May Team Blast

House Bill 1382 Passed!

We did it! Thanks to your continued effort and dedication, there will now be an anticipated $3.5 million available from the state for competitive robotics for schools.  Special thanks go to FTC Team 12014 Fire Wires for all of their work toward making this bill come to fruition.

Now it’s time to get to work.  Every school-based team should apply for this money, we are working with the Department of Education and will update you when we have instructions on how to apply.  In our playbook we have a “course”  that outlines what we know so far.  There is a toolkit of resources for you to use to be ready for the application.  You can also use this toolkit to share with other schools to help them prepare.

This is a great opportunity to build out your pipeline and grow our community.  Contact schools in your area and encourage them to apply for the grant to start an FLL or FTC team. You should also contact neighboring schools to encourage them to apply for the money to start a FIRST team with your help!

Indiana Public School Superintendents – https://www.iapss-in.org/superintendent-directory

Indiana K-12 School Directory (xlsx file) – https://www.in.gov/doe/files/2022-2023-school-directory-2023-01-17.xlsx

Coming Soon:  Broad Ripple Art Fair

We have an outreach opportunity for teams on Saturday, May 20th and Sunday May 21st.  Consider bringing your team to the Broad Ripple Art Fair and staff our booth to share with attendees the impact of FIRST and how they can start teams.

The booth will be on grass.  Robots are welcome to show off, but not great for driving around.  We are looking for FLL, FTC, and FRC teams that want to help us grow FIRST.

Fill out this form ASAP and more information will be forthcoming.

https://forms.gle/cAKaQ4bjakLkHNBs8

Calling All FTC Teams:  The Future is Yours to Create

Do you want to make a greater impact in your community? Are you interested in helping FIRST inspire elementary and middle school students to be science and technology leaders and innovators? Can you help us grow the FINfam?

FIRST Senior Mentor Lori Langley is looking for FRC and FTC teams to start FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams for the fall 2023 MASTERPIECE℠ season, where teams will shine a spotlight on the role STEM plays in the arts.

Your team can get involved by mentoring a team, sharing resources, assisting with financial support, or providing a practice space. Lori will support you throughout the season to help you manage the team, plan lessons, stay on schedule, prepare for competition day, and have fun!

Our goal is to offer an FLL Challenge qualifying tournament for all of the FRC and FTC-supported teams to attend as a community-building celebration, but we need your help! If you are interested in starting and supporting an FLL Challenge team or hosting a qualifying tournament, please contact Lori Langley: llangley@firstinspires.org.

The MASTERPIECE℠ challenge debuts August 1, 2023, so don’t delay! Let’s work together to imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QArg43rCMBA

FIRST Mentor Network

Is your team in need of mentors?  Did you know that you can set up a FIRST Mentor Network profile in your dashboard and then your team will be visible to potential mentors in your area.

Visit the FIRST Mentor Network site – https://info.firstinspires.org/mentor-network

After setting up your profile, start posting links to it on social media.  Create a one-pager and share with your local chamber of commerce.  Share it with your local sponsors to encourage mentorship.  Take a flyer with you to local outreach events and hand out to adults.  Create a poster with a QR code encouraging people to sign up to be mentors.  Use – canva to create your poster- printing is inexpensive.

Registration & New Storefront Items

Save the date!  May 18th is when registration for the CENTERSTAGE season will open.

AndyMark Game Set Orders:
We’d like to share some exciting news on the options for teams to purchase FIRST® Tech Challenge game sets for the 2023-2024 season.

FIRST Tech Challenge Storefront 

On Saturday, 9-September-2023 at 12:00pm eastern time, AndyMark game sets will be available for purchase through the FIRST Tech Challenge storefront. This means that teams will be able to use 2023-2024 season grant funding to purchase their game sets!

AndyMark Pre-orders – North America and International

On Thursday, 4-May-2023 at 12:00pm eastern, AndyMark game sets were made available for purchase through the AndyMark website.

Please note that grant money secured through FIRST cannot be used through the AndyMark website. Teams wishing to use their grant money secured with FIRST must use the storefront when purchasing opens in September 2023.

Please see our latest blog for pricing and ordering instructions.

Follow Us

The FTC Twitter account has officially been retired.  You can find all FTC & FIN news at:

We encourage coaches, parents, team members and fans to follow us on social media to keep up with all the latest information!

In Case you missed it…

Return to Qualifying Tournaments

After much conversation with coaches, event hosts, and volunteers regarding the competition format for FIRST Tech Challenge, we are excited to announce that for the 2023-2024 season, Indiana will return to Qualifying Tournaments!  Our priority is to provide the best experience possible for our students, and we believe this is the right move for next season.

Read more about this change on our blog.