FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
FIRST® Community Challenge
Who will be next?
Issued by FIRST Team 1334
“Where science takes action.”
Oakville Trafalgar High School
1460 DEVON ROAD, OAKVILLE, ONTARIO, L6J 3L6, (905) 845-2875
info@1334.ca
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Red Devil Robotics
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Please email questions related to the challenge to:
OakvilleFIRSTcommunity@gmail.com
1460 DEVON ROAD, OAKVILLE, ONTARIO, L6J 3L6, (905) 845-2875
info@1334.ca
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
FIRST® Community Challenge
What We Did
We asked our Mayor to issue a Proclamation recognizing the impact FIRST® participants
and volunteers are having in our community especially in terms of encouraging our
youth to become science and technology leaders. We then planned a celebratory
event called "Oakville – a FIRST Community" that coincided with the 10th anniversary of
FIRST in Canada. All Oakville FRC, FLL and Jr. FLL teams came together on December
20, 2010 to hear the Mayor's Proclamation and to honor our two Oakville FIRST
Flagship Sponsors and 21 Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes. We also unveiled the sign we
created that declares Oakville, Ontario, Canada a FIRST Community. The sign has been
posted at the entrance to Oakville.
How to Get Started
We're hoping to see every FIRST team's town or city around the world become a FIRST
Community where your political leaders recognize the impressive impact FIRST is
having in creating the science and technology leaders of the 21st century. Wondering
how to get started? We've provided samples of all our materials including the criteria
we developed to define our town’s FIRST Flagship Sponsors and our town’s FIRST
Robotics Heroes, sample invitations and our event plan. If you have any questions
related to how to get started, please contact us at
OakvilleFIRSTcommunity@gmail.com. For questions about ordering signs, please look
for an updated posting with further details in the near future. (Ordering details for
signs will follow upon confirmation from the vendor.)
Who will be the next to rise to the FIRST Community challenge?
PRIZE ALERT
The next team to complete the challenge will win a sign to be posted at the entrance to
their town (the winning team will need to obtain their town’s permission to post the
sign). The estimated value of the sign is US$150. The winning team will be determined
by the earliest email received at OakvilleFIRSTcommunity@gmail.com that tells us how
you achieved community support, celebrated your heroes and also includes a photo of
your event. Every team who completes the challenge and provides their details to the
email address above will be included in the FIRST Community Honor Roll hosted at
www.othsrobotics.ca. The FIRST Community Honor Roll will include the team’s FIRST
number, team name and community name along with a link to your event photos and
award lists. With the help of all teams, soon the whole world will be one great big FIRST
Community!
Where science takes action.
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Table of Contents
Page #
Why the Challenge?
1
Suggested Steps to Gain Community Recognition of FIRST®
1. Ask.
2. Identify.
3. Invite.
4. Create a Theme.
5. Plan, Plan, Plan.
6. Join Together and Celebrate.
7. Send Us Your Details.
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
Ideas on How to Promote FIRST in Your Community
5
Appendix A: Mayor’s Proclamation & Regional Chair’s Letter of Recommendation 6
Appendix B: Our Town’s FIRST Flagship Sponsor & FIRST Robotics Hero Criteria
7
Appendix C: Sample Invitations
9
Appendix D: Our Event Plan
15
Where science takes action.
Page i
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Why the Challenge?
A critical mandate of FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) teams is to engage others in
the challenging fun that is FIRST in order to create science and technology leaders.
FIRST Team 1334 has taken this mandate to heart and we remain focused on
encouraging an environment where science and technology leaders are idolized in a
fashion similar to that of rock stars or professional athletes. In other words, creating a
community that celebrates science and technology heroes.
We are fortunate to have 4 FRC teams, 14 FLL® teams and 2 Jr.FLL™ teams in our town
this year and we hope to start a FTC® team in the near future. Although the four FRC
teams include public, Catholic and private schools, there was already a fairly strong
sense of community within these teams. The FRC teams often invite each other to
attend events, provide guest speakers or support each other’s fundraising events. We
would like all FRC teams in our community to work more closely with our FLL teams by
continuing to increase our mentorship roles and volunteering at the FLL regional and
provincial tournaments so FRC teams are aware of all the talent at this level. We do not
want to miss any opportunity to recruit enthusiastic new members for our FRC teams,
and we would like to create more events that include both FLL and FRC teams so the
members have every opportunity to get to know each other.
