Hi ,

Program Updates, Deadlines, & Reminders

End of Season Survey: The end of season survey was sent out to all lead mentors and youth members and closes on Friday, June 7, 2024. Please help us by filling out the survey sent to your email and providing your team’s feedback about this season!

2024 Kit of Parts Survey: We also want to hear from you about the Kit of Parts! The 2024 Kit of Parts survey is now available. The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete, and if you include your team number, your team is eligible for a chance to win your choice of goodies. We ask that no more than one youth member and one mentor from each team fill it out. You must be at least 13 years old, and it closes on Friday, May 24, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. noon ET.

Summer Task Forces: View the recent blog post to learn how to provide feedback and ideas to task forces looking at various programmatic aspects this summer.

Drive Base & Black Tote Opt Out available now: By default, all Kickoff Kits include a drive base kit & Black Tote, but veteran teams who are “event ready" can opt to receive vouchers instead of the drive base kit and/or the Black Tote by selecting “Drive Base Opt Out” or “Black Tote Opt Out” from the “Team Options” under the “Parts and Products” drop down in the FIRST Dashboard.

Your team’s Drive Base and Black Tote selection closes at 12:00 p.m. noon ET, September 24, 2024. A team is “event ready” if there are two Youth Protection Program screened mentors (required for U.S. and Canada-based teams only) and no outstanding tasks on your dashboard.

Team Blast Schedule: Starting this week, the FIRST^® Robotics Competition Team Blast will be sent every two (2) weeks throughout the summer. The weekly schedule will resume at the end of August.

FIRST Updates

2025 Season Registration: Registration for the 2024-2025 FIRST^® DIVE^SM presented by Qualcomm season is now open! Start your team registration and prepare your team to use their engineering skills to strengthen one of the ocean’s most diverse habitats.

Community Engagement 

The FIRST & U.S. Air Force Leadership Experience is back for the 12^th year! NEW this year, there will be two Leadership Experiences: June 23-27 (Patrick Space Force Base) and July 21-25 (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base)! This summer, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force will be hosting 24 lucky FIRST^® Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition mentors & coaches per Leadership Experience (must be a K-12 teacher within the continental USA) for a 3-day, 4-night all-expenses paid trip filled with leadership training, guest speakers, and amazing tours. If you’re interested, please submit an application by Friday, May 17, 2024, for consideration. Good luck!

FIRST^®  Signing Day – May 20 (Global): Be sure to join the celebration of the 2024 graduating class on May 20. Join FIRST on Instagram by posting and sharing celebration and recognition of the Class of 2024 with the hashtag #firstsigningday.

FIRST Scholarship Program Spotlight: High School Student Opportunity: FIRST Scholarship Provider TKS, is a top innovation program for students ages 13-17 is recruiting students to join their Fall 2024 Program and is offering a scholarship to FIRST students. Forward this to students to use the scholarship code TKSFIRST when applying to receive one month of tuition if accepted! In 10 months, students gain real-world work experience with organizations like Google, Meta, Microsoft, the World Economic Forum and Mastercard and understand emerging technologies like AI, Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Regenerative Medicine, Nanotech, and Blockchain. They will be mentored by industry professionals and build projects that can be used to stand out in university and career applications and internships. Applications are due Friday, May 31. Send students here to apply!