STEM in K-12 through a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team
The importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in K-12 simply can’t be reiterated enough. However finding ways to really support our K-12 students in their pursuit of STEM can sometimes feel overwhelming. I want to encourage you to support your local FRC team (I promise you there is one) because of 2 reasons. First, mentors that create FRC teams are all in. They take on another full-time job when deciding to create an FRC team and the only way to have that kind of dedication is to truly care about the kids they are supporting. Second, the immense amount of learning that takes place for the students in the short 6 weeks of build time is unbelievable. Students learn about designing, building, life, limitations, and most impressively, they learn that they are capable of so much more than they thought at the start of the 6 weeks.
Logo for FIRST Robotics and Logo for Destination: Deep Space, the 2019 FRC Challenge. Images Source: FIRST Website, 2019 FRC.
What is a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)
FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and is a global organization created to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging kids K-12 in exciting, mentor-based, research and robotics programs. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is their highest tier competition aimed at high school students. Each year, FRC releases the annual challenge at the beginning of January, and teams across the world have six weeks to build the best robot to meet that challenge before the clock runs out mid-February when they have to bag and tag their robot for competition, meaning that even if their competition is a month out, they can’t touch their robot.
Hosting an FRC Team
The Makerspace at the University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center – Powered by Switch has been hosting Reno’s FRC team, FYRE Robotics, for the last 3 years. It is at the Innevation Center that I have gotten to see first hand what a life changing experience it is. With a short 6-week build period, their robot makes significant progress every single day. Students stream into the Innevation Center at 5PM, right about when the rest of the building’s professionals start winding down. They work on their robot 6 days per week 4+ hours per day; their passion and commitment is breathtaking. Possibly more impressive are the mentors that join them every single day. For a 15 student team, 6 mentors are on rotation to support the FYRE Team every day teaching them design skills, how to use equipment in the Makersapce, and letting them learn how to fail. Without them, there wouldn’t be an FRC team.
Want to help an FRC Team?
Find your local FRC Team and reach out to them! There is a nifty tool on FIRST’s website that allows you to search their team database by location and is called the FIRST Team & Event Search. While there’s not always contact information for the team lead, they almost always have Facebook pages to share their build progress. You can donate to the organization as a whole, but I find I’m much more interested in supporting my local chapters either financially or with my time.
If you are interested in supporting our local FRC Team, FYRE Robotics, please reach out to me via Twitter, or LinkedIn and I’d be happy to put you in contact with FYRE’s lead mentor. To keep learning about Nevada’s Innovation Ecosystem, subscribe to my blog or add my blog to your favorite RSS feed viewer at crystalvharvey.com.
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