Here’s Your Chance To Get Involved
Interested in organizing a team? Do you want to mentor or sponsor a team? How can you be a part of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) community? It’s easy to get involved with FLL.
1) Become a Sponsor
2) Schools
3) Universities ; Colleges
4) Become a Volunteer
5) Mentor a Team
6) Start a Team
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1) Become a Sponsor
FIRST is supported by a strong network of sponsors who provide funding,
mentorship time and talent, volunteers, equipment, and more. To help
make FIRST a reality, you can:
Provide financial support to teams
Involve employees as mentors, coaches and/or volunteers
Provide equipment, facilities and/or training
Help host a tournament for your community
“
We believe getting kids involved in science and technology is good for
everyone. And it certainly feeds our pipeline for future engineers.” – Al
Canton, General Motors
If you have an interest in becoming an FLL Sponsor, please visit the Sponsors page.
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2) Schools
How can your school help? By starting an FLL team, a school can literally
change the lives of hundreds of its students. The program is able to
effectively engage children from various backgrounds, instilling new
ideas and concepts in young minds.
Spread the word about FLL
Encourage parents to form teams
Provide space for teams to work
Be a tournament site
Help mentor/coach a team
Bring FLL into the classroom
“
In my mind, this is a tremendous way to get kids to think about ways
to solve problems.” – Paul Williams, Rhode Island Department
of Education
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3) Universities and Colleges
Universities and colleges can help FLL, too. Universities and colleges
are a valuable source for coaches, mentors and volunteers. University
and college students, faculty, and administration can participate by
volunteering their technical expertise as coaches and mentors, and
by making facility space and equipment available to teams.
Host an FLL tournament for the community
Recruit volunteers
Contact local elementary and junior high schools
Get the word out to alumni
Recruit marketing and engineering students to help mentor/coach teams
“
Exposing students to possible college careers is something all universities
should be doing in partnership with local communities, high schools,
and industry. Participating in FIRST helps develop, through experience,
leadership skills and an appreciation for what it means to make a societal
contribution and to practice good citizenship, important under-addressed
topics in most curricula.” – Dr. James C. Benneya, Northeastern
University, Boston, MA
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4) Become a Volunteer
FLL is a journey to self-discovery for both team members and volunteers.
Everyone learns new skills they can use for life.
Mentor or coach a team
Volunteer at an FLL event
Judge
Coordinate a team
Help with fundraising
Recruit new teams
To learn more about volunteering for FLL, contact your local FLL Operational
Partner.
“I loved working with these kids! I’m amazed and inspired by what they can accomplish, and their enthusiasm and energy is contagious.” – Kristen Kelso, Former FIRST Robotics Competition participant; FLL coach and Judge.
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5) Mentor a Team
Meaningful involvement of adults in children’s lives is proven
as an essential component for developing young people’s potential.
FLL creates powerful relationships between the children and the adults
who participate. Anyone can be a mentor: technical or non-technical professionals;
teachers; professors; parents; college students; FIRST Robotics Competition
team participants. As a mentor, you:
Provide valuable one-on-one interaction that develops both technical
and interpersonal skills in team members
Empower children with a sense of accomplishment
Are respected and admired by team members
Are inspired and energized through their participation
“
The role of the adult is not necessarily to teach, but to inspire” – Dean
Kamen, Founder of FIRST
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6) Start a Team
FLL puts children in charge. Teams mix curiosity and imagination with
LEGO bricks, sensors, motors, and gears to invent unique, autonomous
robots capable of completing various missions.
Team registration opens in early May and closes when capacity is reached
or late September, whichever comes first.
The annual Challenge is revealed in mid-September
Tournament application begins in early October
Qualifying events and tournaments are held November through January
Anyone can form a team. It could be a school classroom, after-school
program, extracurricular group, home school, neighborhood group, club,
or civic organization. A team consists of three to 10 kids, ages 9-14
(16 outside of U.S. and Canada), and at least one adult coach.