FLL Season Overview: Invitations to our Explore and Challenge Open Houses in January for an FLL seat are sent out in December. Email info@southeasternctrobotics.com to be added to the list.

Typical Explore Schedule: Year-round program. Members meet for two eight-class, one-hour sessions on Saturday mornings. One session is in the Spring and one in the Fall/Winter. Each session culminates with a low-pressure presentation to an expert where members share their newfound knowledge. Not competitive.

Typical Challenge Schedule: Year-round program. In the Winter and Spring, we meet once a week for two hours. We begin in January by learning the Scientific Method and the Engineering Design Process. Members become comfortable with testing their ideas and building and programming a LEGO Spike Prime robot. When the season teaser is released in April, we start our background research into the new STEM theme, which is a global problem we design an innovation to help solve. We brainstorm ideas and conduct experiments to test our solutions. Members go on related field trips during the season to learn more. Ultimately, teams meet with experts who give real-world feedback on the innovation. We hold at least one Fundraiser Event in June, where members show off their new building and programming skills. We take July off. Beginning in August, we meet twice a week, for two hours each meeting. There is a Mock Competition in October with outside judges to help us gauge our readiness.

In a typical season, our Qualifier competition is in November, and our State Competition is in December. Highly competitive.

Typical FTC Schedule: Year-round program. New members are brought on in March. They take July off. The season theme and challenge are released in September, and they have four months to build a robot that will score well in a tournament. This is only for those students who are dedicated to robotics. Qualifying tournaments start in late December and run through January. If they qualify, they take part in the Connecticut State Championships in February. The FIRST World Championship is in April. Highly competitive.

Meeting Cancellations and COVID Policy: For the most part, we follow the New London Public School cancellation announcements. There will be times when we meet during a holiday or over a break to work on a project, provided the conditions are safe. Our COVID policy will change to reflect the current infection level of our community and is based on current guidelines from the CDC, State of Connecticut, and New London Public School Board.