Here at FIRST^®, recognition is not only part of our name, but core to our ethos, and we are proud to launch nominations for the 2025 Inspire the Future: FIRST Recognition Program!  

We want to celebrate the FIRST educators and schools who impact and inspire their learning communities. Through their work, these educators and schools advance the mission of FIRST. Learn more about the Inspire the Future: FIRST Recognition Program and how YOU can nominate an educator or school that has made a positive impact on your community.  

Learn more and submit a nomination >>

As the fifth anniversary of Dr. Woodie Flowers’ passing approaches, we invite the entire FIRST community to celebrate and honor his life by participating in Walk Like Woodie Day. Together, we continue to carry his legacy forward by remembering and celebrating his impact.

Join us on October 11 by sharing your photos, thoughts, and tributes with #WalkLikeWoodie. Share your examples of Gracious Professionalism^® with #thatsGP and one of the photo frames! 

Download the Walk Like Woodie Day frames >>

Jay Flores is a Global STEM Ambassador, founder of Invent The Change, and a two-time competitor on NBC’s hit sports entertainment reality show, American Ninja Warrior. He is one of the most influential voices in STEM and has been a proud supporter of FIRST for over a decade, tirelessly creating and seizing opportunities to advocate for the FIRST mission, FIRST programs, and FIRST participants.   

Read more about Jay's STEAM journey >>

Last week, 193 nations were represented at the 2024 FIRST^® Global Challenge in Athens, Greece. Themed “Feeding the Future,” the Olympics-style robotics competition brought together participants from across the globe for four days of innovation and collaboration, united in their pursuit of a more sustainable global food system. Congratulations to all the participating teams! 

FIRST Global is the sister organization to FIRST. The two organizations work together to provide STEM education to young people: FIRST exists to provide hands-on STEM learning programs for students of every age, and the purpose of FIRST Global is to provide access to FIRST programs in every nation.  

Read more on the event and the award winners >>

Among the four most influential things to come out of MIT in the past 25 years? According to the Boston Globe: FIRST. 

“FIRST alumni are 17 percent more likely to declare a major in a STEM-related field in college than their high school peers who took math and science courses, but didn’t participate in the competition.”  

What began as a small engineering competition in Manchester, New Hampshire, founded by prolific inventor Dean Kamen and patterned after a robot-building course at MIT pioneered by the late Dr. Woodie Flowers, is now making a global impact on millions of youth, inspiring them to not only start exploring STEM from a young age, but to pursue an ever-expanding arena of STEM careers after high school graduation.  

Read more about how FIRST bolsters and retains student interest in STEM and robotics on the Boston Globe >>