For Team Madagascar, the 2020 FIRST Global Challenge was a chance for the students to broaden their horizons. They spoke about their dreams, highlighted their talents, built a paper airplane launcher, created a homemade water filtration system, constructed part of a global machine, and more....

Each year, many teams face obstacles to their participation in the FIRST Global Challenge. But civil conflict and unrest? This is the challenge that Team Ethiopia faced in 2020. The FIRST Global partner in Ethiopia was excited to assemble students for the 2020 FIRST Global Challenge,...

Sometimes the greatest sources of inspiration come about through the unlikeliest of places. This is one such story, brought to the world by a handful of teenagers determined to let their light shine. Although the lives of refugees are commonly shaped by difficulty, the true story...

FIRST Global is a testament to the power of STEM in transforming lives. STEM education can lift people up, providing opportunities for them to realize their full potential regardless of age, perceived ability, gender, socio-economic status, or country of origin. Abdelrahman’s story is one such case....

Tristan is a young man passionate about robotics. He also happens to have autism. For Tristan, autism isn’t something that holds him back. Instead, it’s an opportunity to be uniquely himself while making a difference in his own way. And that's a message he wants to...

Before joining the FIRST Global Guinea-Bissau team, José would normally go to the Port of Bandim, the biggest fishing port in the country, to buy fish with his family. However, after joining the team and learning about the year’s Ocean Opportunities theme, he was inspired...

For Team Bahrain, attending the FIRST Global Challenge wasn’t even on their radar until just four days prior to the event, leaving them with no time to build a robot. The team made the trek to Dubai and proceeded to open a FIRST Global robotics...

When students Barbara and Mikhaeel returned to South Africa after their participation in the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge, they knew that their journey had only just begun. They saw that a lot of youth in South Africa didn’t have access to robotics, and wanted to...

Nabil Dabouz is a busy man. He's a former FIRST Global participant, a software engineering student at the Polytechnic Montréal, and a volunteer with the FIRST LEGO® League in Canada. However, during the summer of 2018, he took on one more role – that of...

  The story of a FIRST Global robot kit is that of an international journey — from the shores of Shenzhen, China, to an office in Alexandria, Virginia, these packages travel millions of miles across all six inhabited continents to make their way to FIRST Global...

In early 2017, FIRST Global partnered with an organization called Shoulder to Shoulder, a nonprofit supporting health and education initiatives in Honduras, to send a team of Honduran youth to participate in the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge. “We’re introducing something down here that’s pretty novel,” said Paul...

Rachael’s journey began when she started studying to be a software engineer. Out of a class of 43, she was one of just three women. It was then that she decided to make it her mission to engage more girls in technology fields. Rachael started a...

The all-girl Afghan robotics team — the Afghan Dreamers — made headlines in the summer of 2017 for being denied, then eventually waived, visas to attend the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge in Washington, D.C. This wasn’t the first challenge they had faced. Some girls’ families had...

Participants hone their STEM skills in preparation for the FIRST Global Challenge, but the impact of their participation stretches far beyond their time with their robot. These youth are the spark igniting a brighter path for the future, as well as inspiring many to join them...

“The number of women in our country that do STEM is very little. We as young girls, as the next generation, we need to change that… I believe that we can change the world.”...

The Tuxedo Pandas -- a high school robotics team from the United States led by Isabelle and Franky Marchand -- not only helped out during the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge in Washington, D.C. but they also advised not one, but two FIRST Global teams through...

Gryphons.exe is a high school robotics team in the United States that not only volunteered at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge, but also went out of their way to help Team Iran through the Global STEM Corps. Team Iran’s robot kit - a box containing...

"I have always loved people from other cultures and nations so it was an easy jump to FIRST Global. When I heard about the program, I knew that I wanted to be a part of it in whatever way I could. It was 2006 when it...

"Volunteering for FIRST events means so many things to me. I started by volunteering to be a robot judge at a FIRST Lego League (FLL) tournament. It was encouraging to see kids so excited to show what their robots could do, even if pieces fell off...

As the programmer for his robotics team, Nathan is responsible for making sure the robot's code is top-notch. Looking at the enthusiasm and excellence he brings to his work, it may be surprising to hear that Nathan hasn't always been recognized as the smart and...

Team Iran signed on to compete in the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge. The only problem? They couldn’t get a robot kit due to sanctions. Team Iran instead paired up with a robotics team from a Virgina high school who worked with them to build the...

"I can build a robot, you can build a robot; together, we can build a robot. Robotics is not just for boys, but for girls, boys, and everyone." Meet Larissa, the only female member of Team Cameroon 2017. Larissa gets up at 3 a.m. to do her...

Team Liberia faced many challenges on their way to participating in the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge. Yet despite a lack of electricity, an abundance of flooding, and no previous experience with robotics, they pushed forward....

en_USEN