Volunteering for Northern California FTC
Overview
FIRST Tech Challenge is an international head to head competition. Small teams of high school students design, build, program and test a Tetrix-based robot controlled with one of 2 programming languages: RobotC or Labview. Students acquire skills such as problem solving, project management, community involvement, critical thinking and teamwork: skills necessary to their future and the future of society.
This 2011 FTC season, approximately 80 NorCal teams of up to 10 members will compete in the Northern California Championship. We need two types of volunteers: specialty/technical roles (such as judges and referees) that require training or prior experience, and general roles that do not. We are seeking adult volunteers for both types of positions, but can also utilize high school students for some of the general roles.
Interested? See Descriptions of Volunteer Roles
| Northern California Tournaments | ||
Date |
Tournament Location & City |
Sign Up to Volunteer |
|---|---|---|
Saturday 11/5 |
Website DeVry University in Fremont |
Thank You! |
Sunday 11/20 |
Website Heritage HS in Brentwood |
Thank You! |
Saturday 12/3 |
Website Sequoia HS in Redwood City |
|
Sunday 12/18 |
Website Irvington HS in Fremont |
|
Saturday 1/15 |
Website Intel Folsom |
|
Saturday 1/21 |
Website Jefferson HS in Daly City |
coming soon... |
Sunday 1/22 |
Website Oak Ridge HS in El Dorado Hills |
|
Saturday 1/28 |
Website Lincoln HS in Lincoln |
|
Saturday 2/4 |
Website Valley Christian HS in San Jose |
coming soon... |
We need two types of volunteers: Judges & Inspectors & Referee roles (and other specialty roles) that require training, and General roles that do not. We are seeking adult volunteers for both types of positions, but can also utilize high school students for some of the general positions. We have a new volunteer googlegroup for General Volunteers which can be:
For all volunteers: feel free send email to ftcvolunteer@playingatlearning.org. |
||
Help Recruit
Please
help recruit additional volunteers: Pass this URL along
to anyone you think may be interested in volunteering. FLL tournaments
are fast-moving, exciting, and rewarding. One you will remember!
.... But I don't know anything about Engineering or Robots!? and other misconceptions
Each event requires
many volunteers with a broad spectrum of talents to support teams, volunteers,
audience members and competition demands. We cannot hold the competitions
without volunteers. A variety of volunteer positions are available including both
technical and non-technical. Many positions are available for those with
no prior experience with robotics or even similar competitions. Training for judges and referees is available. The best judges are those that are interested in supporting youth and asking questions. Judging is an interview and observation type of activity.
Help Recruit Please help recruit additional volunteers: Pass this URL along to anyone you think may be interested in volunteering. FTC tournaments are fast-moving, exciting, and rewarding. One you will remember!
Why Volunteer? It's Fun! It's Inspiring! and it does Make a Difference. FIRST Works!
Dress Code is Casual - you will probably want to wear comfortable shoes. Judges will be sitting for part of the day and walking around talking / observing teams the rest of the day; Referees will be mostly standing.
Since Judges and Referees are the decision making crew of a tournament, we require that they be adults that are not affiliated with a 2011-2012 FTC team - this is why we need you!
Getting Involved
Like other judging activities such as science fairs, there is a set of criteria that are defined to help evaluate teams. Volunteering for FTC is a great way to get involved to help budding young scientists and engineers launch their careers, as well as to increase the supply of technical professionals that will be available to industry a few years from now. It’s also an easy and fun way to get involved in the community. Additionally, we love when companies step up to host an event, as that has an amazing impact not just on the youth but also on their parents and family.Almost any adult can be a judge or referee. Among the common concerns or misconceptions:
- I’m not qualified. For judging, most any adult would be able to evaluate the teams in many of the areas. In addition, judges work in teams and we try to pair experienced judges with rookies. Experience with robotics, software, mechanics or Tetrix robots is not required, but is helpful to have technical aptitude for judging the robot design awards.
- It’s too hard to learn. As to judges, most tournaments already have a group of experienced judges to help newcomers learn - the program is growing so fast that we always need more. We provide training materials as well as conference calls to answer questions. The referees' role is a bit more complicated - the game changes each year. The game rules require attention to detail during the fast paced nature of each match. There is good training available including both self-paced and conference calls.
- It’s too big a committment. Tournaments need just a few hours of training ahead of the day, plus the one-time appearance of about 8 hours. While we have a great group of "serial volunteers" and who would love to see again, organizers understand if you can’t make it to multiple events or even every year due to personal committments, travel or work deadlines.
- It’s too far to go. We have teams coming in from all major areas of Northern California - if driving is an issue, we can try to coordinate a carpool.
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Last Updated: 12/18/2011 8:54 PM