Describe the impact of the FIRST program on team participants within the last 3 years. Think about percentages of those graduating high school, attending college, in STEM careers, leadership skills, and serving as mentors/sponsors in FIRST programs.

• Team 1403 has maintained an impressive 100% graduation rate over the past 3 years, higher than the school’s overall graduation rate of 92%, and with 90% pursuing STEM degrees. Last year, 20% of the team obtained a varsity letter. In 2024, Team t1403 started the Leicht Scholarship, created in honor of our mentor’s retirement; given to students who display the team’s core values. Additionally, we stay connected with our alumni through our monthly newsletters with 4 of them returning to mentor.

Describe your community along with its unique opportunities and circumstances. Think about your geographic region, diversity of town/school, language barriers, socioeconomic barriers, and cultural expectations.

• Montgomery is a 32 sq. mile rural township with several STEM and tech-related companies. This is reflected in the large number of families with STEM backgrounds who encourage their kids to join our team and the 10 FRC teams within a 10-mile radius. We strive to support the community’s interest by providing a diverse array of outreach initiatives, each targeting various age groups. Our goal is always to create impactful, sustainable events that will make a lasting difference for years to come.

Describe the team’s methods, with emphasis on the past 3 years, for spreading the FIRST mission in ways that are effective, scalable, sustainable, and creative.

• At the local library, we host seasonal-themed craft workshops where children aged 3-8 engage with LEGO SPIKE robots, connecting STEM concepts such as color sensors to real-world applications like traffic lights. During our township’s Trunk or Treat, we showcase a candy-dispensing robot to 100+ kids, demonstrating STEM’s versatility. These interactive events make STEM accessible and exciting, inspiring young learners and fostering curiosity in engineering and technology.

Describe your team’s goals and the progress you have made towards them to fulfill FIRST’s Vision.

• We aim to create opportunities for future innovators to learn technical, creative, and interpersonal skills that apply to the real world. At our summer camp, SOAR, our members teach participants critical thinking and troubleshooting skills via comprehensive coding challenges. With our new initiative, Astrobraries, we donate STEM-related children’s books to local libraries and present a space-themed robot made by a member, exposing children to the various opportunities offered in engineering.

What impact has your team seen from your efforts described in the above question? How does your team measure impact?

• 72% of our members have participated in SOAR or FLL, which led them through the pipeline and onto our team, with 20% of our leadership from SOAR. Meanwhile, Astrobraries has donated 70 books to under-resourced libraries internationally and reached 130 kids passionate about aerospace. Our impact can be measured by the number of people we reach on a personal level. Through this, our members ensure the kids have a memorable and impactful experience that will inspire them for years to come.

Please provide specific examples of how your team and team members act as role models for the FIRST community with emphasis on the past 3 years. How do you share these best practices with other teams?

• As a Core Team of The Compass Alliance (TCA), we have helped create 18 TCA Worksheets, which have been officially published by FIRST, and teach key elements for improving teams’ success in competition. We post TCA Reels on our Instagram page, explaining our team’s methods for prototyping, scouting, and other topics in detail. Additionally, we host workshops at our annual Kickoff event, presenting technical and new for this year 2 logistical content to the over 200 attendees from different teams.

Describe your team’s initiatives to Assist, Mentor, and/or Start other FIRST teams with emphasis on activities within the past 3 years.

• Team 1403 has mentored FLL teams 26361 and 26362 for 8 years, leading them both to States this year with one team getting 2nd place for Innovation Award. We also mentor community teams 55776 and 60986, accumulating 300 hours total across all FLL teams. In 2022, 1403 took 4 of our old robots, refurbished outdated components, and donated the drive bases to FMA rookie teams such as 9015 Questionable Engineering, who won the Rookie All-Star Award at Worlds!

What other initiatives have you created, grown, sustained, or participated in (FIRST or otherwise) to help inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators? What outcomes have you seen from your efforts in the past 3 years?

• This year we started hosting classes at the Bridgewater Temple, providing 60+ kids, grades 2-8, with 12 hours of instruction through Lego WeDo and SPIKE kits. After finishing the classes, students graduate with the skills to join a FIRST team in the 10 neighboring school districts. Our Cougar Classes and Cougar Workshops teach STEM concepts to passionate students. These events connect life lessons with robotics and build confidence in our students, preparing them for their next step in STEM.

Describe the partnerships and relationships that you’ve created with other organizations (teams, sponsors, educational institutions, government, philanthropic entities, etc.) and what you have accomplished together, with emphasis on the past 3 years.

• We annually present our achievements to our biggest sponsor, the Montgomery Board of Education. We give back through our Earth Day event and by lending machinery to the high school’s engineering classes. Furthermore, we actively engage with our sponsor, Picatinny Arsenal, attending their annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day,” where 14 girls on our team have met women engineers. Additionally, we partner with Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and Monty Pantry, donating 150 items this year alone.

Describe your team’s efforts in the past 3 years to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion within your team, FIRST, and your communities. 495/500

• Our new Women in STEM (WIS) Storytime engages kids aged 3-8 at our local library with books about a female STEM figure and a craft. We continue our yearly WIS Presentations at our Kickoff and Montgomery Competition, impacting 60+ people. At our annual Culture Cougar Class, students educate the team on their diverse backgrounds. The team’s passion for equity and diversity has directly contributed to a 10% increase in female membership over the past 3 years, reaching an all-time high of 34%.

Explain how you ensure your team and the initiatives you have created will be sustainable.

• Team 1403 has proven sustainability outcomes, expanding long-term initiatives and passing down leadership. Monty Madness, our off-season event that started in 2006, grew into the Montgomery Event, securing a lasting district competition. Our SOAR summer program introduces kids to robotics while Kickoff presentations and Women in STEM events continue to grow. We document our progress through a 170+ page Impact Binder, newsletters, and social media, preserving knowledge for future generations.

Highlight one area in which your team needs to improve and describe the steps actively being taken to make those improvements.

• In recent years, our team struggled to launch new outreach projects due to a lack of ideas. To fix this, we empowered students to use team resources for causes they care about. This year, we started 13 new activities, 4 being with organizations that members are affiliated with. These include a mental health presentation collaborating with Minds Without Borders and sending presentations to the Shrimad Rajchandra Education Center in India to teach students grades 7-9 about sensors.

Briefly describe other matters of interest to the FIRST Judges, including items that may not fit into the above topics. The judges are interested in learning about aspects of your team that may be unique, particularly noteworthy or had a large impact.

• In 2024, Team 1403 focused on a new demographic we’ve never reached before – the elderly. Through our Theraprints initiative, we aim to enhance senior living with custom engineering designs. 4 team members worked to develop 3D-printed grips for canes and wheelchairs and distributed them to Laurel Circle Retirement Home residents. We have already impacted 10 residents and continue to refine our solutions for greater effectiveness and accessibility.