If you are looking for a great way to help introduce young kids and teens to robotics, you can help volunteer at FIRST.
According to “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” (FIRST) volunteer Matt Oyales, FIRST is a youth organization that primarily uses robotics as a means of exposing young students from years K-12 to the fields of STEM. The organization was founded in 1989, and has since expanded to 110 countries and has nearly 700,000 students around the world participating. Individual events are run by smaller, regional organizations, which require the help of volunteers.
FIRST Robotics is broken up into four groups of competition: FIRST Lego League Explore for ages 5-8, FIRST Lego League (FLL) for ages 9-14 (a challenge solved with Lego Mindstorm robots), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for ages 12-18 (a mid-level robotics competition to build small robots to navigate a game field that changes every year), and FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) for ages 14-18 (high school level robotics with heavy encouragement for the development of real-world engineering skills).
Oyales is also part of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO), which has been involved with FTC events around New Jersey, including towns such as Morristown, Glen Rock, and Newark. APO volunteers also served as judges for the event, where they directly interviewed teams and determined which teams earned certain awards recognizing achievement in engineering, innovation, design, community outreach, and more. Oyales mentions how “the most exciting part of all these events was being an active part of these younger students participating in the event. FIRST events are full of energy as teams cheer for their robot and the awards they earn at the end of the event.”
How can one be a part of FIRST Robotics? According to Oyales, participating in FIRST itself requires having been a student in a team prior to college. As Stevens is a college that focuses on STEM fields including robotics, many current Stevens students are FIRST alumni and have participated in either FLL, FTC, FRC, or perhaps all three during their time in school. Students at Stevens can continue to be involved with FIRST through volunteer efforts, either by directly volunteering at events or becoming a team mentor. For information on how to be involved in FIRST Robotics, Oyales is an FRC Team 11 alum, and APO brother and FTC alum Elsa Moroney is a team mentor for two local teams in Hoboken: Robotic Llamas and Roboken.
