Please forward on to those interested in promoting engineering to young people!  

FIRST LEGO League tournament season is upon us.


I wanted to ensure that you knew that FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition 
of Science and Technology) has selected Food Safety as this year's theme 
for the 2011 LEGO robotics competition. 


FIRST LEGO League is a high impact, informal education opportunity for 
youth. This year, there are an estimated 170,000 youth in US 
and in over 55 countries involved in FIRST LEGO League. 

In California, there almost 10,000 youth participating in 
FIRST LEGO League with about 1/3 of these in Northern California.  

It is a great way to join in on the fun and excitement of science, 
technology and engineering and share this with our young people.


Prior year themes were on climate issues, energy issues, 
nanotechnology, and space exploration.  This year's theme is 
all about food safety.

The students acquire skills such as problem solving, time 
management, project management, critical thinking and 
teamwork: skills useful for them now,  necessary to their 
future and the future of  society. 


We are  seeking tournament volunteers for events between November 
and February and would appreciate it if you could share this opportunity. 
We have a critical need for judges and referees for the many 
November FIRST LEGO League tournaments. 

Most tournaments are day long events  and there is just a small 
amount of prep (about 2 hours) involved in being a judge or referee.  
Good training materials exist as well as support 
through video, conference calls and email.

Tournaments are fast moving, exciting and inspiring  to see so 
many young people excited about engineering  and science.  It is 
one you will remember and well worth your time!  It is hard to 
adequately describe.


All events are free and open to the public, so if you or others 
would like to learn more first before signing up to volunteer, 
feel free to drop by.  


Learn more about the tournament locations and volunteer roles 
at:   http://www.playingatlearning.org/FLL/volunteer.html


All events rely on local volunteers to organize and provide 
this opportunity to celebrate young people's accomplishment 
related to engineering and science.