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FIRST Selects the City of St. Louis as Site of Annual Robotics Championship from 2011 Through 2013

St. Louis, with a 66,000 seat arena capacity, was selected from among three finalist cities to host the expanding FIRST programs which are projected to reach over 200,000 young people in 50 countries worldwide in its 2010 season.

"St. Louis consistently demonstrates that they truly understand the mission of FIRST and the city shares our viewpoint on the importance of helping young people reap the rewards and excitement of education and careers in science and technology," noted Kamen.

The city of St. Louis has held a FIRST Regional Competition for eight years and has hundreds of volunteers involved in all four programs at FIRST including: Junior FIRST LEGO^® League; FIRST LEGO^® League; FIRST^® Tech Challenge; and FIRST Robotics Competition. The local community, spearheaded by the Saint Louis Science Center, assists all of the state's robotics teams with mentors, venues and financial support.

"FIRST is confident that the city of St. Louis and its partners will enable us to provide a high-quality experience for our organization's 20^th Anniversary year and beyond," said Paul R. Gudonis, president of FIRST. "We are pleased and excited to bring 'the super bowl of smarts' to a city which has been such a solid supporter of the mission of FIRST for so many years."

"We were highly impressed by St. Louis' facilities, infrastructure, widespread community support, financial plan and their experience in hosting large-scale sports and cultural events," said Ron Falcone, FIRST Championship Site Committee Chairperson. "The excellent quality of the finalist city bids from Atlanta, Georgia; Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Louis, Missouri attest to the enormous amount of time, effort and research from the three finalists and FIRST thanks each city for their cooperation."

The FIRST Championship games for 2011 - 2013 will be housed at the America's Center Convention Complex in St. Louis with a total of 502,000 contiguous square feet of exhibit space in six halls, 83 meeting rooms, the 1,411 fixed-seat Ferrara Theatre, the St. Louis Executive Conference Center and The Edward Jones Dome.

A total of 21 area hotels will provide rooms for the participants.

The dates for the FIRST Championships in St. Louis, Missouri are: April 28-30, 2011; April 26-28, 2012 and April 25-27, 2013.

About FIRST

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, New Hampshire, FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With the support of many of the world's most well-known companies, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge for high-school students, FIRST LEGO League for children 9-14 years old, and Junior FIRST LEGO^® League for 6 to 9 year-olds. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

FIRST and the FIRST logo are registered trademarks of the United States Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (US FIRST).

FIRST
Cheryl Walsh, 603-666-3906, ext. 460
Sr. Director, Marketing & Media Relations
cwalsh@usfirst.org