How will FIRST^® Tech Challenge teams build a path forward? Watch FIRSTtv September 18 at 12pm E.T. as we celebrate FREIGHT FRENZY^SM presented by Raytheon Technologies. We’ll reveal the new game, check out the field, hear from special guests, and see what’s on the road ahead for FIRST Tech Challenge teams in the FIRST^® FORWARD^SM presented by Qualcomm season. Sign up for a tune-in reminder.

2021-2022 team registration for FIRST Tech Challenge is open! In celebration of the season kicking off, we’re giving away four partial game sets and scoring elements to help new or returning teams compete in FREIGHT FRENZY. Find out more about the sweepstakes.

We’re celebrating the recent release of CARGO CONNECT^SM with a FIRST^® LEGO^® League Explore sweepstakes. FIRST LEGO League Explore teams that register for the season before September 30, 2021, will be automatically entered to win the new, reusable LEGO^® Education SPIKE^TM Essential. Both SPIKE Essential and LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 are compatible with FIRST LEGO League Explore CARGO CONNECT.

September 2, 2021, would have been educator and STEM hero Christa McAuliffe’s 73^rd birthday. On the FIRST Inspire blog, we spoke with Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST and the catalyst for the 2021 Christa McAuliffe Silver Dollar Commemorative Coin, about why he has been an unwavering advocate for carrying on her legacy of inspiration.

Congratulations to FIRST LEGO League Team “SESI Big Bang,” FIRST Tech Challenge Team 14725 “Java the Hutts,” and FIRST^® Robotics Competition Team 5553 “Robo’Lyon,” winners of the 2021 FIRST Global Innovation Awards powered by Star Wars: Force for Change. Our friends at LucasFilm and Disney are celebrating these innovative inventors on the Star Wars blog.

The FIRST Board of Directors has promoted Interim President Chris Rake to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and launched a search for a Chief Executive Officer, expanding FIRST HQ leadership capacity in support of growing FIRST programs to reach more young people around the world. Read more in our announcement.

FIRST is More Than Robots^SM, always. Inspired by last season's challenge to create a device that can benefit someone's life through active play and movement, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 3616 “Phenomena” from Lafayette, Louisiana, invented a kit that can be added to any bike to assist riders with damaged or amputated legs as they pedal. Hear more about how the team's innovation will help a little boy named James via CBS This Morning.