Louisiana FIRST Tech Challenge Coaches,
We need your help to find a venue for our Regional Championship.
First, because of my delay in fixing a venue and because people are making Mardi Gras school break plans, we’re pushing the date of our Regional Championship later to March 26. This is about two weeks later than our target, but it’s the next clear weekend for key volunteers and many of our teams.
Previous venues are not available and we have not identified a replacement site. We need help to identify a venue – ideally, a high school gym, somewhat centrally located (think Hammond to Baton Rouge), with access to classrooms for judging interviews and deliberations. That’s about it. Double gyms or practice gyms are nice add-ons for space, but not needed. We can pay custodial fees or other costs associated with hosting the event, and host teams can fundraise with concessions and by managing the volunteer hospitality. And, if necessary, we can host this event on Sunday March 27 if the venue allows – this is common in other regions.
The late Championship means that our advancers (and Dean’s list Finalists if they’re invited to Houston) will not have a lot of time to fundraise for the Championship registration fee or extra travels costs between the State and World competitions.
For our Northshore Qualifier teams next weekend, we really want to have in-person Judging, but that requires 8 Judge volunteers who are willing to be on-site versus remote. Please reach out to your parent-employer networks for potential volunteers. We also need Referees, Scoring system operators, and other adult and student volunteers. Free training provided!
3. Denham Springs Qualifier
Awards and advancement for the Denham Springs Qualifier should be available late Saturday. We could not complete Judging last week because of the extended power outage. Thanks to everyone for their patience, and we’ll do our best to get awards out to everyone ASAP.