Early last fall, we decided that we needed to formalize our robotics community,
encourage and support our science and technology leaders at every age and obtain or
maintain political support for this process until critical mass has been reached and
young people dream of growing up to be famous scientists, inventors or technical
gurus. We also felt that the 10th anniversary of FIRST Robotics Canada was the perfect
time to begin a more formal recognition ceremony to thank the volunteers who are
responsible for all the fun we have in FIRST as well as to recognize sponsors who
support multiple FRC teams in our town.
Our overall premise is that we need to create, recognize and support science and
technology heroes in our own community and then join with others to do the same in
the broader community. We believe that if each FRC team is able to gain support from
their community to recognize their science and technology heroes, more people will
begin to take notice and we will also be setting goals for the younger or newer
participants in FIRST that encourage them to model exemplary behavior.
This approach will only truly work if we all rise to the challenge together. To create
science and technology heroes, we all need to celebrate our heroes along the way. We
are not just teams we are a community. The FIRST Community Challenge encourages
us to celebrate our community.
Where science takes action.
Page 1
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Suggested Steps to Gain Community Recognition of FIRST®
1. Ask.
Ask your local government to recognize the accomplishments of FIRST® in creating
science and technology leaders and, if your team has been volunteering mentoring
youth or in the broader community, ask for recognition of that too. If you have not had
a lot of press in your town, you may need to promote the accomplishments of FIRST by
including an attachment that gives examples of the extensive volunteering completed.
If you have more than one FIRST team in your town, include their accomplishments as
well since you will be asking for recognition of all FIRST participants, not just your
team. Also considering working together with other FIRST teams to obtain this
recognition. (For higher levels of government, working with other teams may be
critical, depending on your situation.) The Proclamation issued by our Mayor and the
Letter of Recognition issued by our Regional Chair (similar to the highest ranking
elected official in a county in the United States) have been attached in Appendix A for
your reference.
2. Identify.
Identify who qualifies as your town’s FIRST Flagship Sponsors and FIRST Robotics
Heroes. Ask other teams to nominate candidates too so you don’t miss anyone. The
criteria we developed are attached as Appendix B below.
3. Invite.
Invite your political representatives from all levels of government, the media, FIRST
teams, school board representatives, your FIRST Flagship Sponsors and your FIRST
Robotics Heroes. Keep track of responses. We used a single email account with several
people having access so different types of attendees could be tracked separately.
Sample invitations for the different types of attendees have been provided in Appendix
C below.
4. Create a Theme.
We decided on a theme for our event and used that theme to guide every decision. Our
theme was “joining together to celebrate FIRST in Oakville” and we used this to remind
each planner to include every FIRST team. This ensured, for example, that our FIRST
Robotics Heroes included people from each type of team (FRC and FLL). We also named
our event and used that name to brand everything we created. Our event name was
“Oakville - a FIRST Community”. This same phrase was used on our cupcakes, the
buttons we created and the awards given to our Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes and
our Oakville FIRST Flagship Sponsors. We encouraged other FRC teams to bring their
Where science takes action.
Page 2
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
robots for display and the FLL teams gave a demonstration for the Mayor and other
politicians. Of course, you will need an event plan and time to set up for your event.
We have attached our event plan as Appendix D below.
5. Plan, Plan, Plan.
Our event plan (in Appendix D) lists all the different things we organized prior to the
event day. Our team had scripts for each speaker on our team and we practiced and
revised as needed in advance of the event.
On the day of our event, we set aside about 3 hours to set up to make sure everything
was just right. Our team had a floor plan and decided on the vision for the event in
advance of the event day. When we arrived, we had a person in charge of each area of
the event – the entrance, the display area, and the presentation area. We had someone
dedicated to ensuring the politicians knew about any changes to the agenda and
understood the FIRST recognition line that we use at competition since we planned to
use that same method of welcoming our Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes to the stage.
We also arranged for a professional cameraman to videotape the entire event and our
Visual Media Captain set up a his own video recorder to create a time-lapse video that
shows the entire set-up and event in just 4 minutes.
