Why We Volunteer

Participating in robotics competitions builds confidence, leadership skills, excitement for STEM, and many other subjects. Because of this, we strive to spread STEM in our local and global community so that every person gets a chance to experience how fun robotics is. Throughout the San Diego region, we reach out to students at schools, science museums, all major STEM fairs, as well as those with special needs and the homeless. In addition, our team members serve as mentors and coaches to younger robotics enthusiasts and their coaches. We successfully groomed over 30 award-winning teams. We also teach summer robotics camps for elementary and middle school students, including those in the under-served community. We have done over 320 outreach events, reaching over 131,000 students and parents.

Upcoming Outreach Events

Weekly Benin, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Togo mentoring (during competition season)
Virtual open house at Team Inspiration lab
Monthly Community ConNext outreach (on hold)
Monthly San Diego Children's Discovery Museum outreach (on hold)
Quarterly Fleet Science Center outreach (on hold)

2020

Continue mentoring Benin and Paraguay's FIRST Global teams.
Co-hosted an official FTC competition. Hosted and co-hosted 3 other robotics scrimmages.
Partner with University of San Diego STEAM Academy to teach STEAM , encouraging students by exposing them to all subjects.
Partner with the Fleet Science Center to create videos for Fleet2Go and FLEETtv.
Collaborate with Porpoise Robotics in developing low cost underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle for STEM education.
Join forces with Krista Mitra High School in Indonesia in creating video tutorials to teach students about engineering concepts that will be applicable to the industries of the future.
Tutor online Math and Physics.
Create video tutorials for our YouTube channel.
Team up with Barboza Space Center and Porpoise Robotics to teach STEAM in California and the Republic of Cabo Verde, Africa.

2019

Created a SWENext club to promote STEM learning for girls.
Created a 501(c)(3) non-profit named Advancing Science, Technology, and Art so we can financially support efforts that spread sustainable STEAM education to under-served communities locally and globally.
Co-hosted Benin's first national robotics competition with femCoders, the U.S. Embassy, and Team Spyder.
Co-hosted robotics competition in Paraguay with the National University of Asuncion and Team Spyder.
Participated in FRC Showcase Tijuana, Mexico to promote STEM education.

2018

Continued with FTC and mentored FLL teams.
Hosted a scrimmage for 8 FLL teams and co-hosted 2 other scrimmages.
Continued to support Benin with the help of FRC team Spyder. femCoders expanded their STEM training to 7 more schools. We continued mentoring Benin's FIRST Global team.
Started partnership with San Diego Children Museum to promote STEM.

2017

Continued with FTC and mentored FLL teams. Hosted and co-hosted three robotics scrimmages.
Partnered with FIRST Global to coach team Benin. From team Benin's success we partnered with femCoders and US Embassy to train students in six schools in Benin. Donated 10 robotics kits to kick off the program.
Taught week-long robotics summer camps.
Introduce robotics into CA Summer Games as battle of the minds - built a FRC frisbee shooting robot for the opening ceremony which was held at a sport stadium in front of 10,000+ people.
Supported all major Science Expos and Maker Faires in San Diego.
Started partnership with Autism organization and Fleet Science Center to promote STEM.