About FIRST
The FIRST (“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”) program’s mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that fosters well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
Our Oakville Community FIRST Robotics Teams offers these extra-curricular experiences for young persons from grades 5 to 12 who do not have access to them through their schools. We have a proven successful track record, expanding our programs and membership base, winning competitive awards each season, promoting STEM awareness in the community, and over 95% of our alumni are in post-secondary STEM programs – most at their “first-choice” university. FIRST alumni are also eligible to apply for over $80 million of college scholarships.
We are a Federally registered charity, and all our activities are managed by volunteer adult mentors from a wide range of technical, professional, and educational backgrounds. Our membership has grown throughout the years, and we host students from a number of schools in our community.
Our Team is not affiliated with any school board and generates its annual operating revenue from membership fees, donations, and in-kind support from local industry.
Mentors and Volunteers
Our programs cannot function without the efforts of the volunteer adult mentors. We require a minimum of two mentors to be present whenever members meet. Several of our mentors are parents of team members. Some mentors have specialized skills that can be helpful in team training, but some are non–engineering mentors who provide invaluable assistance with tasks such as administration, organization, fundraising, promotion, website and publicity, meetings’ supervision, etc. We are also planning some computer coding training for mentors helping with the FLL programs. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or helping as a meeting supervisor, please email info@1360.ca or submit the Contact Us Form for more information.
Programs
For each season, we offer two programs:
- FIRST LEGO League Challenge (FLL) program will be for students in grades 5 to 8. Learn more about FLL here.
- FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) program will be for students in grades 9 to 12. Learn more about FRC here.
More information about these two programs may also be found on FIRST’s website.