Helping spread the love of math, engineering, and technology to a new generation.
Team 687 dedicates hundreds of hours to educating neighboring middle schools about basic robotics principles. The Outreach team handles the CAMS Robotics mentoring program that promotes FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Outreach ambassadors handle transportation and mentoring schedules and assemble volunteers from our very own Build and Administration subsections. Through mentoring middle school students about VEX, we have reached out to students at some of CAMS’s 75 feeder middle schools. This year, the Nerd herd mentored students to 8 middle schools in the Long Beach, Carson , and Compton community:
- Alexander Hamilton Middle School
- Andrew Carnegie Middle School
- Colin L. Powell Academy for Success
- Davis Middle School
- Enterprise Middle School
- Perry Lindsey Academy
- Stephen M. White Middle School
- St. Luke’s Middle School
In the mentoring program, Nerd Herd members taught precocious students about useful engineering concepts such as the design process, gear ratios, and sketching. After introducing students to basic engineering concepts, Nerd Herd members were able to help the students design and build their own VEX robots for competition. Through such assistance from the Team 687, the mentoring program has successfully introduced robotics and engineering to students who may have not had the opportunity for the valuable experience.