McAllen, Texas – The excitement of robotics in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is at an all time high and there is a wide-spread belief that there will be an enormous demand for FIRST programs this coming school year.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), founded by inventor Dean Kamen has been organized in the RGV for just more than 3 years. The focus of FIRST is to inspire students K-12, in an annually changing challenge, to become STEM leaders of tomorrow. FIRST is more than just robots as students must program, build and compete in a task based robotics program while keeping an engineering notebook of the journey and doing their part to tell the community about the impact and adventure of the team.

Local leadership will be opening registration on May 10, 2018 at noon (CST). Due to the local demand, the following total teams will be accepted by program.

FIRST Lego League Jr (FLLJr) – 150 teams
FIRST Lego League (FLL) – 120 teams
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) – 160 teams
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) – 15 teams

Teams consist of age appropriate students of 3-12 members; except for FRC which allows up to 20 members per team.

NOTICE — Registrations will be accepted on a first come, first served.

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Timeline for the 2018 – 2019 season in the Rio Grande Valley.

May 10, 2018 – Registration opens for all programs (http://events.firstrgv.org)

June 20, 2018 – Registration closes for FLLJr, FLL and FTC (FRC remains open)

September 30, 2018 – Payments due or Purchase Orders Uploaded

October, 2018 – Scrimmage Events (FLL/FTC) (Practice)

November, 2018 – Competition Season Starts (FLL / FTC)

February, 2018 – Finals / RGV Championships (FLL / FTC)

March, 2018 – State Finals (FTC)

April, 2018 – World Championship (FLL,FTC,FRC)