FIRST® engages young people in robotics programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills and encourage innovative solutions to real-world problems. Reaching 361,000 U.S. students in SY 2024-25, FIRST uses evidence-based strategies to increase student interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including hands-on learning, teamwork on real-life problems, exposure to careers and adult mentors, and a robotics competition that completes the experience.
Overdeck Family Foundation has supported the organization’s longitudinal study examining how participation in FIRST during middle and high school is associated with long-term outcomes. In 2024, FIRST completed the tenth and final wave of longitudinal data collection. Ten years after participants’ original enrollment, the study continues to find sustained positive benefits of FIRST. Compared to demographically similar students who did not enroll in the program, students who participated in FIRST:
- Reported more positive STEM attitudes (2.1 times more interested in STEM, 1.8 times more likely to report strong STEM identity);
- Were more likely to declare a STEM-related major in college, with 83 percent of FIRST alumni declaring a STEM major, compared to 61 percent in the comparison group; and
- Participated in STEM careers at higher rates after finishing college, with 63 percent of FIRST alumni working in a STEM field, compared to 42 percent in the comparison group.
Over the past seven years, Overdeck Family Foundation has played an instrumental role in supporting FIRST in its pursuit of scale and deeper evidence of impact, including a recent implementation study of its FIRST LEGO® League Explore (ages six through 10), which indicates positive gains in outcomes like interest in STEM and understanding STEM content, as well as improved social-emotional outcomes like creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving.
