FIRST® Headquarters closed in recognition of the Labor Day U.S. Holiday: FIRST Headquarters will close at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow, Friday, August 30. The office will remain closed through Monday, September 2 in recognition of the Labor Day holiday. Regular business hours will resume on Tuesday, September 3 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
2020 Teaser: Watch FIRSTtv at 7 p.m. ET Thursday, September 12. Live from a surprise location, join Deejay and Frank for the 2020 season teaser release of INFINITE RECHARGE. Also watch for Star Wars swag and RoboRIO giveaways during the show. Start planning your watch parties now!
New this season! The Equity and Access Grant is now open! This grant is open to both newly formed and veteran FIRST® Robotics Competition teams who are making an impact with our Underrepresented, Underserved, & Vulnerable Youth. More details about this grant are available in the application here. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on September 25, 2019. Questions can be directed to frcrookie@firstinspires.org.
New Team Growth Grant: In case you missed it, this season we are offering the New Team Growth Grant. This grant is open to newly formed FIRST Robotics Competition teams that are either Rookies or Non-Rookies not formed by Separation or Combine. More information about these definitions is here. Grants are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 1, 2019. Apply today! If you have any questions regarding this new grant please send an email to frcrookie@firstinspires.org.
Safety Animation Award sponsored by UL: The 2020 Safety Animation Award theme is ‘Sustainability on the RISE’. Students must submit their team’s Safety Animation video through the FIRST Youth Team Member Registration System. The student submitting must be marked as an award submitter. Animations must be submitted between Thursday, October 24, 2019, at 12 p.m. noon ET and Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 3 p.m. ET. Click here for more information.
Are your lead mentors screened? FIRST® requires teams to have two screened lead mentors to be eligible to register for official FIRST events. Event Preferencing will be open before you know it so make sure you update your profile for the season!
Lead mentors: To order your background screening, visit our www.firstinspires.org website to log into your FIRST Dashboard; select the white triangle next to “Hello, (your name)” in the upper right-hand corner, and select Youth Protection Screening from the list. Ordering takes less than 5 minutes, your Social Security Number is not required, and the cost is covered by FIRST. For more information, including step-by-step guides, please visit our Youth Protection Policy page. If you have questions or need assistance, please email safetyfirst@firstinspires.org.
As always, we are here to help. Please contact our Customer Support Team with any questions.
