Outreach
Our team motto states: Wired Up has a desire to Inspire.
Outreach is defined as the act of extending services, benefits, etc., to a wider section of the population. In all parts of the FIRST program, outreach is an aspect of the program that is heavily emphasized. Wired Up takes outreach very seriously, and ensures that everyone in the community knows about FIRST in Denver.
School Outreach
5th Grade Recruitment Presentation:
As part of our sustainability, we held a presentation for the fifth grade at Denver to get them involved with FLL, and eventually FTC. The students during the presentation were very intrigued by the robot and what we do as a team, and we ran out of time because there were so many questions!
School Board Presentation:
Since our school helps us in many ways with the program, we decided that it would be a good thing to update them on our season. Some of the board members were only vaguely aware of the program, and so it was great to hear their thoughts on our season, and see their interest in the program.
Local Outreach
Lions Club Presentation:
The Lions club presentation served two purposes, to inform the Lions about FIRST and FTC, and to discuss a possible sponsorship. For this presentation, we showed off our highlights of last season, and what we were working on this season. As well as that, we gave them an overview of FIRST, FTC, and this year's game.
COVID-19 Assistance:
Just after the season ended last year due to COVID-19, we decided that we could help out by producing PPE. A lot of people were using 3D printers and off-the-shelf materials to create face shields and other protective equipment. We ended up producing over 100 face shield kits, as well as a few other items.
Extended Outreach
IASBO Video:
One of our team members had connections with a member of the Iowa Association of School Business Officials. This video demonstrated how our school has helped our season progress, and what FIRST was all about. We hoped that this video would inspire some of the members to either start their own FTC/ FLL teams in their school districts or volunteer in their area.
SME Presentation:
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers was one of our sponsors last season. We met with them to update them on last season and to explain how we were doing this season. This was also an opportunity to discuss some of our engineering challenges with professions in the STEM community.