6. Celebrate.
Bring your community together to celebrate FIRST and thank your town’s FIRST
Robotics Heroes and FIRST Flagship sponsors while making new connections and
building new relationships.
Most importantly, enjoy the party! It was a lot of work getting ready, but once the
celebration started we had fun and that should be your overall objective. If you are
having fun, your guests will be having fun too!
7. Send us your details.
Send us your details including: how you celebrated FIRST and your heroes in your
community along with a photo of your event, your team number, your team name and
your community name. For example, our information would be: FIRST Team 1334;
Oakville Trafalgar High School Red Devil Robotics; Oakville, Ontario, Canada along with
an attached photo. We would also like to include the team number and name of any
other FRC teams that joined you to celebrate or co-host. Please identify each team’s
role as clearly as possible. If you have an article or photos of your event on your
website and send us a link, we will also post your link in the FIRST Community Honor
Roll listing.
Where science takes action.
Page 3
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Once Set-Up Was Complete
Where science takes action.
Page 4
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Ideas on How to Promote FIRST® in your Community
Our town’s FIRST® teams have had many years to do outreach and have been very
successful at engaging our community. Lots of other teams have as well and are willing
to share their ideas with you. By the time we created this event, our politicians were
well aware of FIRST and the benefits our community gains from FIRST. We have listed
just a very few of the many events and presentations the Oakville FIRST teams have
done over the years. If your team is new or is the only one in your town, don’t worry.
You don’t have to do all of these things, they are just ideas. It hasn’t been hard to get
our local politicians to support FIRST in our town. Once they get to know about FIRST,
they all love it! One of the most common responses our team members and our
mentors get when we talk about FIRST with any adult is “I wish they had that when I
was in high school”.
Selected examples of how our town’s FRC® teams have promoted FIRST:
 Demonstrations at the Toronto Science Centre, the Canadian National Exhibition
and our town’s summer Midnight Madness event;
 Presentations to local elementary schools, school boards, Girl/Boy Scouts of all
ages, service clubs (E.g., Optimists), parent councils, and school events;
 Starting or mentoring LEGO® robotics programs to encourage new FIRST LEGO
League teams in an under serviced community, at elementary schools, and in
the private sector;
 Organizing food drives for the local food bank every Halloween;
 Creating an award winning float for our town’s Santa Claus Parade; and
 Volunteering with charities including those fighting childhood cancer.
Where science takes action.
Page 5
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Appendix A
Mayor’s Proclamation
&
Regional Chair’s Letter of Recognition
Where science takes action.
Page 6
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Appendix B
Our Town’s FIRST® Robotics Hero & Flagship Sponsor Criteria
Where science takes action.
Page 7
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
CRITERIA: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Flagship Sponsor & FIRST® Robotics Hero
FIRST®
Oakville FIRST® Flagship Sponsor Criteria
A private firm or an individual who:
 Sponsors more than 1 FIRST® team in the community AND
 Has provided mentoring to at least 1 of those teams.
Ideally, sponsorship of more than 1 team has continued for several years.
School Boards and other organizations which are publicly funded or whose primary
goal is to promote educational programs are not eligible for Flagship Sponsor status,
although individuals within these organizations are eligible to be Heroes if they meet
the criteria below.
All volunteers are valuable and through the donation of their time and expertise, FIRST
volunteers are the bedrock of our teams. Our volunteers also provide significant
services within our communities above and beyond the mentoring of youth. However,
in order to identify those volunteers who are heroes within our FIRST volunteer
community, FIRST Team 1334 developed the following criteria.
Oakville FIRST® Robotics Hero Criteria
An individual who has:
 Consistently demonstrated Gracious Professionalism™; AND
 Enthusiastically encouraged others to join FIRST® teams; AND
 Understands that FIRST is more than the robot, encourages team to strive for
excellence while allowing team the space to learn from their own mistakes; AND
 Consistently volunteers in the broader community through FIRST (and possibly
other charitable organizations); AND
 Continues to promote the mission of FIRST; AND
o Started one or more FRC® Teams; OR
o Mentored one or more FRC teams for 5 or more years including
consistently reaching out beyond their own team and volunteering with
younger FIRST teams (E.g., FLL®); OR
o Started/coached multiple FLL teams (especially if multiple locations) and
provided mentoring; OR
o Volunteered for over 3 years in a lead role at multiple FLL events; OR
o FRC members/alumni who are role models for FIRST during high school
and university as demonstrated by consistently:
 Demonstrating exemplary levels of mentoring and volunteering
with younger FIRST participants for a minimum of 4 years (E.g., FLL
or FTC® teams, or FRC teams for alumni); AND
 Volunteering at multiple tournaments; AND
 Providing leadership on their FRC team.
