The Lynx Initiative

10/08/2026

This is what we hoped for when we started The Lynx Initiative.

One of our biggest goals was to get robotics back into an Anchorage middle school. Specifically, we wanted to bring Mears Gears back to life.

Cost and access were huge barriers, but the biggest challenge was finding a coach. Someone who believed in what we were trying to build.

Two years ago, Ryan attended the FTC Alaska State Championship at UAA and watched Team 3825 Ψ Lynx win the Inspire Award. He was hooked.

Ryan was an 8th grader at the time, so he already had a path into robotics. He started attending the community team meetings in the summer and would be attending Dimond the following year. Giving him the opportunity to join the team that had inspired him.

But here’s what makes Ryan’s story so special.

He wasn’t trying to create an opportunity for himself. Instead he was trying to create one for the kids coming after him.

He knew how much he would have loved discovering robotics earlier, and he didn’t want the next Ryan to have to wait until high school to experience it.

So he helped us find Coach Jones.

What an incredible addition she has been to our coaching family. She wants the best for every student, not just her own teams. She believes in these kids, and it shows.

Today, most of the mentors at Mears were from Ψ Lynx, but look closely and you’ll spot a π Lynx in the picture too!

These students were so inspired by the high schoolers who mentored them last year that when they moved up, they just kept coming back. Not because anyone asked them to, but because they wanted the next group of kids to have the same support they had.

At the end of the day, one of our student mentors said, “I didn’t do a whole lot. It’s mostly just sitting around waiting for questions or things to break.”

Coach Black laughed and said, “Team, welcome to coaching.”

Really, that’s what we’ve been working toward all along.

Ryan helped bring back a program he would never get to compete in. Coach Jones gave those students someone who believes in them. Now the kids who were mentored last year are coming back to mentor the next group.

That’s how you build something that lasts. Not by creating opportunities for yourself, but by making sure they’re still there for the next kid.

Mears Gears is back and that means a whole lot more than just having robots in a middle school.

10/02/2026

MINNESOTA, WE ARE COMING BACK!

Our Northern Knights are headed back to Minnesota for the North Star Regional, and this trip means more to us than we can put into words.

We could honestly call this event the birthplace of Alaska FRC as we know it today.

When we traveled to Minnesota last year, there was a very real possibility that it would be the last time Alaska had an FRC team. We didn’t know what our future looked like. What we found was a community that refused to let that happen.

To Ultra Violet, Stateline Robotics, Knightcrawlers, and Fire Bears, we would not be registered for another season without you.

You were strangers who became friends. You shared your knowledge, your resources, your time, and most importantly, you believed in us. You even adopted us as Minnesota’s northernmost team when we made it to Worlds!

Woody Flowers would be so proud of this community. You don’t just talk about Gracious Professionalism. You live it. And because of that, Alaska’s FRC story gets another chapter.

We’re coming back to the place that helped keep our team alive, and this time, we’re returning to compete alongside friends.

Minnesota, we’ll see you at the end of March!

With love from Alaska,
FRC 10950 Northern Knights

09/29/2026

When we started The Lynx Initiative, this is what we hoped it would become.

Not just one team, building, or even just one community.

We wanted to build a network where teams help teams, students help students, and where it doesn’t matter how far away you are. If you need help getting started, solving a problem, learning something new, or just figuring out what comes next, you have people you can reach out to.

So we are incredibly excited to officially welcome our newest team, FTC 38524 in Ketchikan, to The Lynx Initiative!

They don’t have a team name yet, but they do have a goBILDA robot setup and a whole community behind them.

We look forward to helping them learn, build, troubleshoot, compete, and find their own path. Whatever they need to succeed, we are here to help.

This is what we wanted TLI to be from the beginning. A community that gets bigger because we keep making room for one another.

Welcome to The Lynx Initiative, 38524. We can’t wait to see what you build.

09/28/2026

SOMETIMES THE COACHES NEED COACHING TOO

By the end of today’s build day, we had THREE robots running!

With the exception of our amazing Coach Jones at Mears and Coach Hunter with Octo-π, most of our coaches are everything but engineers. What we do have is years of tinkering, computer work, problem solving, and a willingness to learn right alongside our students.

So we decided there was no better way to understand what our students go through than to build our own kit bot.

Today the roles flipped and our students became our mentors.

They walked us through the build process, helped us understand the programming better, explained the difference between torque and speed servos, and helped us troubleshoot when things didn't quite work the way we expected.

It gave us a much better understanding of the problems our students run into every week. More importantly, it gave our students the chance to be the experts in the room.

Thank you to our students for being patient with us, answering our questions, and teaching the people who are usually supposed to be teaching you.

Now that the coaches have a robot, we look forward to scrimmaging against you on Sundays.

