FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Lori Trent
PAST Foundation 614-340-1208 ltrent@pastfoundation.org
May 14, 2018
FIRST® Robotics WOW Alliance District Championship POWERUPTM Event This Saturday
Columbus, OH – Thirty-two robotics teams will compete in the WOW Alliance District Championship on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at the Rike Center at Otterbein University from 8am-5pm. The event was organized and coordinated by the WOW Robotics Alliance, made up of team mentors, businesses, and educators throughout West Virginia, Ohio, and Western/Central Pennsylvania. Local partners working together include Honda R&D Americas, Otterbein University, and the PAST Foundation. WOW is a program of the PAST Foundation.
The teams competed this past season in regional events around the country. Based on this season’s results, teams qualified for an invitation to participate on Saturday. This is an unofficial event organized and run by volunteers. FIRST® POWER UPSM, the 2018 FIRST® Robotics Competition game, includes two alliances of video game characters and their human operators who are trapped in an arcade game. Both alliances are working to defeat the boss in order to escape! Each three-team alliance prepares to defeat the boss in three ways – by controlling the switches and the scale, earning power ups, and climbing the scale. FIRST participation is proven to encourage students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields, inspire them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st century work-life skills. For more details on the event, including details about the game, go to www.wowrobotics.org.
The Point at Otterbein University, a STEAM innovation center, is home to Educational Robotics of Central Ohio (ERCO), a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit public charity supporting students in their pursuit of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through our leadership, sponsorship and support of FIRST.
About FIRST® FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen 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. FIRST provides the FIRST Robotics Competition for high school students, FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12, FIRST® LEGO® League for Grades 4-8, and FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. for Grades K-3. For more information, visit www.firstinspires.org. About PAST Foundation For over 18 years, PAST, a non-profit foundation, has been a leader in designing STEM education across the nation, bringing transdisciplinary problem-based learning to educators and experiential programs to students. Most notably, PAST was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its Excellence in Innovation in the STEM 2026 vision report. PAST was the only educational entity in Ohio to be included in this publication (full report).
PAST was also recognized in 2014, by CGI America and former President Bill Clinton for their outstanding work, and again in 2015 for their achievements in improving STEM education in rural America. In 2015, the PAST Innovation Lab was recognized by the White House Summit on High School Design.
For more information on PAST Foundation and how you can link learning to life, visit https://pastfoundation.org/ or contact Lori Trent at ltrent@pastfoundation.org.