TREAD 3219

The mission of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is "to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership." Founded by Dean Kamen in 1992, FIRST has evolved from a single 28-team local event to an international charity organization with four leagues: the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), FIRST Lego League (FLL), and Jr. The FRC and FTC are for grades 9-12, the FLL for grades 4-8, and the Jr. A fifth league for collegiate students is being piloted in 2012. Auburn High School's TREAD, FIRST team number 3219, focuses primarily on FRC participation. The team initially began as part of nearby Auburn Mountainview High School's team 2907 for the 2009 FRC season, and became its own team in late 2009 to compete in the 2010 season at Key Arena Seattle Regional. In the 2011 season TREAD went to semi-finals at the Qwest Event Center Seattle Cascade Regional allied with Skunkworks 1983 from Des Moines, one of the west coast's top teams, and Raiders 3681, a rookie team that year. All FRC events are free to public attendance, and TREAD encourages visitors to both watch FRC matches and see the team at work on the robot in the pits between matches. Every year, FRC teams are given six weeks to build a complete robot to compete in a game which is designed from the ground up every year. The robots are made with a kit of parts costing roughly $5,000 and up to $3,500 in additional parts. Robots tend to weigh close to 120 pounds. All of FIRST's competitions reach a total of over 26,800 teams comprised of over 293,000 students. These teams, with the help of over 51,000 mentors and an additional 50,000 other volunteers, build over 24,000 robots annually. The hundreds of thousands of FIRST participants are eligible for over 655 scholarships from over 150 providers totaling at least $14 million. Description uses excerpts and information from FIRST's website. Visit http://www.usfirst.org/ for more information about FIRST and the FRC.