Volunteer
Volunteer with us!
No experience is necessary!
Each year more than 1,000 individuals give their time, energy, and creativity to help bring the NYC FIRST experience to thousands of youth across the city. Volunteers are essential to making our programs possible.
NYC FIRST volunteers play a significant role in the success of the organization while demonstrating the importance of Gracious Professionalism at all times. Volunteers who support NYC FIRST Program events have the unique and exciting opportunity to watch our young participants learn, invent, cooperate and compete while having a lot of fun at the competition.
To volunteer, follow these steps:
1.) Register for an NYC FIRST account or login if you already have an account
2.) Search for NYC in the 'Event, City or Venue' text box and choose one of our FTC qualifiers.
3.) Review all the training materials for your role, and take the short certification for our records for roles that require training and certification.
4.) FIRST will strive to create an environment in which team members can grow, learn, and have fun with minimal risk of injury. In order to achieve this, please be cognizant of your Youth Protection Program Requirements and ensure that you go through the entire process. Steps for this can be found here.
You will receive an email from your local event coordinator if you are assigned to a volunteer role.
If you need help signing up to volunteer or have any questions, you can refer to this document or reach out to rudiana@nycfirst.org.
Open Roles
Judge
The primary role of a judge is to interview teams, and to decide which teams deserve an award based on team interviews, the robot, match play, and the engineering portfolio. Judges are paired in groups of 2-3 to interview a set number of teams before the competition begins as well as interviews in the pit area.
During the event, Judges will:
● Conduct team interviews.
● Review team engineering portfolios.
● Update Judging Feedback Request form (if submitted)
● Watch competition matches (at traditional events).
● Decide the 3 top-ranked teams for each judged award.
● Using the process outlined in this manual, come to a consensus with other judges on the recipient of each award.
● Share their notes on top-ranked and award-winning teams with the judge advisor and other judges for use in the Award Ceremony script.
Referee
Refereeing at FIRST competitions is different from a traditional sporting event in that the referees at FIRST events help the competitors to avoid breaking the rules of the game.
Experience and skills needed:
● Ability to “take charge” and be assertive but be friendly and tactful.
● Thorough knowledge of the competition, game, and rules of play.
● Strong assessment skills.
● Outgoing personality; high energy.
● Strong communication and diplomacy skills.
● Ability to collaborate with others; work as a member of a team.
● Attention to detail.
● Ability to move about the field.
● Ability to stand for long periods of time