Involvement | team-3926

Greater Community Involvement

Engineering Inspiration Award (2026):

Awarded for outstanding outreach, impact, and respect for STEM and engineering within a team's school community and local communities.

Emphasizes the measurable and sustainable impact our team has made in our greater community and encourages further outreach expansion.

When we were presented with the Engineering Inspiration Award at the 2026 Lake Superior Regional Competition (YouTube, ~8:44:30 timestamp), this is what the judges had to say:

“This team marches through their community, building for future success and spreading the values of FIRST. Like an emperor on a mound, their message delivers far and wide”

First Tech Challenge (FTC) 24836 Gentoo (2023-present):

Founded in 2023 to bring FIRST robotics opportunities to middle school students.

Mentored twice weekly by Upper School MPArors members

Almost 100% of Gentoo alumni join the MPArors when they move to Upper School and additionally mentor Gentoo in subsequent years.

Teaches robotics skills, both broad and specific to FIRST

Prepares Middle Schoolers to be successful STEM students and graciously professional team members.

Sanneh Foundation (2023-present):

Sanneh Foundation is a Twin Cities educational program for underprivileged youth.

Guided a lab tour and overview of team structure, organization, and mission.

Invited many Sanneh students to cheer for us at the 10k Lakes regional competition, introduced them to other teams in pits.

Demonstrated the robot and taught kids how to drive/operate “Pesto”.

Robotics Summer Camp (2023, 2025, 2026):

Week-long summer camp hosted on MPA campus.

Planned, staffed, and organized by team member volunteers.

Used Hummingbird robots and simple block code to expose younger students to building, wiring, and marketing a robot that can conquer various design challenges.

Lower School STEM Club (2026-present):

Ongoing weekly meetings after school, available to all lower-school (K-4) students.

Instructed by Upper School students passionate about STEM.

Teaches younger students critical skills such as problem-solving and spreads the joy of STEM within the greater Mounds Park Academy community.

Minnesota State Fair (2023, 2026):

Entered robot for judging in electrical category, awarded second place in 2026.

Robot (“Pesto”) on display in the education building throughout the entire fair.

Participated in robot demos throughout the day on Sunday, September 6, showcased robot function, and taught younger kids how to drive it.

Participated in the fair parade.

Innovation Science & Technology Academy (ISTA) (2023-present)

ISTA is a low-income charter school that did not have a robotics program at the time.

We created an 18-week curriculum that used LEGO EV3 kits.

ISTA now is able to independently teach the curriculum to students in grades 5-7.