Hello Teams,
There have been several questions during the season
regarding the Michigan FIRST Progression of Programs.
This
year is the second year of the two-year program transition that it taking place
in Michigan.
Michigan runs FIRST LEGO League in Upper Elementary, and
FIRST Tech Challenge in middle school / junior high. The goal is to allow the students to grow
through the entire progression of programs, to develop and enhance their skills
through high school.
Beginning with the 2017 season, all Michigan FIRST LEGO
League Teams are to be made up of only upper elementary school aged students.
The appropriate grades to meet the criteria are determined by the local
public school district the team resides within. This applies to all
Michigan FIRST LEGO League teams, whether the team is school based or not. The decision was made to align the programs
to the local school progression, to enhance the opportunities for as many
students as possible.
If you wish to confirm how this applies to your team, please
send an email to michiganfll@gmail.com,
with the subject of “Michigan FLL Transition to FTC” and include your team
number and location in the body of the email.
Now is a great time to get an FTC kit and start playing
around with it. We happen to be giving them for free at this point to help with
the transition.
The requirement is just that you come to a spring
competition which we will have sometime after the FRC season, probably in late
April or May. That gives you lot of time after the FLL season to build your
robot and play with the kit. Then come September when the new game is announced
you will already have your kit.
Please address questions regarding FTC to Tammy at michiganftc@gmail.com.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we complete
this program transition.
Pamela Williamson
Michigan FIRST LEGO League Partner