Outreach
Team 5940 is committed to providing STEM education opportunities in our community through our various outreach programs. This aligns with our purpose of providing firsthand learning experiences and opportunities that will educate the next generation in technical knowledge, soft skills, and design thinking. Below are our outreach initiatives in more detail.
Summer camps
For the past two years, BREAD has hosted summer camps to give younger students mentoring and a hands-on experience with STEM. In 2024, we hosted our first summer camp, introducing middle school students to robotics and the basics of engineering. Last year, we expanded to host two sessions, reaching over 40 students. We had both a beginner-friendly and a more advanced session, which you can find more details about below:
Bread & Butter Camp (Design/Prototyping-Focused)
In our design-focused camp, students learned the Bread and Butter of robotics! Students worked with snap-together parts to design and build a VEX IQ robot to compete against other teams in a challenge we created ourselves. Over the course of this camp, participants learned the skills to design, build, and program a small robot with guidance from experienced mentors.
Knead to Know Camp (Machining/Assembly-Focused)
During this camp, students were split into two groups where they learned to use the materials and tools in our makerspace to cut, assemble, and wire a full kitbot. This camp covered advanced mechanical, electrical, and programming skills that we use for our FRC team. By the end of the week, our students had created a competition ready robot with guidance from BREAD members and learned the fundamentals of engineering.
BREAD’s summer camps will be returning in 2026! To be added to our email waitlist, fill out THIS FORM!
Stem Library Workshops
This year, we are continuing to partner with the San Mateo County Libraries to host free STEM workshops. These workshops are catered to kids ages 5-13 who are interested in STEM or looking to try something new! We offer a range of activities that are adaptable to all skill levels covering programming, electronic circuits, and collaboration skills. You can find upcoming events on the library’s website.
Using the insight we’ve gathered from running these workshops, we’ve created a resource to help other teams run their own:
“Team 5940 BREAD is proud to share our library workshop resources, a complete guide designed to help FRC and FTC teams bring STEM and robotics education to their local libraries. We’ve successfully used this format, and improved on it over the course of multiple years to run engaging community events, teaching 750+ children total from 30+ workshops. These workshops have become an integral part of our outreach strategy and we hope it can be a valuable tool for your team too.”
First Lego League Team
Team 5940 mentors the First Lego League (FLL) team at Tierra Linda Middle School. Our students attend twice-weekly meetings to support this team, offering guidance. This opportunity gives valuable experience with hands-on engineering to the students we mentor and introduces them to FIRST through personal interaction with older teens. Additionally, BREAD's students also get the chance to practice leadership and teaching skills and set an example for future FRC members.
San Mateo County fair
For the past three years, BREAD has attended San Mateo County Fair, showcasing our robots Pain d’Epi, Roti, and Taiyaki. Fair-goers, especially children, get to learn about FIRST and experience robotics. For additional engagement, we also brought in programmable Mbots that younger visitors could control to grow interest through first-hand interaction.
