School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. Helps Support FIRST Tech Challenge Qualifying Tournament

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island,
Inc. (SBPLI) has announced that the FIRST (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge (FTC) Qualifying
Tournament will be held on Sunday, January 19 at Hewlett High School from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. The school is located on 60 Everit Avenue in Hewlett.

This year’s challenge is “FTC® BLOCK
PARTY!SM”, in
which robots must place plastic blocks onto pendulum goals. Students will
program their robots to operate in both autonomous and driver-controlled modes
on a specially designed field. Each match will last two-and-a-half minutes,
beginning with a 30-second autonomous period. Each team will be required to
raise their team flag up a flagpole, elevate their robots off the ground using a
platform pull-up bar, and finish the match with a balanced pendulum to earn
extra points.

The event is affiliated with New York City FIRST, with support from
SBPLI. FIRST Tech Challenge was created for students in grades seven
through 12 to build similar robots, utilize a smaller playing field, and costs
less to participate in than the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Just
like in FRC, students apply the concepts of math and science they learned at
school to design, build and program robots for a competitive challenge. The FTC
is open to high school teams, as well as local community-based
organizations

“We are delighted to help New York City FIRST implement this FTC
tournament on Long Island,” says Joani Madarash, Executive Director,
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. “We love helping students
learn the importance of math and science with hands-on experience and encourage
Long Islanders to attend this fun, competitive tournament.”

For more information on SBPLI, please visit www.sbpli.org.

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ABOUT NEW YORK CITY
FIRST®

NYC FIRST is the New York City-based non-profit affiliate of
FIRST®, an international non-profit mentoring organization
that was created to excite young people about science and technology, prepare
today's students to enter tomorrow's advanced technology-based workplace, and
provide them with valuable life skills. 

NYC FIRST is dedicated to providing students from all five boroughs
the opportunity to take part in FIRST programs. Participation in
FIRST has a positive impact on the lives of students, increasing
college attendance, majors in science and engineering, participation in
internships and co-ops, and involvement in community service.

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island,
Inc.

School-Business Partnerships of Long
Island, Inc. (SBPLI) was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of
developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would
provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while
helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100
partnerships have been formed. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition to
Long Island, in which eight high school teams participated. Since then, the Long
Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition has grown to 50 teams
competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST LEGO
League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the Junior FIRST
LEGO League Expo, in which approximately 1,000 elementary and middle school
students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. For more
information, visit www.sbpli.org.