​To All League Teams and Our Many Dear Friends,
 
Marion and I have had the pleasure of serving as Affiliate Partners for San Diego FTC for 10 seasons.  But the time has come for us to pass the baton.  We will be retiring from our role as Affiliate Partners at the end of this season. 
 
Over the last 10 years, the San Diego FTC Region has seen strong growth – from fewer than 20 teams and a single tournament in 2007 to over 60 teams and 17 meets/tournaments/championships today.  Along the way, thousands of students have had the chance to get inspired about science and technology.  It has been a pleasure and an honor to be part of this.
 
It is important to bring in new leadership with the energy and vision to continue expanding FIRST Tech Challenge in San Diego to reach more teams, while keeping it fun and relevant.  We have identified a successor who is well-qualified to do exactly that, and we will announce the incoming Affiliate Partner by the end of this season.   Although retiring as Affiliate Partners, we will stay on in a more limited role coordinating the Regional Championship tournaments in 2018 and 2019.
 
We would like to say “thank you” to the coaches, mentors, and parents who have invested so much of their time and energy in making FTC San Diego successful.  We are grateful to you for your partnership, ideas, support, and hard work over the years.  Making FTC San Diego thrive is truly the work of many hands, and we have been blessed to be partners with you.
 
With gratitude,
 
John and Marion Brooks
FIRST Tech Challenge Affiliate Partners, San Diego
 
P.S.  As part of the transition, effective immediately FTC San Diego will begin using a new email address for all communications:  [email protected].   Please make a note of this new address and try to use it instead of [email protected].  Of course, we will monitor both accounts for the time being.

Our FTC Affiliate Partners have provided specific details on which 9 teams will advance from each of the four League Tournaments on Feb 4 and 5. See the League Meet page http://www.sdftc.org/league-meets.html

Check your robots BEFORE Field Inspections at the League Tournaments next weekend!

SD Teams – Please see information below about a workshop offered this weekend. 
 
Team Inspiration 11128 will be holding a Robot Open house this Sunday Jan 29 from 1-3pm, focusing on software and autonomous. This way, all the teams can learn from each other before the big competition next Saturday. If you'd like some help troubleshooting a software problem, or want access to a full field to try your autonomous program, come and bring your robot. Bring anything you think you'll need. 
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​Location: Scripps Ranch Area.  If you're interested in participating, RSVP to Inspiration at [email protected] or [email protected] to get directions and details. Please include the number of people coming.

On Wed Jan 25 and Thu Jan 26, San Diego FTC teams staffed a booth at the Fleet Science Museum's High Tech Fair held at the Balboa Park Activity Center. The objective was to show middle and high school students as well as the community that FIRST Tech Challenge is a fun and rewarding program that gets students ready for careers in STEM. Green.Griffins 10092, Rise of Hephaestus 4216, and RoBowties 6137 were represented over the two day session. We had display robots, a demo robot for students to drive along, and information about upcoming championships for spectators and web and email contacts for further details. We're hoping to recruit at least a few new teams in the San Diego FTC League for next season!

Meet 3 Scores and Rankings from Sat and Sun are now posted:
http://www.sdftc.org/scores-and-rankings.html

and the updated League Standings at here:
http://www.sdftc.org/league-meets.html

​Good luck to all the teams in the Week 4 League Championships!

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is holding Envision, a conference for high school girls to learn about STEM careers on February 25 (sorry - it's the same day as the SD Regional). The conference is free and will be held at UCSD. Get more information and sign up here:
​http://ucsdenvision.wixsite.com/envision

It's great to hear about teams sharing their knowledge and resources with other teams in a Graciously Professional way over the course of the season! Kudos to 9920 Furious Falcons, 8606 Intergalactic Dragons, 10092 Green.Griffins, 9441 Syndicate, 5229 Dragons, 4216 Rise of Hephaestus, 6137 RoBowties!
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Are there other teams out there getting together? Any teams, especially rookie teams, need some help? Just email [email protected] and we'll have someone get in touch with you.