MBIT Selected as FIRST Global Challenge Mentor

Middle Bucks Institute of Technology (MBIT) Engineering Technology stu­dents select­ed as FIRST Global Challenge Mentor. In 2017 an Olympic-style robot­ics com­pe­ti­tion was estab­lished by the U.S.-based orga­ni­za­tion, The FIRST Global Challenge (FGC).  The goal of the orga­ni­za­tion is to inspire youth around the world to pur­sue STEM careers and to use that knowl­edge to solve many of the world’s prob­lems. The annu­al com­pe­ti­tion bases its com­pe­ti­tion around one of the Grand Engineering Challenges, such as water, ener­gy, pol­lu­tion, etc.

While many indus­tri­al­ized nations can select a well-prepared team of stu­dents to com­pete, there are oth­er nations that strug­gle to field a team. For this rea­son, FGC estab­lished a men­tor­ing pro­gram through which accom­plished schools can men­tor inter­na­tion­al teams with less experience.

Since 2019, with sup­port from the Ohio-Based char­i­ty Shoulder-to-Shoulder, the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology has been men­tor­ing teams in coun­tries such as Honduras, Puerto Rico, and Ukraine.

Since June of this year, MBIT has been men­tor­ing a team of stu­dents from an impov­er­ished vil­lage in Honduras as they pre­pare to com­pete against 190 inter­na­tion­al teams in Geneva, Switzerland from October 13^th through the 16^th.

To cel­e­brate the upcom­ing com­pe­ti­tion, the stu­dents of MBIT’s Engineering pro­gram had a Zoom ses­sion with Team Honduras on October 6^th as Honduras made their final design changes to their robot. MBIT stu­dents had a chance to speak with the team, ask to dis­cuss their design, and review their game strat­e­gy as they pre­pare to leave for Geneva. The stu­dents from both coun­tries had a great dis­cus­sion and learned about both engi­neer­ing and each other’s lives.

FIRST Global web­site    https://first.global/

Team Honduras page     https://first.global/2022-nations/honduras-2022/