STEM Academy FIRST Robotics Team 5578 competes at regional competition

The STEM Academy FIRST Robotics Team 5578, the Mechanical Monsters, recently competed in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) regional competition. 

Team 5578 placed 42 out of 62 teams that came from across Oklahoma to compete against each other with robots the students designed and built. STEM Teacher Janet Portwood said the students learned and grew significantly this year while engaging in an exciting and fun project.

"All but one of the students on our team were new to FIRST Robotics this year. We had a very young team, which means lots of experience coming back to get even better next year. The students invested a significant amount of time and effort this year, and we were very proud of them," she said.  

The FIRST Robotics competition is an exciting, multinational competition that teams professionals and young people to solve engineering design problems in an intense and competitive way. The program is a life-changing, career-molding experience for students. Winning necessitates cooperation among teams that have never met before. Teams of students and their mentors have six weeks to design and build a robot from a standard kit of parts to compete under the principles of "gracious professionalism."