Where science takes action.
Page 8
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Appendix C
Sample Invitations
Where science takes action.
Page 9
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Sample FRC® Invitation – sent via email
Oakville – a FIRST® Community
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST® Robotics Canada (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology), FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics graciously
requests the assistance of FIRST Team 0000 [insert team name] to join our alliance as
we celebrate the accomplishments of all FIRST teams in Oakville including the
significant service provided by our many FIRST volunteers. His Worship Rob Burton
Mayor of Oakville will be recognizing FIRST participants, mentors, volunteers and
sponsors and we will join together to recognize Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes.
The party will begin at 3 pm on Monday December 20, 2010 at Oakville Town Hall and
the formal events will last approximately 45 minutes, followed by refreshments. The
media has been invited to attend and we encourage your whole team to join us. You
are welcome to bring your robot to the event for display. Please let us know if you
intend to do so.
FIRST Team 1334 has been working hard to identify Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes
past and present. However, if you have a robotics hero you would like to see
recognized, please provide the person’s name and a brief explanation of why you think
they should be considered for recognition as an Oakville FIRST Robotics Hero to
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com. Please include a photo of your nominee in action if
possible.
In order to assist with planning, please RSVP by December 10, 2010 to
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com and let us know how many team representatives
you expect to attend as well as if you plan to bring your robot. Your team alumni are
also welcome and should be encouraged to wear either one of your team shirts or their
college or university shirt, if applicable. As always, family members are also welcome
and are encouraged to join us.
We have also asked the Region of Halton, the province of Ontario and the federal
government to recognize the achievements of FIRST in terms of the contributions made
within our communities to create science and technology leaders for the 21st century.
Your team is welcome to join us for any presentations to these levels of government. If
the Region of Halton agrees to undertake a similar celebration, as we have suggested,
and you would like to help FIRST Team 1334 organize that event, please let us know.
If you have any questions, please contact FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics at
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you on December 20, 2010!
Here’s to Oakville, the 1st FIRST Community!
Cory Sulpizi
Student Captain
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Chuck Woods
Lead Mentor
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Where science takes action.
Page 10
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Sample FLL® Invitation
(sent via email and handed out at the FLL® Halton Regional)
Oakville – a FIRST® Community
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST® Robotics Canada (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology), FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics is pleased to
invite you and your team to attend a celebration of the accomplishments of all FIRST
teams in Oakville including the significant service provided by the many FIRST
volunteers to members of the Oakville community. His Worship Rob Burton Mayor of
Oakville will be recognizing FIRST participants, mentors, volunteers and sponsors and
we will join together to recognize Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes.
The party will begin at 3 pm on Monday December 20, 2010 at Oakville Town Hall
and the formal events will last approximately 45 minutes, followed by refreshments.
FIRST Team 1334 has been working hard to identify Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes
past and present. However, if you have a robotics hero you would like recognized,
please provide the person’s name and a brief explanation of why you think they should
be named one of Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes to
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com. Please include a photo of your nominee in action if
you have one.
In order to assist with planning, please RSVP by December 15, 2010 to
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com and let us know how many team members will
attend. On December 20, 2010, enter Town Hall through the main doors and you will
be guided to our venue. We encourage you to wear your competition shirts.
If you have any questions, please contact FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics at
oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you on December 20, 2010!
Here’s to Oakville, the 1st FIRST Community!
Cory Sulpizi
Student Captain
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Chuck Woods
Lead Mentor
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Where science takes action.
