FIX IT set up a FIRST exhibit at the British Columbia Teachers Conference in Vancouver. In partnership with FIRST Canada FIRST Robotics Competition representatives, we pulled off a pretty exciting display. Teachers were encouraged to drive small driver bots made with FTC technology, and talk about how their students could participate in a FIRST program. Many of the 6,000 teachers came through the exhibit during the 15 hours of the event.
This event was a great chance to collaborate with the Vancouver FTC team, Elgin Robotics, and their students came to help us run the FIRST table and driver bot stations. We invited four FLL teams to come and practice with their robots on the table, and to help illustrate the FLL game to teachers. Unfortunately, none of the Vancouver FRC teams could participate.
It was really interesting to see how many teachers had heard of FIRST before, and how many we had the pleasure of introducing to the exciting opportunity. Often, teachers wanted to know how their students would be able to participate, but also how it was run, more as a club or a class. It was a great opportunity to practice our FIRST elevator pitches, developed during the hours of talking to educators.
One of the highlights was meeting the superintendent for SD 61, Victoria! He was very interested in getting FIRST programs in their schools, which are currently under-represented at our Championship.