About the WormGear Warriors
A nonprofit FIRST Tech Challenge team from Edwardsville, Illinois — inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders since 2014.
About FIRST Tech Challenge
FIRST® was founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Teams of up to 15 students (grades 7–12) design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge.
Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and teamwork.
Our Mission
The WormGear Warriors strive for the advancement of STEAM through participation in FIRST robotics. We empower students to become tomorrow’s leaders by teaching leadership skills and giving them mechanical, electrical, programming, and presentation experiences.
Our Story
The WormGear Warriors began eleven years ago. We are a nonprofit FTC team from Edwardsville, Illinois. Our coach founded Metro Area Robotics Society (MARS) as a way to keep our team sustainable and continue spreading our message.
Our mission is to strive for the advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) through participation in FIRST robotics. We focus on empowering students to become tomorrow’s leaders by teaching leadership skills, giving them mechanical, electrical, programming, and presentation experiences while working as a team.
We seek out other students to participate in this activity, leading more students to pursue STEM careers. Over our time as an FTC team we have received and placed for several awards such as the Inspire, Think, Connect, Control, Innovate, Design, Motivate, and Promote Awards. We have also been honored to partake in the World Championship two of our years as a team and the Illinois State Championship ten of those years.
11+
Years Competing
2×
World Championship
10
State Championships
12+
Team Members
-
Xavier
Mechanical Lead · Build/CAD
12th Grade · 5 years in FIRST · 5 years on team
-
Luci
Software Lead · Software Team
12th Grade · 11 years in FIRST · 6 years on team
-
Veda
Business & Communications Lead
12th Grade · 9 years in FIRST · 6 years on team
-
Bree
Wiring Lead · Build/CAD
12th Grade · 9 years in FIRST · 5 years on team
-
Lance
Software Team
11th Grade · 11 years in FIRST · 5 years on team
-
Blake
Software Team
10th Grade · 2 years in FIRST · 2 years on team
-
Maribel
Build/CAD Team
9th Grade · 2 years in FIRST · 2 years on team
-
Vishnu
Software Team
8th Grade · 2 years in FIRST · 2 years on team
-
Reese
Build/Business Team
8th Grade · 2 years in FIRST · 2 years on team
-
Katie
Build/CAD Team
10th Grade · 1 year in FIRST · 1 year on team
-
Cohen
Software Team
10th Grade · 1 year in FIRST · 1 year on team
-
Cadan
Build/CAD Team
9th Grade · 1 year in FIRST · 1 year on team
Awards & Achievements
Recognition earned through hard work, innovation, and teamwork.
🏆 Inspire Award
💡 Think Award
🔗 Connect Award
🎮 Control Award
⚡ Innovate Award
🎨 Design Award
📣 Motivate Award
🌐 Promote Award
Join the FIRST Movement
Whether you want to compete, volunteer, mentor, or support — there is a place for you in the global FIRST community.
Volunteer
No experience needed — help at a local FIRST event and inspire students.
Join Our Team
Students grades 7–12 in the Edwardsville area — come build robots with us!
Support Us
Sponsors and donors help keep our nonprofit team running year after year.
Contact Us
Have questions about joining the team, sponsoring us, or volunteering? We’d love to hear from you.
📍 Edwardsville, Illinois
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