Here, I’ll discuss how you can get involved with these two competitions and the value that comes with doing so. In particular, mentorship is essential to promoting Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and reducing barriers for underrepresented groups engaging in STEM education. Encouraging future innovators means investing in the U.S. economy (plus it’s fun and fulfilling!).

NASA TechRise Student Challenge

Fuentek has had direct experience with the powerful impact such a program can make in students’ lives through our work with this challenge. Our team supports several aspects of TechRise, including broad public outreach that emphasizes geographic representation as well as challenge logistics and strategy.

Getting Involved with TechRise

You can learn more about the challenge by going to the NASA TechRise Student Challenge website. U.S. residents with expertise in engineering, space, and/or atmospheric research can volunteer to judge student submissions by filling out this form on the TechRise website.

To help us spread the word about TechRise to a community or audience you think should know about it, fill out our contact form and we’ll supply outreach materials. The deadline to apply is October 24.

FIRST Inspires

FIRST North Carolina is a not-for-profit that runs the NC competitions. I was one of the founding members of the FIRST NC Steering Committee and during its beginnings as a not-for-profit organization. The program is composed of divisional competitions and a state championship with a board of directors to help run them. I’m the co-chair on the board right now; this is my second time serving on the board, and I’ve been a judge with FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) for the past 15 years.

I’m consistently impressed by the ways kids learn real-life skills, solve a real-world problem, and embody those skills and qualities central to the FIRST program. These kids are learning so much: from STEM to marketing and business plan writing to social engineering skills. Often, they are learning without even realizing it!

Getting Involved with FIRST

Programs like FIRST give kids the skills they need to succeed in STEM careers. Corporations that sponsor FIRST are aware of this and want to hire FIRST kids. As such, competitions like FIRST help build a stronger workforce. The NASA Robotics Alliance Project provides grants to high school teams competing in FRC and sponsors FIRST regional competitions. Schools, just like corporations, recognize the value that comes with doing FIRST. In addition to offering scholarships specific to FIRST students, many schools throughout the U.S. favorably consider FIRST students in the admissions process.

If you’re interested in volunteering, contact your regional organization to see what roles are needed. FIRST is always in need of engineers and scientists who can serve as judges. This is where the concept of “see one be one” plays a crucial role in promoting EDI and encouraging underrepresented groups in STEM education. If a kid sees someone who looks like them who is an engineer, they are more likely to believe that they too could be an engineer. Programs like FIRST show kids what is possible. Here is more information on volunteer opportunities at FIRST.

Investing in Future Leaders and Innovators

Getting involved in programs like FIRST and NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge is a significant and rewarding way to get kids involved in STEM, igniting a life-long passion for science and engineering that translates directly to empowering future U.S. leaders and innovators.

*The FIRST images above are from the FIRST Tech Challenge – 2022 FIRST Championship.

Fuentek supports and is heavily involved with both NASA TechRise and FIRST, as we want to help expand STEM access and establish a strong future science and technology workforce. These programs not only instill a passion for science and technology at an early age, but they also teach kids the skills needed to succeed in any career. In today’s post, we offer information about these programs and how you can get involved.

NASA TechRise Student Challenge

Public, private, and charter school students in all U.S. states and territories are encouraged to form a team, brainstorm an experiment, and submit a TechRise proposal on or before October 24, 2022. A total of 60 winning teams will then be selected and will receive a prize package of $1,500 to build their experiment, a flight box in which to build it, and an assigned spot on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon flight. Over the approximately four-month experiment build phase, winning teams will receive support from Future Engineers advisors, helping students develop the skills they need to turn their ideas into reality.

Flight tests will offer more than 4 hours of flight time at approximately 70,000 feet, providing exposure to Earth’s atmosphere and incredible views of our planet. This competition inspires a deeper understanding of Earth’s atmosphere, surface features, and climate; space exploration; coding; electronics; and the value of test data.

How To Get Involved With TechRise

Visit the TechRise site for more information on how students and educators can enter the challenge, and also learn how science and technology professionals can volunteer to judge. On October 14, 2022, the NASA TechRise Student Challenge Proposal Q&A Webinar offered educators and students an opportunity to ask questions prior to submitting their entries (watch for a transcript of the event).

FIRST Inspires

Hands-on STEM learning programs are available to kids of all ages. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) offers programs for kids from preK to grade 8 to use LEGOS to solve a problem through a guided, global robotics program. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) gives students in grades 7-12 the opportunity to think like engineers by designing, building, and programming robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) provides high-school age students with the opportunity to form teams to design, program, and build a robot using a standard build kit in a themed head-to-head challenge.

FRC was created with the idea of forming a competition that’s as accepted and celebrated as a varsity sport. Each region runs their local program and winners compete in the international competition. FRC challenges students to understand what real-world engineering looks like: they have a problem to solve, their team, and a deadline.

FRC promotes the core values of FIRST: coopetition, the concept of cooperating and competing at the same time, and gracious professionalism, the concept of helping other teams with their robots. Through the structure of the challenge, students are incentivized to help other teams because they are judged not just on how their robots perform but on how well they demonstrate the core values of FIRST. The whole game is structured to excite kids about engineering and science without them realizing that’s what’s happening because they are having so much fun. The result is that kids learn physics, programming, geometry, and so much more within the context of a game.

How to Get Involved with FIRST

To get involved with FIRST, find a team near you or start a team. For those interested in joining the community to volunteer or participate, you can find your local organization. FIRST is always in need of volunteers and offers information on ways to do so.

Getting involved with STEM student competitions is a powerful way to give back to your community and show kids the path to a career in science and engineering. In a follow-up post, I’ll discuss more specific ways to get involved and the many benefits of mentoring STEM competitions.

*Image above is a scene from the FIRST Robotics Competition – 2022 FIRST Championship.