On Saturday, January 5th 2013, Students, Mentors, and Coaches of Wolcott High School’s Robotics Team, Team Max 1071, will come together as a team and will join 60,000 other people across the world to Kick-Off the 22nd season of the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®). The 35 Wolcott Students will gather at Wolcott High School and join the 2,600 FRC teams around the world via a Live NASA-TV webcast as Inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST Chaiman Walter P. Havenstein, and other celebrities will unveil a brand-new, currently top-secret game and start the 2013 season at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH.
    Once the 2013 FRC Game is unveiled, the Wolcott Students will have 6 weeks to strategize, design, build, program, and test a robot to meet whatever this season’s challenge will be. The team will receive a Kit of Parts mad up of motors, batteries, a control system, a PC, and mix of automation components – but no instructions. Team Max students will be participating in two Regional Competitions that will measure the effectiveness of the team’s robot, their ability to collaborate with other teams, and the determination of the students to carry on in the competition despite set backs.
    Sponsored by NASA and Needham, Mass.-based PTC, the FRC Kickoff event is an opportunity for teams competing in the 2013 season to see the new game challenge and rules firsthand. Teams across the nation, and in Canada, Israel, and Mexico, watched the proceedings via NASA-TV broadcast or webcast from 73 Kickoff sites, many of which also offered workshops and a chance to meet other teams.
    Wolcott had sent student and mentor representatives up to Manchester to participate at the Kick-Off in person. Meanwhile students gathered at Wolcott High School spent their morning preparing and over viewing for the upcoming season in addition to watching the action in New Hampshire.
    1071’s Kick-Off Viewing will be located in the Wolcott High School Lecture Hall, beginning at 9:30am on January 5th.
    Team Max 1071 will be competing at the Connecticut Regional Sponsored by UTC, held March 28th-30th , in Hartford, CT, and at the Pine Tree Regional, held April 4th-6th, in Lewiston, ME. In addition to competing for top awards at these regional events, the team will be vying for a spot in the FIRST World Championship, held April 24th-27th, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.


ABOUT TEAM MAX 1071
As a team participating in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC), Team MAX 1071 (Founded in 2003) inspires high school aged students of the Wolcott, CT area to become science and technology leaders through its mentor based robotics program that builds science, engineering and technology skills, inspires innovation, and fosters self-confidence, communication, and leadership. In addition to participating in FRC, Team MAX helps run and assist several robotics programs in the Wolcott area, including programs at the other levels of FIRST. For more information on Team MAX 1071, visit www.max1071.com
ABOUT FIRST®
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST 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 more than $14 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.