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The Bridges Robotics Program is an extracurricular activity that services the "twice-exceptional" students of the Bridges Academy. Bridges is a 501 c(3) non profit organization that accommodates students that have learning differences categorized as "2e." 2e or twice-exceptional means that our students possess a high level of cognitive performance in some specific area while simultaneously struggling with a particular learning difference, such as ADHD, dyslexia or Aspergers.
For the last four years, the Bridges Robotics Team #4019 has participated in an international competition called FIRST. FIRST is an annual engineering competition that challenges teams of high school students to fully design, build and program a robot that performs very specialized tasks in just 6 weeks with the aid of professional engineer volunteer mentors. FIRST prides itself as being "the varsity sport for the mind" and "the hardest fun you'll ever have", and it really is. The students have an unbelievable opportunity to develop real world engineering skills in a fast-paced and hands-on environment that challenges them to build community through cooperation and collaboration.
The competition, and the tools and parts needed to participate in it, are however not cheap, and the costs end up making it prohibitive for the team to fully realize their ideas. Bridges, though an amazing sponsor for the team, are only able to financially support so much of our efforts, thus we have to look to outside funding to help them realize their dreams. The $5,000 registration and kit fee each year, the $4,000 of parts that we're allowed to put onto the robot each year, the tools needed to build, the computers and software needed to render and program, and the costs of traveling to competition event itself can become pretty daunting for our relatively new team of only 20 students. Your help will make the difference in these special students' ability to realize their robotic dreams! Anything you can spare will be deeply appreciated.
Thank you!
For the last four years, the Bridges Robotics Team #4019 has participated in an international competition called FIRST. FIRST is an annual engineering competition that challenges teams of high school students to fully design, build and program a robot that performs very specialized tasks in just 6 weeks with the aid of professional engineer volunteer mentors. FIRST prides itself as being "the varsity sport for the mind" and "the hardest fun you'll ever have", and it really is. The students have an unbelievable opportunity to develop real world engineering skills in a fast-paced and hands-on environment that challenges them to build community through cooperation and collaboration.
The competition, and the tools and parts needed to participate in it, are however not cheap, and the costs end up making it prohibitive for the team to fully realize their ideas. Bridges, though an amazing sponsor for the team, are only able to financially support so much of our efforts, thus we have to look to outside funding to help them realize their dreams. The $5,000 registration and kit fee each year, the $4,000 of parts that we're allowed to put onto the robot each year, the tools needed to build, the computers and software needed to render and program, and the costs of traveling to competition event itself can become pretty daunting for our relatively new team of only 20 students. Your help will make the difference in these special students' ability to realize their robotic dreams! Anything you can spare will be deeply appreciated.
Thank you!