Outstanding Leadership Award / Scholarship

(Similar to the Dean’s List Award)

This award is similar to the Dean’s List Award which celebrates outstanding student leaders whose passion for and effectiveness at attaining FIRST ideals is exemplary.

The students who earn this award will be great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission all the while achieving personal technical expertise and accomplishment.

There will be $4500 worth of Scholarships awarded at the 2023 Grand Rapids Girls Robotics Event.

Deadline for Submission: Friday, September 29, 2023

Submit to: GrandRapidsGirlsRobotics@gmail.com
( with the subject GRG Dean’s List Submission )

This year we are pleased to award additional scholarships due to a generous donation from Michigan State Bar Association Intellectual Property Law Section. For this reason, we have included an additional research element to the application requirements focused on patents. This is a required portion of the application.

Criteria for selection of the “Outstanding Leadership Award” shall include, but not be limited to:

—

· Only one entry for each team

· At the top, list the nominee’s name and grade (this does not count as characters)

· No more than 4,000 characters (includes spaces and punctuation)

· Essays will be read and the top 8 will be down-selected for an interview with the judges.

· These 8 will be interviewed at the event.

· When your team checks in, you will be asked to sign up for an interview time.

Each application will contain two sections as follows:

1. Commitment to FIRST ideals – 3000 characters limit

2. Patent Research Responses – 500 characters limit for each patent

Section 1: Commitment to FIRST ideals

· Things to consider:

· How are you a leader?

· How have you helped increase the awareness of FIRST?

· Describe how you have demonstrated your long-term commitment to FIRST.

· Describe your technical expertise.

· Describe your entrepreneurship and creativity.

· What individual contributions to outreach or fundraising efforts have you made?

· What individual contributions to the team, whether it is building, programming, team captain, etc. have you made?

· Is not necessary to include the student’s’ activities outside of FIRST focus on FIRST related activities

· We are aware that not all of the above apply to each student, they are recommendations NOT requirements!!

Section 2: Patent Research Responses

· For this section, we would like you to use your STEAM skills to explore and research the subject of Intellectual Property.

· Choose two trademarks or patents that have special meaning to you, your friends, family, community, or the world.

1. Look up the trademarks on the Trademark Office search engine (https://tess2.uspto.gov/).

2. Look up the patents on either Google Patents (https://patents.google.com/) or the Patent Office search engine (Patent Public Search | USPTO).

3. There may be several similar trademarks or patents with different registration numbers and dates. Any of these are fine.

· For the trademarks/patents that you selected, please provide the following information:

1. The registration number or patent number

2. The year the trademark was registered or the patent was granted

3. The author, owner, or inventor

4. The type of product or service it covers

5. The meaning or function of the trademark or patent

6. Why the trademark or patent is important, novel, or useful

7. (Optional) Submit a picture or drawing

An example:

In 1885, George Eastman was granted US patent 433775A. This patent for film roll canisters made film handling in cameras much simpler and faster. As a result, millions of people became amateur photographers and George Eastman started the world’s first mass-market photography company.