The Nerds of the North

Encouraging FIRST Participation

Our team recognizes the value of promoting FIRST programs and encouraging participation in FIRST. We volunteer at FIRST events to support already existing FIRST teams in all leagues. We also reach out to the community through robot demos and presentations to encourage forming new FIRST teams and volunteering at FIRST Events. Some of these have included:

VOLUNTEERING AT FIRST EVENTS: We fill a wide range of roles as judges, referees, emcees, and general volunteers at regional and state level FLL and  FTC events. We also provide FRC demo booths/presentations to promote the progression of FIRST programs.

COACH TRAINING: we volunteered at FIRST in Alaska’s new model of coach training, where we mentored 20 new FLL and FTC coaches through an entire season of robotics in just 1 week and then provided mock judging sessions for them.

COMMUNITY SCIENCE & ENGINEERING EVENTS:  We have provided robot demos and overview presentations of FRC robotics and our team’s goals at events such as the Science Pub event at the 49th State Brewery and the Engineering Week Banquet.

SCHOOL STEM NIGHTS & MINI MAKER FAIRE: We bring FTC and FRC robots a number of elementary and middle school STEM nights, as well as the annual Barnes and Noble Mini Maker Faire, where we help kids drive the robots around and talk to them about STEM and Robotics opportunities.

DIMOND HIGH SCHOOL EVENTS: We provide demos and activities as school based events such as freshmen night.

FIRST KICKOFF EVENTS: We organize, host, and facilitate a number of local and statewide FLL and FTC Kickoff events to help celebrate the start of each season and help connect teams with one another.

FTC WORKSHOPS: We host a series of online workshops for FTC members and coaches, providing insights into how to effectively run an FTC team.

OPERATION LEGO REDISTRIBUTION: We have taken the lead in repurposing 10 years worth of LEGOs from previous FLL competition tables, sorting and distributing them to FLL and FLL Jr. teams and communities across the state, free of charge. We have also developed a free online store to support this effort.

Blog Posts: FIRST Participation Themed Outreach