KC Stem Alliance has announced the following in a recent press release:

UMKC School of Computing and Engineering will host the Greater Kansas City’s FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) regional competition on Sun., Feb. 3, 2013 at Swinney Recreation Center, located at the university’s Volker Campus in Kansas City, Mo. The competition is free and open to the public and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. “We are thankful that UMKC’s School of Computing and Engineering offered to host the first Greater Kansas City FTC regional competition,” said Paul Borchardt, regional director of Kansas City FIRST. “ Due to this type of community support, FIRST Tech Challenge will join FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Jr. LEGO League, and FIRST Robotics Competition as official programs in Greater Kansas City. The FTC Robotics competition provides an opportunity for students to apply real-world math and science, develop strategic problem solving, organizational, and team-building skills. FTC is the fastest-growing FIRST program. Last year, more than 1,000 teams participated nationwide. Participation is expected to be even greater this year.