FIRST Lego League

FIRST Lego League Tournament & Call for Volunteers & Sponsors

The FIRST Lego League for Robotics is having its second NM FLL Championship tournament on January 21 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It promises to be a great event for all ages, including: 

  • Junior FIRST LEGO League – a morning Expo for our ~10 teams for students ages 6-9
  • FIRST LEGO League – competition events during the day for the ~32 teams from throughout the state of New Mexico for students ages 9-14
  • FIRST Tech Challenge – an afternoon, unofficial, demo scrimmage for our 4 brand new teams for high school students
  • FIRST Robotics Competition – a short, afternoon demo by one of the 5 high school teams in the state

But they also need help — and it’s a good and fun way to connect professionals working in tech with some great kids and programs. Here’s the call from FLL: 

We need volunteers for event management as well as help with the FLL events for the ~32 teams of students ages 9-14 from throughout the state of New Mexico.

The roles for volunteers include — reviewers, judges, referees, and other tournament officials. For more information about the FLL volunteer roles, see the volunteers page on our web site — http://nmfll.org/volunteers.html

Positions are open for volunteers to serve full-day, morning only, or afternoon only. Volunteers may be adults or high-school age youth. All volunteers are required to fill out information forms, complete a background check, and attend a training session.

The training session will be role-specific, with several choices of dates/times —
  • Friday, January 6, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
  • Sunday, January 8, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
  • Monday, January 9 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Each will occur at the Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails, Albuquerque Service Center, 4000 Jefferson Plaza NE.  If you are able to help, please send a message to chair@nmfll.org with the following information —

  • role – a first, second, and third choice for the role in which you are willing to serve
  • availability – all-day, morning only, afternoon only

Forms may be found on the volunteers page — http://nmfll.org/volunteers.html — and may be submitted either to the Girl Scout office or electronically to chair@nmfll.org

Sponsorship for New Mexico FIRST LEGO League may take several forms — 

  • in-kind and/or financial contributions
  • volunteers to support our tournament or to coach/mentor teams
  • publication of notices about FIRST programs in organizational newsletters, bulletin boards, etc.

Both in-kind and financial contributions are tax deductible, with acknowledgement from Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails, our 501c3 Affiliate Partner.

Our immediate needs / wish list include — 

  • trophies and medals for our 32 FLL teams – ~$1500
  • awards and medals for our 15 Jr.FLL teams – ~$300
  • laptop computers for use during training and tournaments – ~$1000 for each of 3 machines
  • resource kits (additional parts for the robot kits) – ~$100 each for 20 kits
  • Junior FIRST LEGO League kits – ~$200 each for 15 kits

For any who would like to contribute, checks (payable to NM FLL) may be sent to —
NM FLL
1502 Vista Larga Court NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106-2646

We’ll acknowledge contributions on our web site, event program, event T-shirts, and the scoring display during the robot games. Again, if you are able to help, please send a message to chair@nmfll.org