courtesy of FIRST Robotics
High school teams from across Virginia will converge on Richmond March 19-20 to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition.  The two-day competition is free and open to the public.  Midlothian, James River and L.C. Bird high school student teams will be three of more than 60 teams competing in the regional tournament, which includes Virginia and four other states.

The FIRST Robotics Competition Virginia Regional is an annual event that challenges students, working with professional mentors, to design and build a robot as a solution to a technical engineering problem. The challenge changes each year. This year’s challenge is a high-tech soccer game called “breakaway.”

The event will be held at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Stuart C. Siegel Center located at 1200 W. Broad St. in Richmond from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20. For more details on the daily calendar events, click here. 
The competition was established over 20 years ago to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators and prepare them for the technologically advanced workplace of the future by designing a building a robot, competing in a series of challenges aimed at testing their robots, building alliances, and exercising teamwork and gracious professionalism.

About FIRST:
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $12 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.
About VirginiaFIRST
VirginiaFIRST is a regional non-profit affiliate of FIRST®.  Its mission is to make the FIRST® Vision and Mission a reality for every young person in Virginia.  To learn more about VirginiaFIRST, go to http://www.virginiafirst.org/frchome