Page 11
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
December X, 2010
Sponsor
Address 1
City, Ontario
Postal
Re: “Oakville – a FIRST® Community”
Dear Sponsor Contact Name,
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST® Robotics Canada (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology), FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics is hosting a
celebration of the accomplishments of all FIRST teams in Oakville including the
significant service provided by the many FIRST supporters in the Oakville community.
His Worship Rob Burton Mayor of Oakville will be recognizing FIRST participants,
mentors, volunteers and sponsors and all of our FIRST teams will join together to
recognize Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes.
As a sponsor, or past sponsor, of a FIRST team in Oakville, you are cordially invited to
attend this celebration. The party will begin at 3 pm on Monday December 20, 2010 at
Oakville Town Hall and the formal events will last approximately 45 minutes, followed
by refreshments. The media has been invited to attend and we hope you will be able to
join us.
In order to assist with planning, please RSVP to oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com and
let us know how many will attend from your firm.
If you have any questions, please contact FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics at
OakvilleFIRSTcommunity@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you on December 20, 2010!
Here’s to Oakville, the 1st FIRST Community!
Cory Sulpizi
Student Captain
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Chuck Woods
Lead Mentor
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Where science takes action.
Page 12
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Hero Invitation
(sent via email using the Subject Line “You are Our Hero!”)
December X, 2010
Via Email
Hero’s Name
Hero’s Address
Dear Hero’s Name,
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST® Robotics Canada (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology), Oakville FIRST participants are pleased to
recognize you as an Oakville FIRST Robotics Hero. It is with great pleasure that we
invite you to be our honored guest at a celebration of the accomplishments of FIRST
teams in Oakville including the significant service provided by the many FIRST
volunteers to members of the Oakville community. His Worship Rob Burton Mayor of
Oakville will be recognizing FIRST participants, mentors, volunteers and sponsors and
all FIRST teams in Oakville will join together to recognize you as one of our robotics
heroes.
The party will begin at 3 pm on Monday December 20, 2010 at Oakville Town Hall
(1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville) and the formal events will last approximately 45
minutes, followed by refreshments. The media has been invited to attend and we hope
you will be able to join us. Your family members are also encouraged to join us for this
celebration of your contributions to FIRST.
In order to assist with planning, please RSVP to oakvillefirstcommunity@gmail.com.
You may also contact us at the same address if you have any questions.
We look forward to seeing you on December 20, 2010.
Thank you for helping to make Oakville the 1st FIRST community!
Sincerely,
Cory Sulpizi
Student Captain
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Chuck Woods
Lead Mentor
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Where science takes action.
Page 13
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
December X, 2010
Media
Address 1
Oakville, Ontario
Postal
Re: “Oakville – a FIRST® Community”
Dear Media Contact Name,
The mission of FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is to
inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in
exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills;
inspire innovation; and foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence,
communication and leadership.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST Robotics Canada, FIRST Team 1334 Oakville
Trafalgar High School Red Devil Robotics is pleased to invite you to attend a
celebration of the accomplishments of all FIRST teams in Oakville including the
significant service provided by the many FIRST volunteers to members of the Oakville
community. His Worship Rob Burton Mayor of Oakville will be recognizing FIRST
participants, mentors, volunteers and sponsors. In addition, all the public, Catholic and
private elementary and high school teams as well as independent teams in Oakville will
join together to recognize Oakville’s FIRST Robotics Heroes. We are not just teams - we
are a community.
The party will begin at 3 pm on Monday December 20, 2010 at Oakville Town Hall
(1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville) and the formal events will last approximately 45
minutes followed by refreshments.
In order to assist with planning, please RSVP by December 15, 2010 to
woodsc@hdsb.ca and let us know if you plan to attend.
If you have any further questions, please contact FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics at
woodsc@hdsb.ca or (905) 845-2875 mailbox 471.
We look forward to seeing you on December 20, 2010!
Here’s to Oakville, the 1st FIRST Community!
Cory Sulpizi
Student Captain
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Chuck Woods
Lead Mentor
FIRST Team 1334 OTHS Robotics
Where science takes action.
Page 14
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Appendix D
Our Event Plan
FIRST® Team 1334 Oakville Trafalgar High School Red Devil Robotics
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
FIRST® Community Event Plan
“Oakville – a FIRST® Community”
In honor of the 10th anniversary of FIRST® in Canada, we held an event at our Town Hall
and invited all FIRST teams – FRC®, FLL® and Jr. FLL™ – to attend and celebrate with us.
