Summer 2026 · Metro East
Community Outreach
WormGear Warriors take robots off the competition field — into camps, race weekends, village halls, and FIRST classrooms across Edwardsville and the Metro East.
This season on the road
A snapshot of events the team logged in outreach — jump to any story below.
IndyCar STEM Lane
June 7 · Raceway
YMCA summer camps
July · Alton & Roxana
SIUE Odyssey Camp
July 20–31 · Edwardsville
Glen Carbon
July 28 · Village Board
Outreach in Action
We spread STEAM beyond competition — through MARS, community events, and mentoring the next generation of innovators.
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Metro Area Robotics Society
Our coach founded MARS to keep our team sustainable and expand robotics access across the Metro East.
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STEM Workshops
Hands-on robotics workshops for local youth — introducing FIRST programs and sparking interest in STEM careers.
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Community Demos
Robot demonstrations at local events where kids and families can see FTC in action.
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Team Mentoring
Supporting rookie FTC and FLL teams with build advice, programming help, and competition prep.
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Social & Media
Sharing build progress, competition highlights, and outreach stories to grow our STEM community.
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Gracious Professionalism
Living FIRST values through _Coopertition_® — helping alliance partners and competing with integrity.
June 7, 2026
IndyCar STEM Lane
We joined the STEM Lane program at the local IndyCar race weekend — a full outdoor day next to the track, in partnership with the regional STEM center. Families stopped by the booth to drive robots, talk FIRST, and see what an FTC team actually builds.
Setup had to be finished before the gates got busy mid-morning. Students ran the pit through the afternoon heat (the same kind of long, tent-and-water-bottle day we know from the air show) and packed up before driver introductions in the evening. Fewer kids sat in the driver seat than a typical air-show crowd, but it was still a solid day of hands-on STEM next to a professional race.
July 2026 · Morning demos
YMCA summer camps
Students led morning robotics demos for YMCA summer camps in Alton and Roxana — short, high-energy visits built around driving, building, and asking questions.
Alton YMCA
304 E. Third Street, Alton. A morning camp demo — robots on the floor, students coaching campers through the controls.
Roxana YMCA
400 S. Central Avenue, Roxana. Same morning format: stations, drive time, and a simple build activity for younger campers.
For the youngest groups we set up LEGO Spike Prime rooms. Older campers got a hands-on build using everyday materials — including a paper-towel-roll challenge the team collected supplies for all season.
July 20–31, 2026 · SIUE
Odyssey Camp at SIUE
The SIUE STEM center invited us back to Odyssey Camp — a two-week summer program on campus. We typically take selected days: one session aimed at older campers, one at younger, plus a deeper “Robots and Rovers” block for Odyssey 5.
One Friday we ran two back-to-back station blocks in the Vadalabene Center fitness space (the hockey rink, not the gym): about 70 campers from 1:00–2:30, then about 60 more from 2:30–3:15. Later in the week a smaller morning group met in Science Building East for a 10:45–11:45 robots-and-rovers activity — fewer kids, more time on the robot.
July 28, 2026 · 7:00 PM
Glen Carbon Village Board
Outreach is not only camps. Students also showed up at the Glen Carbon Village Board meeting to represent the team in front of local leadership — the same gracious-professionalism work we do when we talk to sponsors, schools, and FIRST families.
A path into FIRST
Every demo ends with the same question from a parent or a sixth-grader: How do we start? We point families toward FIRST Lego League and FTC, share information-meeting details, and stay available as a nearby team that has already walked the path.
If you are looking for an FLL or FTC team in the Metro East — or want 8620 to visit a classroom, camp, or community meeting — write us at info@ftc8620.org.
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📍 Edwardsville, Illinois