Welcome Jaye to NorCal FLL Explore program (and more)

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Jill Wilker

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Oct 5, 2023, 5:48:59 PM10/5/23

to norca...@googlegroups.com, fll-e...@playingatlearning.org

A couple of updates for you.

1. A huge welcome to Jaye Heimlich. Jaye joins Playing At Learning as the NorCal FLL Explore Program Coordinator having recently relocated from Australia. We are super excited to welcome her! Jaye is a FIRST alumnus and long time FIRST Australia coordinator. She is already ramping up quickly and brings great energy and passion for this program. You can reach both of us at fll-e...@playingatlearning.org

2. All of our NorCal Festivals will be scheduled between December and April this season. We are hard at work to get locations/dates confirmed! If you have any suggestions on good places that can host a Festival, please reach out to fll-e...@playingatlearning.org . A quick guide on what it takes to host is available here. The program is growing, so we need more hosts!

3. Sponsors, we need sponsors! If you attended a Festival last season, you likely heard from me that we are one of the largest FLL Explore regions (in the Top 5 across North America!) but we have no program sponsors. While we continue to work on this (want to help - here is our general sponsorship doc), we are going to have to increase our Festival registration team cost to $200.

4. More information on how this season's event registration will work will be coming in the next few weeks. In the meantime, what you can do to prepare is make sure that your team has 2 screened, adult coaches that have completed all of the FIRST-required YPP, consent forms, etc. AND that your FIRST team roster is complete with all team members listed. More information about the FIRST Team Roster is available here.

5. Looking for moving ideas! With the long mat being used for FLL Explore models (approaching 18" x 37"), it makes it challenging for the team to move everything quickly/easily to attend their Review session at a Festival. FIRST recommends (and we agree) that having the team go to a separate area/room for Reviewing is much better than trying to talk to a team at their team pit table. Looking for ways to help teams, so if you have suggestions on affordable options that make the team's creations easier to move, let us know.