(Our town does not yet have any FTC® teams.) Joining FRC and FLL at a single
celebration in our town was a first and we were pleased to hear the positive response
from both FRC and FLL participants regarding this approach. FLL and FRC volunteers
and team members got a chance to make new connections and build on existing
relationships and the FLL teams were able to show off their robots to the Mayor and
the crowd. For FRC members who had not competed in FLL, they gained a whole new
appreciation for the talent required to compete in FLL.
We set-up a gmail account to send and receive mail so that we could split up the work
of sending all the invitations and still have a common location for responses. We chose
OakvilleFIRSTcommunity@gmail.com to ensure we were promoting FIRST and not our
team, although the invitations did mention our team since we were hosting the event.
Invitations were sent to:
 All Oakville FRC teams;
 All FLL teams in Oakvile and FLL teams that competed at the Halton Regional;
o FRC and FLL teams were asked to nominate people for consideration as
heroes. FIRST Team 1334 had developed a list in advance as well, but
wanted to ensure that we had not missed anyone;
o FRC and FLL teams were encouraged to bring family members;
 FRC Alumni;
 Politicians – including our representatives for each level of government;
 Media – television and print media;
 Sponsors (current and past);
 School board members – key staff and all trustees;
 Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes and Oakville FIRST Flagship Sponsors; and
 FIRST Robotics Canada and FIRST Headquarters
We planned the event with Town Hall staff and ordered drinks and custom cupcakes
with our sign replicated on them – “The 1st FIRST Community”.
We created Oakville FIRST Flagship Sponsor boards to display our Oakville FIRST
Flagship Sponsor logos prominently. We also created a series of Oakville FIRST
Where science takes action.
Page 15
FIRST Team 1334
OTHS Red Devil Robotics
Robotics Hero boards that lined the entrance to the seating area. We had photos of 3
heroes on each board.
FRC teams were invited to bring their robot (for display only) and their sponsor boards,
but no team promotional materials.
FLL teams were invited to bring their robots and we arranged for a field kit to be set up
so the FLL teams could give the Mayor a demonstration. The crowd really liked this
part of the event.
We prepared an agenda and a script for those speaking from our team. We rehearsed
the script in advance of the event.
We had representatives from our 2 Oakville FIRST Flagship Sponsors present to accept
framed certificates from Oakville FIRST participants and also spoke about each Oakville
FIRST Robotics Hero’s accomplishments (roughly 30 seconds each). In advance of the
event, we asked each FRC team to vet the 2 companies we proposed to name as
Oakville FIRST Flagship Sponsors and to let us know if they were aware of any others
who should be considered.
We researched all potential Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes and validated them against
the hero criteria we developed (attached in Appendix B). We inducted 21 people as
Oakville FIRST Robotics Heroes at our event. We intend to continue to identify heroes in
the future and to expand our list each year, as warranted. We located photos of each
hero for use in a slide show during the induction ceremony and also for use on the
Oakville FIRST Robotics Hero boards.
When we recognized each hero, they proceeded through a “FIRST congratulatory line”
consisting of 2 members from each FRC team, the Executive Director of FIRST Robotics
Canada and our elected officials who were present (we would have included the FLL
teams too, but we are fortunate to have 14 FLL teams and the line would have wrapped
around the stage!). Each hero was given a certificate of achievement with photos of
various FIRST events around the outside edge.
We designed two signs. “The 1st FIRST Community” sign will be posted at the entrance
to our town. “A FIRST Community” sign was designed for use by all other towns that
complete our challenge.
Our team arrived several hours in advance to ensure that everything was set up and we
asked the other Oakville FRC teams to arrive 30 minutes in advance to assist with last
minute preparations and to help with greeting guests, which they kindly did.
We arranged for professional videotape to be made and will provide a copy of the
edited video of the event to each of our heroes.
Media packages were prepared that included the bio for each of our heroes (i.e. their
accomplishments) as well as information about FIRST Robotics Canada.
No individual team information was displayed as this event was about FIRST in our
town and not about our individual teams.
Where science takes action.
Page 16