Westside Robotics is the supporting organization for all of the FIRST Robotics programs within the West Lafayette Community School Corporation. For more than 2 decades, we've provided hands-on, mentor-guided experiences for the 70+ students that participate in our programs each year.

The FIRST LEGO League Challenge program challenges 4th-6th grade students to build and program small, autonomous Lego robots to complete tasks and overcome obstacles on a 4’x8’ game board, research solutions to real-world problems with experts from their community, and learn what it means to work together as a team.

FIRST® Tech Challenge teams spend their season designing, building, and programming 18" x 18" x 18" robots to compete on a 12’ X 12’ field in an alliance format against other teams. The teams also document their discoveries & process in an Engineering Notebook, which along with a presentation, can earn teams awards at competitions.

FRC Team 461, Westside Boiler Invasion, is our flagship program that provides real-world technology, engineering, programming, design, media, marketing, and outreach experience to West Lafayette High School students. Our team members are tasked each year with designing, fabricating, and programming a 120lb, 3’x3’x5’ robot to compete with other robots in a collaborative competition environment. In addition to the competition on the field, teams compete for awards in a variety of areas, including team spirit, mechanical design, control systems and autonomous robot behavior, and community engagement & educational efforts.

The thing that really separates FIRST® from other STEM-focused after school activities is the focus on mentorship. By brigning in local STEM professionals, college students, and other experienced adults, we provide our students with meaningful relationships with these role-models who help them find their path in life & teach them the skills they need to get to where they're going. We also encourage our high school students to give back through mentoring our elementary & junior high teams.

We are currently seeking people with the following skills & expertise to join our team of mentors!

• Program Finance Support & Donor Stewardship Mentor As our organization has grown, we're approaching the point where we're making enough money that our IRS reporting requirements get a little more complex. We could also really benefit from someone with donor stewardship, sponsor engagement, and grant writing experience to help our leadership team & high school students work to ensure that we have the resources we need to maintain & grow our programs.
• FIRST LEGO League Coaches & Mentors We rely heavily on parents and other members of the community to help coach our FLL Challenge teams. No great deal of technical expertise is needed (although it is appreciated!), the job is really more about keeping the students focused and moving in the right direction.