History
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a worldwide robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12), which can be facilitated in schools or structured after-school programs.
FIRST in Alberta has a long history: our very first forays into STEM Education with robots began with Craig Maynard, a SAIT Mechanical Engineering instructor, who started the first FIRST® LEGO® League event in Alberta in 2003.
In 2004, Alberta’s first FIRST® Robotics Competition teams were started at Bishop Grandin and Queen Elizabeth High Schools in Calgary. Those teams competed in Toronto for many years until 2013, when FIRST® Robotics Competition came to Alberta, where we hosted our own Regional event at the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary.
In 2007, FIRST®Tech Challenge started in Edmonton, with a strong push from the Francophone school district (Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord) to use it for STEM education.