[MEMOS] FRC Mentor Memos, September 2026
Updated: 4 days ago
Save the dates for BIOCORE in 2027!
It's September, which means...the 2027 FRC schedule is finally here! New England is hosting 12 district events again this year, with more events scheduled for Weeks 3 and 5. The overall dates are very similar to last year: Kickoff is January 9th, competitions start March 5th, and our District Championship is April 14th–17th!
Three new venues join our spring lineup: UMass Lowell's Tsongas Center in MA, University of Hartford's Sports Center in CT, and Skowhegan Area High School in ME. Stay tuned for the final location of Granite State! We once again have a weekend with no district events before DCMP at The Big E, for everyone to catch up on sleep make final robot adjustments.
Make sure to check in on the FIRST Dashboard to confirm your team is Event Ready before First Event Registration — Round 1 Preference opens at noon on September 24th. There are new ways to become tax exempt this year that may require the help of a school business office or financial guarantor; don't wait!
Senior Mentors are now (more!) part of NE FIRST
Following the 2026 season, changes to the FIRST Senior Mentor Program were announced, specifically a reduction in the number of FSMs that would be retained across a majority of regions.
This change gives NE FIRST the exciting opportunity to bring our Senior Mentors more officially onto our team. Senior Mentors have always been the "glue" within each state, allowing all FIRST programs to stick together and all teams to enjoy additional consistency and continuity. NE FIRST looks forward to maintaining their work.
Very little will change in terms of why you might interact with your NE Senior Mentors, though you may need to save a new email address!
Please welcome our newest NESMs: we are now able to add a Rhode Island Senior Mentor and we have a new contact for Vermont. Many thanks to Scott McCalla for his dedication and service in the VT role over the years!
💙 Connecticut: Stacey Hilton, shilton@nefirst.org
❤️ Maine: Jamee Luce, jluce@nefirst.org
💙 Massachusetts: Katie Bonner, kbonner@nefirst.org
❤️ New Hampshire: Ken St. Hilaire, ksthilaire@nefirst.org
💙 Rhode Island: Greg Gongoleski, ggongoleski@nefirst.org
❤️ Vermont: Dan Roswell, droswell@nefirst.org
NE FIRST Staff, Program Delivery Partners, and Senior Mentors are always ready to share resources and information to help FIRST teams all over New England. That's why we say: #WeAreNE!
RECORDINGS AVAILABLE: 2026 NEMC Keynotes + Sessions
Thank you to everyone to made the trip to the third annual New England Mentor Conference, including our presenters, panelists, event volunteers, planning committee, hosts at MIT and of course our sponsors and supporters: Sphero, Onshape by PTC, FRCtees, Mathworks and FUN Robotics Network! We're excited to bring the event back in 2027 and welcome presentation applications any time.
Though we love seeing everyone in person, we want to make sure the hours of helpful content is available to all. Keynotes and session recordings are available on our website (fun fact: the sessions from 2024 and 2025 are here too!)
Featured recordings:
A Rising Tide Lifts All Bots: Exploring New FIRST Resources
Preparing for Blue Polo Panic and Other High Stakes Conversations
AI for the Rest of the Team: Building Beyond Robot Code
The Case for Caring: Why Competition Matters
Systemcore Software: Preparing for the Transition + Panel Perspectives
Beyond Recruitment: Building a Sustainable FIRST Pipeline
Model-Based Design for Robotics Competitions (and a handy blog!)
INVITATION: Join FRC demos across New England!
Fall outreach opportunities are abundant! There are special events, trade shows, local fairs and more, all over New England before Kickoff arrives. Save the dates and let us know if your team is available to bring a robot and participate:
Wicked STEM: September 19, Manchester, NH
CT Manufacturing Roadshow: September 23, Norwich, CT
WaterFire / Robots on Fire: September 26, Providence, RI
MassRobotics Block Party: September 26, Boston, MA
Vermont Tech Jam: October 24, Burlington, VT
Bring Back the Trades Skills Expo: October 29, Marlborough, MA
CT Manufacturing Roadshow: November 5, Bridgeport, CT
SWENext Innovation Expo: November 7, Boston, MA (deadline: 9/15)
North Shore Tech Council Winter Mixer: November 10, Gloucester, MA
Rockwell Automation Fair: November 16–19, Boston, MA (deadline: 9/30)
Grow stronger with district-wide resources:
Sign up for alerts when emails to Lead Mentors and reminders to teams are posted to our website's TEAM page
Join almost 1000 mentors from all over NE in Slack! Get #frc-announcements or follow topics like #offseason-events
Our SmugMug albums are available with tons of photos from the 2026 FRC season ...and even some off-seasons!
What else do you want to see in these memos? Email sspain@nefirst.org or use nefirst.org/feedback to share ideas!
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