| 2007 NYC FIRST LEGO League Announcement
Another great year for New York City FIRST LEGO League is well underway!
Registration has been open since April, and the number of FLL teams registered from
NYC is running significantly ahead of what it was last year at this time. The Big Apple
has a real case of FLL Fever!!!
Over the past six years, New York City FIRST LEGO League has grown
tremendously. In 2001, in partnership with Polytechnic University, we started with a
citywide event including 25 teams packed into a gym at New York City College of
Technology. Last year we had our largest season ever with 191 teams from across the
City registered to be part of the 2006-07 FLL Nano Quest Challenge.
With success come new challenges. One of the challenges we face is how to
accommodate all the NYC FLL teams that want to participate. Many of you will recall
that a few years ago we instituted a second NYC FLL Championship Tournament at
Riverbank State Park in order to accommodate the growing number of teams from the
City. These two events gave us the capacity to accommodate up to 160 teams.
Our projections indicate that we need to accommodate many more teams in the
2007-08 season. Therefore, we are instituting a number of significant changes in our
tournament structure. Below are highlights of what we have planned:
• Up to five qualifying tournaments will be held around the five boroughs during the
month of December, 2007. Each qualifying tournament will include the same
scoring and the full set of technical and research judging, robot competition, and
other FLL awards as teams have experienced in the past at the NYC FLL
Championship Tournament. These qualifying tournaments will have the same level
of engagement, excitement and high standards that teams experience at FLL
tournaments worldwide.
• On average, each of the five qualifying tournaments will accommodate 50 NYC FLL
teams, enabling the participation of 250 teams from across the City. As in years past,
a small registration fee will be charged by the organizers of the qualifying
tournaments to help pay for these events.
• There will be only a one-day New York City FIRST LEGO League Championship
held at Riverbank State Park in January, 2008, instead of two. This tournament will
accommodate up to 80 teams.
• In order to participate at the 2008 New York City FIRST LEGO League
Championship, teams must qualify at one of the five qualifying tournaments. The
criteria for qualification will be announced shortly.
• The Champions Award winner from the NYC FLL Championship will be eligible to
receive an invitation for the FLL World Festival at the Georgia Dome based on
criteria set by FIRST LEGO League headquarters in Manchester, NH.
• In the event that our fundraising efforts fall short, it may be necessary to charge a
registration fee for the NYC FLL Championship. We will do everything we can to
avoid such a measure and will give teams as much advance notice as possible in the
event that a fee has to be charged.
Our goal is to make a quality FLL experience possible for every team that
registers. We appreciate all the enthusiasm and hard work that teams and their teachercoaches
put into the experience. The NYC FLL Planning Committee, those wonderful
volunteers who make FLL possible in the City, have thought long and hard about the best
way to address the challenges brought about by the growing popularity of FLL.
For those of you out there who want to help grow FLL events across the City
please step forward. Give us a hand to make the FIRST celebration possible for even
more students and help our City’s kids prepare to face their futures with greater
confidence, competence and ability. If you would like to get involved, please let us know by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Sincerely,
Mark Sharfshteyn, Chairperson
NYC FIRST LEGO League Planning Committee |
