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Thanks to our Partner in Education PAL Georgia Power, our Center for Innovative Technology (CFIT) is now all geared up to offer students a whole new level of robotics! Through Georgia Power’s generous donation, middle schoolers in our county now have access to REV robotics technology advanced enough for them to compete in FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) competition.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) is an international organization focused on inspiring young people’s interest in science and technology. They have three major robotics and project-based programs for different grades. Each one builds on the previous one.
FLL – FIRST Lego League - Grades 4-8
FTC – FIRST Tech Challenge - Grades 7-12
FRC – FIRST Robotics Competition - Grades 9-12
We hope to leverage this starter kit with our 6th and 7th grade students as they transition from elementary FLL Lego robotics to the next stage of more advanced robotic technology.
More about BCSS robotics:
Over the past 5 years, BCSS has fielded between 1-3 elementary and/or middle school FLL teams per year at CFIT and one FRC team at Sims Academy through the support of Barrow 4H. This year, we have one middle school FLL Team through the Arts and Innovation Magnet (AIM) Program at CFIT and one high school FTC team at Sims Academy.
This year, our STEM/STEAM partners at Georgia Power have pledged their support to help us expand our robotics opportunities and have provided us with the funds to purchase our first FTC starter kit to be utilized with middle school students at the Ed Morrison Makerspace & Discovery Lab at the Center for Innovative Teaching (CFIT). This support will provide our school system with new opportunities for younger middle grades students to explore advanced robotics as early as 6th grade.
BCSS Director of Innovative Learning, Lee Bane, says, “Currently, our inaugural high school FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) team at Sims this year is competing under the leadership of Ben Manning, Dylan Clark, Gretchen Hollingsworth, and Amanda Manning. They're doing very well having finished in the top 10 of every single remote event they've participated in this year. These successful rookies are poised to qualify for the regional competition later this spring.”
Our AIM program at CFIT is currently fielding an FLL Competition Team who has been working throughout the first semester of the school year. They will be submitting their final robotics performance videos and presentations to the virtual FLL Regional Competition Committee for Northeast Georgia. Let’s wish them all well in their efforts!
