International robotics championship underway, 50,000 attendees

JACKSON, Tenn. — The world’s largest non-profit youth STEM program, ‘FIRST‘, is preparing students for the workforce.

Each year, thousands of students from across the world engage in projects tied to themes such as transportation, fitness, and recycling.

Their work culminates in an arena-based sports-like competition called FIRST Championship.

This year, the championship is underway in Houston.

It started April 17 and lasts through April 20 with more than 50,000 attendees.

Courtesy: FIRST’s Facebook page

Students use their skills to secure internships and jobs, start their own businesses and help their communities.

“Being from an inner city school, we don’t get a lot of opportunities like FIRST that give us real world experiences and being able to talk to real world professionals– so having FIRST as a program in my community has been a really huge, positive impact,” said Carmen, a student.

This season’s theme challenges participants to work together to explore the role STEM plays in the arts and celebrate its multi-faceted role in non-traditional science and technology careers.

For more U.S. news click here.