We also want to officially welcome Coach T to The Lynx Initiative! He will be helping across our teams, but will primarily be supporting Hackfish. He was already a huge help last season, from supporting us on the sidelines to sticking around through those very long build sessions. We are excited to finally make him official.

Three running robots. A few new skills. One new coach.

Pretty good build day.

09/27/2026

The Lynx Initiative coaches are volunteers.

Yes, we have two incredible ASD teachers coaching alongside us, but when they show up on a Saturday for an outreach event, they are volunteering too.

So why do they?

Today, π Lynx and Ψ Lynx spent most of their Saturday supporting their community at a Trunk or Treat. They showed off their robots, handed out candy, and somewhere in between the rushes of trick-or-treaters, they just got to hang out together.

Coach Black was there with them, and Coach Childress arrived with a much-needed coffee for Coach Black. Across town, Coach Jeanette, Brown, Heather, and Joe were spending her Saturday with Hackfish, squeezing in some extra build time.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that was the answer to why they all keep showing up.

It was the smiles during the quiet moments. Watching kids who might have very little in common outside of robotics stand around laughing and working together. Different schools, ages, and backgrounds sharing in a common interest. One community.

We talk a lot about building robots, but that really isn’t the biggest thing we’re building.

We’re building support networks.

We’re creating a place where kids know people will show up for them. Where teammates become friends, older students become mentors, and coaches become the adults in their corner.

The hours may be volunteer, but, the community we are creating is something much bigger.

09/18/2026

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported our Dine & Donate!

We got to meet some new faces, catch up with friends, and had several of The Lynx Initiative coaches come out to support us. More than anything, it was just a great evening spent with our community.

We are incredibly grateful for everyone who continues to show up for these students and what we are building together. Every meal, every conversation, and every person who stopped by made a difference.

If you missed this one, don’t worry! We’ll be doing another Dine & Donate in October and November.

Thank you for showing up for The Lynx Initiative and for our students. This community is what makes all of this possible.

09/17/2026

Forgot to take dinner out of the freezer? We got you. Join us tonight at the SOUTH Anchorage Texas Roadhouse from 4-9pm. Let them know you are with The Lynx Initiative and a portion of the sales will help support our community robotics programs. Hope to see you there.

Want a break from making dinner?

The Lynx Initiative is teamed up with South Anchorage Texas Roadhouse for a Dine 2 Donate evening. The Lynx Initiative will receive a portion of the proceeds from the evenings dinners.

Come help support community robotics Thursday the 17th of September from 4PM to 9PM at the South Anchorage Texas Roadhouse.

Remember to mention Robotics and the Lynx Initiative to make sure your meal gets included.

Thank you in advance for supporting this great program.

09/14/2026

One of the coolest things about this community is that every team has developed its own personality. You can see it in how they build, how they solve problems, and apparently… how they use the floor.

Mechalodons discussed priorities and design, literally piled on top of each other on the floor. Like only the Mechalodons can.

Hackfish consulted the Magic 8 Ball about their next move… and then proceeded to hack off a drive shaft. As one does.

Octo-π had their robot draw first blood. They made mistakes, learned from them, and started figuring out how to work together as a team.

Ψ Lynx worked on the things that connect all of us, hours tracking across teams and creating continuity in our logos.

π Lynx showed up with a fully functioning robot. Show-offs.

But the best part was looking around the room and seeing all of them sharing advice, tools and space.

Every team has its own personality. Its own inside jokes. Its own way of approaching a problem. But when someone needs help, the lines between teams disappear.

We may be on different teams but, in the end we are one community.

09/12/2026

Three years ago, we took over hosting the FIRST Tech Challenge season kickoff, and UAA College of Engineering graciously gave us the opportunity to keep an Anchorage tradition alive.

The first photo is from that first year.

Our first community team captain, Erin, is standing on the stairs with a small group of Dimond High School students who had begun building something bigger than their own team: The Lynx Initiative. They showed up because they believed robotics should have a place for every student who wanted to belong.

Today, those same stairs tell a very different story.

This year, just for setup, we filled them with students.

Students from different schools. Different teams. Different ages. Some who were there three years ago and many who had not even found FIRST yet.

This year’s kickoff had the highest attendance. With over 30 rookies finding FIRST for the first time.

This is what our community looks like.

It isn’t just building more robots or creating more teams. It is building a place where students know they are wanted, where older students reach back for the next group, and where showing up means you are part of something.

Three years ago, a handful of students stood on those stairs and believed they could build that kind of community. This year, we filled the Solarium.

06/10/2026

Cowtown is a wrap. We finished middle of the pack. But we made hard choices and had some amazing team building. For a rookie team from Alaska we did really well and are motivated to push our engineering to the next level this upcoming season.