A Note from Gail Alpert about the Broadcast of States!

It's finally time for the TV Broadcast of the State Championship.

When: Wednesday, May 29

Time:  8:00 PM

Where: WTVS (PBS) for viewers in Detroit/surrounding areas.

SIMULCAST on the Web: http://www.dptv.org/programs/robotics/

Check your provider for the channel number. Here are a few you can try:

U-verse 1056

Comcast 6 and 240

Bight House 11 and 211

If you miss the show and simulcast on Wednesday night, the show will be re-broadcast on Thursday at 4:00 PM.  There will be no simulcast at that time, but immediately following the Wednesday night simulcast, the show will be on demand at the same link:

http://www.dptv.org/programs/robotics/

Let's show Detroit Public Television what a large audience we are and how much we all love FIRST Robotics!

Summer Volunteer Opportunity

Any students that would like to work at the robotics summer camp hosted by the Monroe County ISD (taught by me), here is what you need to do.  Email me the dates you are available, and a brief description of your robotics experiences.  Please include teams you have participated on, mentored and/or coached, along with your BX experience.  This will be forwarded to Mr. Hite at the ISD.

There will be student assistants from VIRUS and Monroe Jefferson as well. There will be a programming class led by Katherine Hite to train volunteers that may need brushing up (or teaching) on programming.

The camps will be held June 24-28, July 8-12, July 15-19, and July 22-26 from 9:00 - 3:00 each day.  Please remember that our own summer camp will be the July 29 - Aug. 2.

I do not want you to sign up for the MISD camps, if you sacrifice working at our camp.  Ours is our top priority.  If you are not working this summer, and are interested in getting some service hours, or you are just interested in working with Lego Robotics some more, it is a great opportunity.  It would look good on a resume, scholarship application, college application, and of course, Dean's List consideration.

I will have room to take 3 people with me (though I will not wait for anyone that oversleeps or isn't there on time).  I believe we have a couple of student volunteers that can also drive.  We would leave SRE around 8:00, and should be back by 3:30 - 4:00 each day.  Each week is a different group of 16 students.  On Fridays, we will be taking a field trip to a robotics business and having a award ceremony/presentation.  The first three weeks are 3rd - 8th graders.  The last week is high school aged students.

The first to be selected will be the students with the most experience able to volunteer all 5 weeks (4 at MCISD and 1 at BX).  Then we will start filling in gaps with students that can commit for any of the full weeks.  Then we will fill with those that can only work certain days.

It should be a lot of fun and a great experience.  Please get me the email asap.  I will start forwarding them to Mr. Hite at the ISD.  Please be professional in your letter because Mr. Hite will do final selections, so don't assume he knows you like I do. :)

Important Links for 2014

Here are some links that will help you transition to the 2014 season!

2014 Returning Team Member Application

2014 FIRST Consent and Release

2014 Rookie Team Member Application

BX Summer Camp Worker Application

2014 Application to Coach/Mentor any BPS FIRST Robotics team

Applications for any K-8 BPS FIRST Robotics Teams for the 2013-2014 season

2014 Service Hour Reporting Form

Kroger Rewards Instructions  BEWARE - Double check that you pick our team (Bedford Express & Bedford High School) and not the Bedford Robotics Association which is not us.  Our number is 83887 and says Bedford EXPRESS.

Kroger Rewards "How to Report you Total" Tutorial Page

Elder Beerman Sign Up

Elder Beerman Worker Chart

Application to be a Tutor

BX Webpage

Bedford Robotics Website

Private Team FB Page  (For team members, mentors and families only)

Public FB Page

FB page for Bedford Robotics

BX Twitter

Alumni Register

Summer 2013 Schedule

Summer Schedule - 2013

Please avoid planning any appointments on Thursday.  Thursday will remain our mandatory meeting night school year round. :)

• 6/18  Driver practice for MARC 7:00 – 9:00 PM
• 6/19  Driver practice for MARC 7:00 – 9:00 PM
• 6/20  Driver practice for MARC 7:00 – 9:00 PM
• 6/20 MARC (Michigan Advanced Robotics Competition) at Monroe High School –Set Up – Optional 10 AM – 8 PM (Record Service Hours if you help)
• 6/21 MARC – Schedule  BX will be arriving around noon.  Address/Information
• 6/22 MARC  - 8 AM – 5:15 PM
• 6/24 – 6/28 MCISD Summer Robotics Camp 1- 9:00 - 3:00
• 6/27 - Robotics Center Remodeling Meeting (anyone that wants to help us figure out how to best lay out the center, build shelving units, paint, etc.  Parents, mentors and team members welcome.  This is a planning session.)
• 6/28 - 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM  Downtown Business Presentation  
• 7/8 – 7/12 MCISD Summer Robotics Camp 2 - 9:00 - 3:00
• 7/15 – 7/19 MCISD Summer Robotics Camp 3 - 9:00 - 3:00
• 7/22 – 7/26 MCISD Summer Robotics Camp 4  - 9:00 - 3:00
• 7/29 - 8/2 BX Summer Robotics Camp for K - 8th graders  (Watch here for more info)

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

Thursday night's banquet was full of sadness over losing our seniors mixed with excitement for our incoming leaders.  Congratulations to Brandon, Taylor and Conner for being named 2014 captains and to Dianna, Parth, and Erin for being named co-captains.  We know with your leadership, you will continue to grow our team.  I am excited to hear your ideas and vision for our team!

Our seniors have contributed so much to our team.  We will miss them greatly!  Andrew, Kailey & Bekah, know that you have a very special spot in all of our hearts!  We look forward to witnessing the great things in your future.  Andrew, we have coached you since junior high, and it is hard to imagine not seeing you at practice and on our team!  Kailey, we met you as a freshman, and you have learned so much about FIRST robotics.  You will always be a part of our family!   Bekah, I will miss having my daughter on my team, but I look forward to this new chapter in your life! All of you should visit often, and we look forward to the day when you will be able to mentor our team (or any team you end up near)!  I know you will miss being on a team, but you will just get to see a new side of being on a team now!  Take the next year and figure out what college is like, and then we will see you back if you are ready.

I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for the wonderful blanket and gift card.  It was very nice of you.  Nick, Hannah & I were honored by this.   This year has been full of many wonderful memories that will not soon be forgotten.  Having the blanket to remind us of all of you is very nice.

I would also like to thank all of you that nominated Hannah, Bekah and/or myself for the Spirit of FIRST award.  I had someone else in mind when we discussed this award, but there is always next year! :)

I am going to start using this blog to pass information along about our team.  I will post a link on FB, and possibly email reminders, but this will be my primary method of communication.  This way, those without FB can keep in touch.  Please make sure you bookmark it and try to read it regularly.  This will be easier to find information on that our FB posts and billion emails. :)

Currently, we have our 2014 applications out.  If you have not signed up for next year, you may do so here:
Returning Team Member Applications for 2014 
If you have friends that would like to join our team for next year, they can sign up here:
Rookie Team Member Application
And, if you are interested in mentoring our team, you can sign up here:
Mentor Application
Students may also get their registration finished with FIRST early.  You can do so here:   STIMS (Student FIRST Registration)  And Mentors can register with FIRST here:  Mentor Registration with FIRST

So, go get registering!