Help Gabe Attend FIRST Robotics World Competition

My name is Gabriel LaFrance Fergesen, and I have been at Bridges for three years but have been a part of my homeschool robotics team, FTC Team 10298, Brainstormz, since Freshman year.

I’ll be blunt: I need money. This year, we’ve earned the title of SoCal Champions and will compete against winning teams from around the world in Houston, Texas, over six days and five nights!

I am the primary programmer, and specialize in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems. The team cost is $35,000, and my personal portion is $3,200.

I greatly appreciate any contribution, from $5 to $500. We leave for the competition in late April.

Brain Stormz represents the STEM community of Southern California with both our technological innovation and our impact on our community, and our passion and determination in every category!

We are capable of achieving World Championship; everyone on the team is passionate, dedicated, and hard working. Over the last four years, I have worked as the team’s primary programmer, specializing in writing artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, pushing the bounds of what a robot can accomplish, and inspiring the next generation of STEAM leaders by giving talks on our research. We have spent the last three years always landing one spot away from this international level, and now we have finally reached it.

However, I will need some help to cover expenses for travel, lodging, registration, and promotional supplies, as well as food to keep me moving.

These expenses add up to $3,200. The competition is scheduled for the second week of April and hotels are filling up fast, so my family only has 1 week to secure lodging. Help me pay for my trip to the apex of robotics.

All money will first go to filling my family's expenses, then go to purchasing me a new computer, then go directly to the team's funds.

OK... let's break these expenses down. Generally, my family's costs contribute to the team costs. $2,400 contributes both to my family's room and to the conference room that functions as the team laboratory.

Then, $350 is airfare, $120 covers Houston Airport transfers... and the remaining $330 covers SIX DAYS of food for all three of us—six days of a fifteen-dollar breakfast, a fifteen-dollar lunch, and a twenty-five dollar dinner.