In this blog, I said we were looking for a volunteer from the community to help us plan what geographic areas would be assigned to which FIRST Championship in 2017, and help us find a potential way in which teams may volunteer for and be selected to attend their non-home Championship.

We received some wonderful applications. Thanks to all who applied! It was not an easy selection, but we have picked Brandon Holley, mentor for FRC Team 125, Nutrons, from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, as our community representative. Congratulations, Brandon! We look forward to working with you!

Other members of the committee are as follows:

Gail Alpert, District representative, President of FIRST in Michigan

Karthik Kanagasabapathy, Hall of Fame representative, FRC Team 1114, Simbotics, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

John Larock, Woodie Flowers Award winners representative, FRC Team 365, MOE, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Chuck Kennedy, Regional Director, Regional representative, FIRST

Beth Hamilton, Volunteer Resources Coordinator, FIRST

Naomi Mancuso, Team Support Manager, FIRST

Me

The intent with the representatives above is that they actively represent their affiliated groups, not just the teams or geographic regions they happen to be associated with. As an example, Gail will be tasked with representing all Districts, not just Michigan.

The committee will be starting work in the next few weeks. I’m sure, with the top-notch volunteers we have on this team, we’ll be successful!

Frank