Hi ,

Here's some updates and news from FIRST^® Tech Challenge.

In this week's blast:

✅Request for Proposals – FIRST^® Championship presented by BAE Conferences

🏆Best Practices for Animation and Storytelling: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

⛄Team Blast Pause for the Holiday

🎁 Today's Gift, Tomorrow's Innovators

Request for Proposals – FIRST^® Championship presented by BAE Conferences
FIRST is currently accepting proposals for conference sessions that will be running Wednesday, April 29 - Friday, May 1 at the 2026 FIRST Championship presented by BAE Systems. Students, mentors, educators, coaches, volunteers, staff, and sponsors are welcome to submit a proposal before our January 31 deadline. Presenters will be notified in late February if they have been selected. Apply now!   

If you have questions, please reach out to the Championship Conferences team.  

Best Practices for Animation and Storytelling: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Webinar 2 of 2 on the FIRST Digital Animation Award: Join students from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD) program on January 5, 7–9 p.m. ET for this FREE webinar to learn more about best practices for animation and storytelling, and the opportunity to get valuable feedback on your award videos in advance of the FIRST Digital Animation Award entry submission deadline, January 12!  

WPI is offering a team grant to the winning team ($2,000 value) and a $1,000 WPI scholarship to ANY student who is a member of a team that submits an entry. Review Digital Animation Award details. 

Register Now!  

By signing up for the webinar, you will be asked to supply personal data to WPI for this event. This data will be subject to WPI’s privacy policy. You should review WPI’s privacy policy and understand how your data will be used before sharing your information. 

Team Blast Pause for the Holiday
FIRST Headquarters will close at 3:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, and will resume normal business hours on Monday, December 29, 2025. FIRST Headquarters will also be closed on Thursday, January 1, 2026.

The Team Blasts will be paused in observance of the holidays. The next Team Blast will take place Monday, December 29 and then regular scheduled Team Blasts will begin again on Thursday, January 8. 

Today's Gift, Tomorrow's Innovators: Act before December 31
Our community makes FIRST possible. Your time, mentorship, advocacy, and generosity fuel life-changing STEM experiences for students everywhere. A year-end gift today ensures more young people can build their skills, dream big, and #GetAnywhere.

Make your impact before December 31 and help FIRST finish strong! Donate today.