Putting Outreach First

Within the past five years, we’ve already found interest in not only our own program within the FIRST Organization but also other programs as well.

FLL Mentoring

During the past season, we have mentored both the Cary Academy Blue and Gold Middle School teams through their FIRST Lego League season. We helped foster new ideas and assisted in the development of both their robots and their projects. We also mentored fifth graders at Weatherstone Elementary School, introducing them to the concept of FIRST and Lego League. By exposing them to the innovation and engineering behind FIRST, we have sparked interest in young minds.

Cisco’s Family Day Event

For the past three years, team 5190 has been participating in Cisco’s Family Day event. There, we have been able to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) by demonstrating the way we used it to create these robots. We thank Cisco for inviting us to the event each year. We also thank the children and community members for their interest in our mission to encourage STEM education.

US 2020

During each of the three years we have participated in this event, we have seen how influential STEM can be. By demonstrating our robot, networking with other participants, and learning from each other, we are reminded of how STEM and FIRST can change the community.

Local Elementary’s STEM Nights

From our first year as a team, we have been fortunate enough to be invited to show our work with FIRST to young students. Seeing how STEM and FIRST encourage these children to explore and learn, we are reminded of the importance of sharing this experience with elementary students. We continue to seek more opportunities like these.

STEM Education Month

Our team takes STEM Education very seriously as it is incorporated into every part of a robotics team. Thus, we have worked valiantly in our town of Cary to gain support from the community. After going to St. Louis for the FIRST World Championship we were awarded in recognition of our team’s accomplishments. This proclamation sparked a flourishing relationship with our town. When it was realized how much our home state was lacking STEM Education standards, team 5190 brought it upon themselves to do something about it. After doing some research, we used our newfound relationship with our town to bring attention to our state’s lacking STEM standards. The town of Cary then used our research and our drive to dedicate September as STEM Education Month in the town!