Dear Sir or Madam,

 

The Walt Whitman High School FIRST Robotics Club is currently seeking your support to help fund the designing and building of a robot to compete in the annual FIRST robotics challenge.

 

FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, usfirst.org) was founded by inventor Dean Kamen (also known for designing the Segway Scooter) in 1989. The mission of FIRST is to give high school students the opportunity to gain hands‐on experience with science and technology.  These include opportunities in computer programming, electrical engineering, physics, pneumatics, and structural engineering. In addition, FIRST lets students apply knowledge they gain in their school classes to real world applications, gives them experience working one‐on‐one with professional engineers to solve complex problems, and teaches them business skills and communications skills.

 

Walt Whitman’s Robotic Team is named the Body Electric and is FRC team number #1389. During the competition season our 50+ students work closely with teachers and volunteer professionals to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a 150lb kitchen table sized robot to participate in a competition that changes each year.

 

Registering for the competition is expensive, and building a robot that can actually move when it reaches the competition floor is not easy. All teams are charged a $6,000 fee for two district events they plan to attend. If the team is successful, which we plan to be, to attend the District Championship, held in Richmond, VA there is an additional $4,000 fee. The final event fee is the World Championship, held in Houston, TX, which is $5,750. Additionally, the cost of building a fully-functioning robot can be anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000. So, it is with that reality that we are turning to the community and Leaders such as you to help us get the funding we need to make this year a success. With your assistance we can:

 

• Build and compete with our 2024 robot in the MD FIRSTs Districts and World Championship Competitions

• Get the more youths interested in STEM by bringing our robot to community functions

• Recruit as many new team members as possible

• Build a Montgomery County STEM, robotics lab and science work space

 

We are asking for your support in whatever form you can offer. While we will gratefully accept any monetary donations, we are also seeking in-kind donations, such as machining/manufacturing services, donations of raw building materials or hardware components, and volunteer help from both engineering and non‐engineering mentors. If you are interested in supporting the team, you can Click Here to Sponsor or email us at frc1389@gmail.com

 

Thank you for considering this request. FRC Team 1389 is looking forward to another great season and we hope to have your support moving forward.

 

Sincerely,

​

Farish Perlman, President/Team Mentor

JJ Biel-Goebel, Team Mentor/Vice President/Engineer