LAUNCH TEAM 6352 LAUNCHES STEM OPPORTUNITIES!

During our team’s 10th anniversary, we were recognized with the FIRST Impact Award at the FIRST Championship in Houston, TX.

As a small community team based in Surprise, Arizona, our team was founded by a FIRST Dean’s List Award Finalist with the mission of providing STEM opportunities to students that wouldn’t have them otherwise. Our outreach is focused on three main categories: Spreading the mission of FIRST, Impacting the FIRST community, and Inspiring the future of STEM. Our goal is more than simply starting and mentoring teams, but creating sustainable STEM ecosystems and providing opportunities to bring robotics to communities that might be overlooked by traditional outreach. These have ranged from providing resources to teams and events locally, working with blind schools nationwide, to even starting teams worldwide, all with the goal of building programs that can sustain into the future.

We’ve created a variety of resources for all levels of FIRST programs including lightweight foam tables for K-8 teams, LAUNCH Accelerator care packages for rookie FRC teams in Arizona, and the “In Orbit with LAUNCH TEAM Robotics” podcast which provides insightful interviews with teams, scholarship providers, and even major suppliers. We also work to forge partnerships with local organizations and advocate to our government officials. A key to our team’s success was leveraging the FIRST Class Pack program to reuse materials, reduce costs, and engage more students. These class packs have been integrated into entire grade levels school-wide in multiple countries and provide a lower barrier to entry.

These efforts not only help the communities we reach out to, but give our students a sense of accomplishment as they see the tangible, positive difference they’re making in the lives of others. There’s no greater accomplishment than hearing a child that has never touched a robot before say “I know I can do it!”.

 Team Video