Thank you, SOFWERX!
As we spend the last few days readying for the Houston FIRST Championship, we want to take some important time to say Thank You – Thank you to our mentors, family and friends, who have been doing so much to help us prepare for the international Houston FIRST Championship, and thank you to our sponsors, who are helping us meet expenses for this exciting opportunity.
One of our most generous donors this season is SOFWERX. SOFWERX was created under a Partnership Intermediary Agreement between Doolittle Institute, which is also FIRST LEGO League affiliate partner in North Florida, and the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Located in Tampa, FL. SOFWERX’s goal is to bring the right minds together to solve challenging problems for the war fighter. But they do some amazing community good in the process.
SOFWERX is a huge friend of FIRST and STEM education in Tampa, annually donating over $10,000 to area teams, plus co-hosting an annual live FIRST Robotics Competition kick -off in partnership with our nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Foundation for Community Driven Innovation (FCDI). SOFWERX also provides professional engineering pre-bag & tag reviews for the FIRST Robotics Competition teams, and sponsors FIRST LEGO League tournaments in Hillsborough County. SOFWERX has also contributed to FCDIs Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center (AMRoC) Fab Lab, where we’re the program’s first “house” team. SOFWERX also has a great internship program that many FIRST alumni have been part of, including our own Ryder Fitzpatrick.
We’re very grateful for their support and will do our best to make it loud and proud for SOFWERX and everyone helping us get to the FIRST Championship in Houston!
Thank you!
A Look Back at the FIRST Championship
Our videographer, Ryder, put together this great look at the FIRST Championship – enjoy!
Save the Date! i.am.FIRST- Science is Rock and Roll airs Aug. 14 on ABC @ 7pm!
From PC Magazine:
The special pairs robotics legend Dean Kamen—who also founded FIRST, an organization devoted to pushing kids to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields of research—with Will.i.am, supposedly still Intel’s director of creative innovation and a robotics builder in his own right.
The back-to-school special was filmed during the FIRST Championship 2011 so it has a handy 30,000 extras in the form of students, fans, families, educators, and industry leaders who gathered in St. Louis, MO for the Championship in April. Set the Tivo and check it out ! Better yet, grab your team mates and make a night of it!
Team Duct Tape 