Us Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) directly served approximately 83,700 youths on 3,347 teams. Working with mentors, each team builds a robot starting with a kit of parts, designing it to meet this year's game challenge "CHARGED UP." Each team participated in one or more 2 to 3-day events at 176 locations, competing for awards for game scores, safety practices, teamwork, and other qualitative achievements, stressing the FIRST ethos of Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism. Award-winning teams participated in the annual international FIRST Championship event in Houston, TX. The FRC Program provided students with the experience of applying engineering and technology to achieve a specific challenge under a time constraint. (Narrative continued on Schedule O, pg. 159).This experience developed students' technical skills, teamwork, and the ability to deal with the satisfactions and disappointments of a real engineering project. Participation in FIRST Robotics Competition has inspired many students to go on to college and careers in fields related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Many coaches and mentors work in these fields and help the students develop bonds within their communities and connections to the workforce development pipeline. Students and alumni of the program gain access to education and career discovery opportunities, connections to exclusive scholarships and employers, and a place in the FIRST community for life.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) served approximately 87,500 youths from ages 12-18 on 6,832 teams. Like FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge teams design and build a robot to compete on a themed playing field but using a smaller robot kit and game challenge field. In this year's game, "POWER PLAY," each team built a robot and participated in local events. This program provides an experience for a broad audience of educators and students at a low cost. The experience simulates the excitement as well as the pressure of a real-life engineering project, developing not only the students' technical know-how, but also leadership, cooperation, ability to plan, patience, and teamwork. (Narrative continued on Schedule O, pg. 160).FIRST Tech Challenge enriches the participating students' ability to deal with the satisfactions and disappointments of a real engineering project. The experience expands students' interest and skills in STEM and inspires many to go on to higher education and careers in those fields. Students and alumni of the program gain access to education and career discovery opportunities, connections to exclusive scholarships and employers, and a place in the FIRST community for life.

FIRST LEGO League (FLL), for which there are three divisions, Discover, Explore and Challenge, reached approximately 497,532 youths aged 4-16, in 53,700 teams in 92 countries. This year's challenge was called "SUPERPOWERED." Participants explored where energy comes from and how it is distributed, stored, and used, and then put their superpowered creativity to work to innovate for a better energy future. Discover and Explore students built a LEGO model based on their energy journey and tracked what they learned in an Engineering Notebook. Explore teams used code to bring their model to life. Challenge teams developed new, innovative ways to rethink and improve how energy is generated and used. (Narrative continued on Schedule O, pg. 159).They also built and programmed an autonomous LEGO robot to solve energy-themed missions in the SUPERPOWERED Robot Game. In addition to participating in local events, teams from around the world met in Houston, TX in April 2023 as part of the FIRST Championship competition and celebration. Participation in Discover, Explore and Challenge has engaged students in a comprehensive experience developing confidence in their ability to address real world issues facing their communities, builds their STEM literacy and social-emotional learning, and exposes them to STEM careers. By progressing through each division and on to high-school level FIRST programs, students gain a full suite of technical skills and ongoing encouragement, making it more likely that they will pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.