.refresheverything.com. Vote once or – better – EVERY DAY in November. Vote multiple times using your different email addresses.
· Encourage your friends, family and colleagues to vote every day, too.

The MEZ represents stability and sustainability for Detroit teams. Thanks to the support of the MEZ, Finney Highlander Robotics had a significantly better season than we would have otherwise. Please help us support them and make a difference in Detroit.

For more information on the MEZ, please check out this terrific video by U of M that tells the story of the impact of the MEZ on teams in Detroit.
Segment 1 - At the MEZ in the final days before ship.
Segment 2 - At the Cass Tech District Event with MEZ teams.

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I got the chance to visit the facility a couple weeks back, and these folks are really on to something. Working with a DPS team a couple years ago, I was really frustrated to be working in the back of a classroom with just a hacksaw, hand-drill, and a pop-riveter.

Besides just helping out those teams, I think the MEZ has a really good chance of serving as a model for future FRC collaborative initiatives. The MEZ addresses several key sustainability issues like Mentorship, Shop Space, Tools, and a Development Field that is accessible to many teams. In densely populated areas, does it really make sense for each team to spend $2,000 on a modest shop when 10 teams could get together and have an awesome shop for $10,000? By sharing a lot of these key assets, teams are stronger with less invested resources. How awesome would it be if there was a: BEZ, CEZ, IEZ, WEZ…

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Hey Everyone!

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ira Goldberg, and I am a Senior at the University of Michigan. I am asking that everyone in FIRST please go to the Pepsi Refresh website and vote for the Michigan Engineering Zone (MEZ) in the $250,000 category. The MEZ is a facility in downtown Detroit that provides a space for 15+ Detroit area teams to not only work on their robots during the year, but also for students to receive academic help and ACT prep courses that may not otherwise be available to them. If able to get the most or second most amount of votes in the $250,000 category, the money will go towards helping to fund new teams, expanding the facility to accommodate more people, better equipment for teams using the space, safe transportation to and from schools, and for ACT prep and tutoring courses for any student involved.

Here is where FIRST Community is needed… we need you to vote! With the effort of the entire FIRST Community, I know we can get the votes needed to help fund the MEZ, which so many Detroit area teams, and more importantly the students on those teams, depend on. If you have a facebook account and are already logged in, then all you have to do is go to Pepsi Refresh website, go to the MEZ page, and click “Vote for this idea.” It’s really that simple. It will take less than a minute out of your day, and you’ll be supporting a good cause. You can vote every day, starting today, November 1st, until November 30th.

FIRST is so much more than just building a big robot… Its about inspiring high schoolers to get more involved with science and technology, to learn the importance of not only competing, but cooperating with other teams and students, and coming away from all these experiences for the better. The MEZ provides a space for Detroit teams where all of this can be done in a safe, collaborative environment. Especially for an area that has seen such hard times recently, I wholeheartedly support everything that the MEZ does, and hopefully by voting, you will too.

Here’s the link, now go vote!

P.S. Tell Friends, Family, and anyone else you know to vote too!

-Ira Goldberg

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Hello All,

The Pepsi Refresh Project to support the MEZ has begun!

Here’s an updated link to the MEZ page of the Pepsi Refresh Site - http://www.refresheverything.com/mezdetroit

Once there, you must login or register with Pepsi to vote. You can register as a new account if you don’t already have a Pepsi account or you can login using your Facebook account information.

Please share the links above with all your friends and family, because we need as many votes as possible!

From all the teams that work at the MEZ, Thank You for your support!

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I just voted … it’s so easy, even I can do it!

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If you haven’t voted yet for the MEZ in the Pepsi Refresh Project, or voted only yesterday, go to http://www.refresheverything.com/mezdetroit and vote again!

Remember, we need as many votes as we can, and you can vote every day. Everyone at the MEZ is counting on people out there, especially in the FIRST community, to vote for us. Let’ s make it happen!

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Rich, thanks for your support. I just realized that you can vote on the web site and via text message, so feel free to vote twice a day.

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COME ON EVERY ONE! Lets help the MEZ out so they can help out the schools in Detroit!!!:]

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If you have multiple emails you can vote for MEZ more than once. It is possible my school has won the $250,000 grant!!! We can do it!!!

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I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but please continue to vote for the MEZ! The past day has seen us jump for 21st place back to 19th. Lets keep moving forward! We also have a facebook event set up to promote voting for the MEZ. Please join it and invite others!

Here’s the link:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=162395903795288

Now go and vote!

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Fellow college students - Ask your professors if you can have 2 minutes at the beginning or end of class to ask your classmates to vote by text message. Most college students have cell phones and a texting plan, and it only takes a minute to explain why they are voting, then you can write the two numbers on the board (text 104058 to 73774). A quick and easy way to get a bunch of votes (I got all four of my classes to vote).

High school students - I’d suggest the same thing, but some schools get a little uppity about cell phones in school :slight_smile:

~Allison

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Thanks for all of your votes and support! The competition for the Pepsi Refresh grants is ferocious! We’ve moved up and down several places in a few hours. Pls take a minute to twice vote today and everyday the rest of Nov. You can vote at both www.referesheverything.com/mezdetroit and by texting the number 104058 to Pepsi (73744)