PCEC News
PCEC Hosts FIRST Tech Challenge Kick-off
September 09, 2019
On Saturday, September 7, nearly 300 students, parents, coaches, and mentors met up on the Pew campus for the FIRST Tech Challenge kick-off. The Padnos College of Engineering and Computing (PCEC) hosted twenty-one local teams for the official kick-off to the FTC season.
The kick-off included morning workshops in chassis-building, programming, best practices in scouting, strategy, design, CAD, and more. At noon the 2019-2020 game, SKYSTONE, was revealed with great excitement. The afternoon featured break-out sessions for the teams and an opportunity to see the competition playing field. FTC and FRC teams from Kentwood and Allendale shared coordination for the day’s events.
FTC of Michigan is unique in that the competitors are grades 6-8. According to the FIRST website, teams are challenged to “design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team.” PCEC supports many FIRST Robotics events including kick-offs, workshops, competitions, and a full FRC practice field. For more information on PCEC’s involvement, please contact Sara Maas at [email protected].