FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global non-profit organization that runs several robotics programs for students aged 4-18, with the goal of inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Click here to watch a quick video about FIRST classes. 

Think of this as a professional apprenticeship. Unlike a weekly club, our teams are preparing for regional and state-level competitions that require rigor, iteration, and high-quality materials. When you invest in this program, you aren’t just paying for a class—you are investing in your child’s first venture.

To support this level of play, your tuition covers all core robotics hardware and materials. We provide the robot kits, shared in-class computers, tools, and team shirts—all the specialized gear necessary to build and compete.

While we do provide shared computers during class, sharing one device per team can sometimes create a bottleneck. If your student has a laptop that you feel comfortable with them taking out of the home, we highly encourage them to bring it to class for a much smoother, hands-on experience. Furthermore, for our older FTC students, having access to a personal device outside of class is required so they can communicate with their team via Slack, attend virtual Zoom meetings, and collaborate on business documents.

Yes! Our classes are qualified educational expenses through UFA, OpenEd, and Harmony Education.

Additionally, we offer fundraising opportunities throughout the year. While fundraising is entirely optional, it is highly encouraged because we treat it as a core entrepreneurial skill. When a student or team raises money—whether by pitching to local businesses for sponsorships or running an event—those funds stay directly with their team. Students can use these funds to offset their own tuition, buy premium upgraded parts for their robot, or fund team meals at competitions. It teaches them that they have the power to generate the resources they need to succeed, which is a major positive for the business side of the FTC competition.

Our FTC students are also given the opportunity to mentor FLL teams – giving the younger teams exposure to the higher levels of competition, and giving our older teams the opportunity to teach the skills that they’ve learned to others.

You can certainly buy a robot, but you can’t buy the “startup” experience. The IEProgram provides scale—access to industrial-grade tools, shared resources, and the institutional “know-how” to navigate the complex FIRST® season. More importantly, we provide a peer group. You cannot replicate the collaboration, leadership, and conflict resolution of a working engineering team in isolation.

Each Challenge team is guided by a Head Coach who acts as a project manager, setting firm timelines and expectations. Furthermore, teams are assisted by a Teen Mentor. This setup is a win-win: younger students benefit immensely from learning from near-peer role models, while teen mentors gain valuable leadership, teaching, and management experience.

Yes. Our program operates on a family-supported experience model, not a traditional drop-off class. When your student joins the team, your family joins too. To keep the program running smoothly, safely, and successfully we require every family to actively participate and contribute a minimum number of volunteer hours throughout the year. Hours can be fulfilled by adult siblings, grandparents, extended family members, or community experts.

Parent involvement does more than just distribute the workload; it builds a true community of mentors. By working alongside the teams, parents gain a firsthand appreciation for the complex, professional-level challenges their kids are tackling. It exposes students to adults with diverse professional backgrounds and creates shared experiences that strengthen family relationships during these critical adolescent years.

At the beginning of the season, we host a mandatory Parent Kickoff meeting. Here, parents will be asked to sign up for a team support committee. Committees could include Fundraising, Merchandise (Team Shirts), Professional Mentoring/Networking, Field Trips, and Travel Arrangements. Every family is expected to contribute a minimum number of volunteer hours throughout the year (10 hours for FLL & 20 for FTC).  

We know every family has different schedules and comfort levels, so you can mix and match from any of the areas below to hit your required hours.

In-Class & Event Coach Assistant: We require at least one adult in addition to our coach to be present in the room during every class meeting, build day, scrimmage, and competition to satisfy our two-deep leadership and safety requirements. You won’t be expected to have any specific knowledge or need to know how to “do” anything robotics-related. Your primary role is student management. We need you actively watching, roaming the room, and jumping in to help manage students and keep them on track.

Program Support Committees & Event Help: If attending class during the day doesn’t work for your schedule, you can fulfill your hours by volunteering for an ongoing behind-the-scenes assignment. Options include:

• Professional Mentoring: (For adults with specific skills) Come in for a guest session to teach CAD, Java, marketing, graphic design, presentation skills—or anything that might be helpful for our team going forward.
• Fundraising & Sponsorships: Help the team secure sponsorships or run community fundraisers.
• Apparel: Coordinate the design, sizing, and/or ordering of team t-shirts.
• Field Trips: Organize tours of local engineering colleges or professional workspaces.
• Showcase Organization: Assist in planning and executing the mid-year robotics showcase.
• Outreach & Service Projects: Organize community service opportunities or outreach events.
• Event Outreach & Team Spirit: Organize our team’s outreach to other teams at competitions (e.g., designing team pins for trading, putting together small gifts or candy to hand out).
• Travel & Logistics: Help with carpooling to and from classes/events, or organize food or other logistics for long competition days.
• FIRST Event Volunteering: Judge, referee, or help run an official FIRST competition in our region.
• Competition Pit Set-Up: Help with the heavy lifting and organization of our pit area the night before our local qualifiers.

While it feels like play, the learning is deep and verifiable. Every design choice must be documented in an Engineering Notebook or Portfolio, and every move on the field is the result of hours of logic-based coding and mechanical testing. We prioritize the process of engineering over the trophy.

Absolutely! You can join the team and be a massive asset even if you never touch a single piece of metal or write a line of code. Because our FTC teams operate as fully functional small businesses, we have an urgent need for business-minded students. The business management aspect of the team is formally judged and wins actual awards that advance the team. If you want to develop real-world skills that translate directly into professional environments, you can be a vital part of the team by focusing on:

• Business Management & Budgeting
• Marketing, Graphic Design & Brand Promotion
• Fundraising & Corporate Sponsorship Pitches
• Public Speaking & Real-World Presentations
• Web Design & Portfolio Creation
• Outreach & Volunteerism

Bring what you have, be willing to learn and work, and come with a good attitude—we will teach you the rest!

Robotics is a vehicle for character development. Through FIRST’s core value of Gracious Professionalism®, students learn to compete intensely while treating opponents with respect. The curriculum is specifically designed to target limiting beliefs. Students learn how to overcome imposter syndrome, navigate conflict rather than fearing it, and discover that a highly-functioning team is infinitely more powerful than a single brilliant individual. They learn to fail forward, communicate complex ideas to judges, and work alongside peers with different skill sets—exactly what they will need in their future families, communities, and careers.

Success means more time on the field! If a team qualifies for the world championships or a premiere event it will involve some additional expenses for travel and registration. We will do everything we can to help students offset these costs through fundraising and sponsorships when that time comes. Advancing to these levels of competition is a huge booster for your students’ resumes for future careers and college applications!

Absolutely not! Robotics is a sport of the mind, and diversity of thought is its greatest strength. Some of our most successful lead engineers, head programmers, and team captains are girls. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every student has a voice.