FTC Team 8620 · Edwardsville, Illinois

About the WormGear Warriors

A nonprofit FIRST Tech Challenge team. We design robots, teach STEAM, and help students become the next generation of engineers and leaders.

Meet the Team

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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.

Meet the Team

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.