FIRST is More Than Robots. Our goal is to have a positive impact on our community through various outreach events, volunteering and service projects. We hope to inspire children to explore science and technology by sharing the excitement and rewards of STEM and FIRST programs with demonstrations, sharing what we learn, and volunteering our time at STEM events.
Please contact us if you have a volunteer opportunity for our team or would like our team to give a robot demonstration at your event or business.
Upcoming Dates |
April 4th, 2020 • RoboFest - Mandeville Trailhead 9:30-1pm
SORRY. EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19. We hope to reschedule this outreach event.
Kick off National Robotics week and come discover the excitement and rewards of science and technology as all levels of FIRST robotics show off their robots. Learn about FIRST and what opportunities for robotics are right here in the community!
| Outreach |
February 4, 2020 - Ongoing • First Lego League Mentorship
We were invited to mentor the FLL team at First Baptist School in Slidell. We first went over their competition field and helped them come up with a plan for their missions. We taught them how to measure distance and how to use their gyro sensor. We discussed with the coach and gave suggestions on how to organize her classroom for the upcoming FLL season. The FLL team will continue meeting and working with what we have taught them and we will return in a few weeks to see their progress and help in any way we can.
| Outreach |
December 14, 2019 • STEM CAFE, Bogalusa, LA
We were invited by Northshore STEM to participate in their Community STEM Cafe at Bogalusa High School. There were various stem activities and our team was able to show off our current robot and tell attendees about FIRST, Robotics and SKYSTONE. Kids were able to do a “Draw a circuit” STEM activity using a graphite pencil and a Light-emitting diode (LED) to create a circuit and light the LED using a 9-volt battery.
| Outreach |
November 16, 2019 • STEM Quest at The Children's Museum of St. Tammany
We were invited to participate in STEM QUEST at the Children’s Museum of St. Tammany. There were various stem activities and our team demonstrated our current competition robot. We talked with guests about this year’s SKYSTONE game and showed how our robot can move the foundation, intake and place stones on the foundation. There were lots of families interested in FIRST and we got to talk to them about how to get involved and find a team.
| Outreach |
October 19, 2019 • New Orleans Pelicans & Saints STEM Fest
Our team was honored to be invited as one of the exhibition teams representing Louisiana FTC STEM Fest! Our team exhibited a past year robot interacting with the kids catching balls, gave out Dark Matter bracelets and bags, hung out with other FTC teams, and - excitedly - gave out "Official Robot Driver’s Licenses" to almost 100 kiddos after they got to drive our competition robot around the FTC field! We got to tell a lot families about FIRST, hand out brochures and direct them where to find more information on how to get involved.
| Outreach |
October 15, 2019 • Mandeville Night Out Against Crime
We had the opportunity tonight to be part of Mandeville Police Department’s Night Out Against Crime. This was an event at the Mandeville trail head, families were invited for food, games and family fun. We used a past year’s robot that shoots balls and played catch with the kids. We handed out some swag (bracelets and bags), and were able to show how much fun FIRST Robotics can be!
| Outreach |
October 12, 2019 • Ready or Not Scrimmage
We hosted a Scrimmage at Pelican Park. We had 14 teams participate. We are appreciative of the connection we made with Pelican Park and their willingness to host and sponsor our event that was held at the Castine Center. Srimmage give the friends, family and the public a chance to see multiple FTC robots in their beginning stages and see our teams hard at work competing and learning while preparing for our first Qualifier.
| Community Service |
September 14, 2019 • Keep Mandeville Beautiful Citywide Clean Up
Our team helped pick up trash in our community. Keep Mandeville Beautiful is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate that addresses litter reduction, beautification and community awareness in the Mandeville metropolitan area by providing programs and activities to improve Mandeville's physical appearance.
| Outreach |
August 17, 2019 • Covington White Linen Night
Our team gave robot demos for Innovation Labs to bring awareness to our community of FIRST programs. The non-profit iLabs was an idea of a former teammate and is trying to bring robotics to more students in our community by providing a central facility decked out with everything needed to support more robotics teams in our area and hopefully reduce the cost to start and sustain teams.
| Community Service |
Slidell Ladies for Liberty (SLFL) is a local group dedicated to supporting our local military deployed on active duty around the world by sending them care packages. Team members have gone to 3 packing days, brought donations and helped pack boxes. We also wanted to help raise awareness for SLFL in our community and help collect items they need so our team hosted a donation drive during our Scrimmage. We asked attending teams and guests to bring donation items. We collected over 450 individual items and delivered them to the SLFL on their October packing day. We brought our robot and talked about our team, FIRST, and robotics as well as helped pack care packages.
| Outreach |
May 21, 2019 • 3rd Annual Festival DeRobotique at the State Capital hosted by Senator Sharon Hewitt and presented by DOW. FIRST Robotics Competition teams and FIRST Tech Challenge Teams play an off-season scrimmage and FIRST Lego League teams show off their building and programming prowess so that senators and representatives alike can see how FIRST Robotics changes lives.
