Innovators Amid Adversity: Haitian Youth Spark National Pride
Team Haiti’s journey to the 2023 FIRST Global Challenge in Singapore was filled with twists and turns—and hope.
FIRST Global Alumni Becoming Mentors – Keeghan
Seeds planted by FIRST Global in the hearts of students are blossoming into leaders who are entrepreneurs, advocates, and mentors just six years after the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge. Here is the story of Keeghan.How This FIRST Global Alum is Transforming Venezuela into a Robotics Powerhouse
Seeds planted by FIRST Global in the hearts of students are blossoming into leaders who are entrepreneurs, advocates, and mentors just six years after the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge. Here is the story of Emanuel from Venezuela.Young Women Shining as STEM Role Models
In recognition of our shared support of women’s representation in STEM, FIRST Global partnered with the Temasek Corporation to launch the Temasek Women in STEM Award as part of the 2023 FIRST Global Challenge in Singapore. Through this award, leaders from the Temasek Corporation recognized...
Girls STEAM’ING Ahead: FIRST Global All-Girls Robotics Teams Lead the Way in Empowering Their Communities
In a world where technology is rapidly advancing, it is imperative that young people are equipped with the necessary skills to succeed in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. This is the mission of FIRST Global, a nonprofit that aims to inspire the next...
From India’s Slums to the Robotics World Stage
In India, more than six million kids drop out of school every year. Out of every 100, 29 don’t even get the opportunity to complete elementary education. By providing these kids with opportunities to realize their potential, we are able to change this. Team India 2022...
Making Robotics a National Movement in Kazakhstan
A seed was planted in the mind of Nurdaulet Dosmagambet as he listened to Dean Kamen’s speech at the inaugural 2017 FIRST Global Challenge in Washington, DC. He was inspired by Dean’s words to go back to his country of Kazakhstan and take on the...
The Copa Robótica — A National Robotics Competition Transforming Argentina
For more than 10 years, FIRST Global's partner in Argentina, Educabot, has been forming a new generation of Argentineans capable of using technology in the search for creative solutions to real problems. But it was Team Argentina's participation in the FIRST Global Challenge that inspired...
Sowing STEM in Rural Honduras
In the Intibucá region of the Honduran mountains, quality education can be difficult to come by. More than half the population of Honduras lives below the poverty line, the net enrollment rate in secondary school was only 43 percent in 2020¹, and there's a lack...
And They Persevered — The FIRST Global Afghan Girls Robotic Team
FIRST Global Team Afghanistan has continued to inspire ever since their debut in 2017 when they were initially twice denied, and then later granted, visas to attend the FIRST Global Challenge in Washington, DC. Although the students on the team have changed over the years, they’ve...
YOUTH FROM 90 COUNTRIES BUILD & LAUNCH NANOSATELLITES JUST IN TIME FOR SPACE WEEK
These teenagers orchestrated every aspect of their mission, including building, coding, launching, recovering, and analyzing data. And they did it on their own! [vc_separator type='transparent' position='center' color='' thickness='2' up='' down=''] [Team Cambodia cheers as their CubeSat prototype takes flight] You can hear the cheers as teams of kids...
Madagascar – How One Challenge Made Them National Stars
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....
Ethiopia – Overcoming Civil Conflict to Connect
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,...
Hope – How A Team of Refugees Became World Champions
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...
Abdelrahman – From Hemophilia to Hope Through Robotics
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 – The Boy Inspiring Other Kids with Autism
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...
José – How One Student Started a Cleanup Movement
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...
Bahrain – From No Robot to Award Winners in Two Days
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...
Barbara and Mikhaeel – South Africans Empowering Their Community
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 – An Algerian Student Who Became a Mentor
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...
Alan – A Volunteer Whose Life Was Changed by Students in Honduras
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 – The Mentor Empowering Youth in Benin
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...
Fatemah – The Afghan Girl with a Dream
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...
Nathan – The Boy Who Exceeds With Dyslexia
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 2017
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...
Larissa – The Cameroonian Girl Determined to Build a Robot
"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 2017
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....