You bring great value to the students, teams, and our community.

There are multiple ways for you to be involved. All of these avenues of participation are highly valued by our community. Students are excited to be able to work with people from the industry and feel honored that an adult from their community will contribute time to help. Some local employers even participate with employer matching funds, which can make a huge difference in helping to fund the FIRST programs. But more than that, they recognize that you are providing your time and talent to help them.

The two main avenues for participation are working directly with a local team or volunteering at a local FIRST event.

Mentoring a team

Teams rely on mentors to assist the team with a range of different tasks.

Skills needed by teams include:

• Marketing and fundraising
• Graphic design and communications
• Team organization and project management
• Software and hardware engineering

Each of our programs has varying time commitments, but each is extremely rewarding. No previous experience required.

Most of our team activities run from September through April. Mentors can work out with their team when and how they are able to contribute. Working directly with a group of students is likely the most rewarding experience you will have.

Event Volunteers

Events are staged from November through March. Event volunteers put on a great show for the students. We have several roles for you.

• Judges – Help evaluate and give feedback to teams
• Referees – Help the students play their game safely and fairly
• Field crews – Help with setup and tear down of fields, A/V
• Event Organizers – Help plan and organize events

Event volunteers are mostly an entire day, some run two days, plus a small amount of pre-event training. No experience required, we will train you by getting you involved with an event.

Are you ready? Start the registration process here.

Need more information? Contact our Volunteer Resource Manager, Amy Clapham at amyc@firstwa.org.