Faith Bongiorno began her teaching career as an “art-on-the-cart” educator, but that changed one day when her son told her he wanted to participate in FIRST^® LEGO^® League. Now an Education Implementation Specialist for FIRST^®, she has been working hard to keep kids engaged and safe from afar. On EdSurge, read about Faith's experience with FIRST, STEM education, and navigating remote instruction, as both an educator and parent, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a community empowering the next generation, we’re inspired to advocate for wider recognition of STEM heroes. We continue to remember teacher Christa McAuliffe and the life-changing impact she had on the STEM community. Released on the 35^th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster, the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Silver Dollar is now available for purchase. This United States Mint coin, advocated for by many in the FIRST community, celebrates Christa’s legacy as an educator, and a portion of proceeds benefit the FIRST mission.

Save the date for our next Beyond the Bots^SM episode on Thursday, February 25, at 5:30 p.m. EST on FIRSTtv. Hosted by Jay Flores, we’ll be taking a closer look at the intersection of sports and STEM, uncovering how math and science are used to predict outcomes, explore career paths and transferable skills, and demonstrate how you can apply your STEM background to unexpected industries. A special guest from ESPN will be stopping by to discuss his career path, turning a passion into reality and becoming a game changer. If you missed previous Beyond the Bots episodes focused on mentoring and game design, catch up with our YouTube playlist.

Earlier this month, we kicked off the 30th season of FIRST^® Robotics Competition by revealing three new engineering, innovation, and design challenges that were created for a remote season with remote judging, ensuring all students can participate in meaningful ways. On the Inspire blog, we shared an update on the status of FIRST Robotics Competition in-person season events.

You can now access our free PreK-12 FIRST @ Home activity series through digital learning platform Scoutlier without downloading or printing. Scoutlier has digitized all the FIRST @ Home content to ensure it works in a remote or hybrid learning environment.