Outreach
Outreach is a big part of FTC, and it is important to advocate and talk to the community. Our outreach events range from talking to kids at local events to meeting with Senators and Representatives about legislation that affects FIRST programs. The goal of doing outreach is to get the public more interested in STEM and FIRST activities, and to promote creativity. FTC has been a great experience for all of our team members, and we have lots of fun sharing that with others!
Below we have highlighted some of our favorite outreach events of this season.
Centerstage: 2023-2024
Presentation at Kickoff
Some of our team members made a presentation called Into to Documentation, and presented it for rookie teams at our kickoff event. The presentation went really well, and there were lots of good questions! If you would like to access the slides, use this link.
TWIST Target Tour
In July 2023, Saniyah, Abby, and Ayana attended a girls-only event at Target Northern Campus. There, Target shared information with us about how to empower ourselves to pursue STEM careers and seek out leadership roles. (TWIST is Target Women in Science and Technology).
Ramsey County Library Story Time
Our team went to the Ramsey Country Library in Shoreview twice this year during robot story time. We sang along, our robot danced, and we let kids and their parents drive. Everyone had lots of fun, and the kids were very interested in our robot!
SPARCS Infinity Robotics Tour
James and Harry went to a SPARCS IT tour at Infinity Robotics to learn about the importance of safety in robot-human interactions, how to reduce error in autonomous using different methods, and how to detect an object's position without using a full AI.
SPARCS Microsoft Tour
Some of our team members toured Microsoft to learn about how coding can be used in the real world, and to see some cool things that can be done with it. This tour was organized by SPARCS, a Minnesota youth technology development program for middle and high schoolers, which is a part of Minnesota State University.
Valentine Hills Carnival
Our team went to the Valentine Hills Elementary School carnival to show kids our robot and let them drive. They had lots of fun using our demo bot, SRG, and learning more about FIRST Robotics!
Meetings with MN State Legislators: Senator Gustafson, and Representatives Curran, Moeller, and Koegel.
We met with our State Legislators to discuss the current Education Omnibus bills HF2497, and SF____. We started by talking about how these bills can affect STEM nonprofits like High Tech Kids. We then talked about how robotics has impacted our lives and how we have benefitted from it. We also got to ask questions about how the bills work. We had an amazing time talking to them., and Senator Gustafson even said that she would mention us on the Senate floor!
Stratasys Tour
We learned about the many different types of 3D printing that Stratasys offers, including FDM and PolyJet. We also learned about the many different uses for 3D printing, including medical, aerospace, movie props, increased prototype efficiency, and many other things.
STEM Day at the Capitol
During this event (organized by High Tech Kids), we spoke to state representatives, state senators, staff, and our community about FTC and let them drive our robot. We had lots of fun sharing our experiences with them, and would love to go again!
UMN Rocket Team Visit
We met with the UMN Rocketry Team at the Aerospace Engineering building at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. During the meeting we listened to a presentation about the rocketry team and their different programs. We then had the opportunity to take a tour of a few of their workspaces. We also learned about their custom modular flight controller, and how it was designed and assembled to potentially apply to our custom robot controller.