Community Outreach

Team 247 takes pleasure in everything we do for the community. We are involved in the Berkley Holiday Parade every year, where we carry banners, put up and tear down caution tape, and have the opportunity to interact with our community. Helping out allows us to talk to people attending the parade about who we are and what our team does. We also participate in Berkley Days, an annual city fair. We set up a display of our awards, a pit, and give demonstrations of past robots.

Starting in 2012, the team has invited a local girl scout troop to our build room in order to earn their robotics patch. The girls got a chance to ask questions about the practicality of robotics and were able to fire the team's t-shirt cannon. The team hopes to invite local boy scout troops as well.

Our team annually participates in Camp Invention, a summer day-camp program for elementary school students. The camp encouraged students' interest in science and engineering. Team members volunteered at this camp as student mentors. Camp Invention teaches the elementary schoolers that engineering is not only fun, but is also needed to solve many everyday problems similar to the ones they did at camp. 

While all of the events listed above get our word and team out into the community, we are excited to announce that there is a brand new program the team has come up with to not only spread the word of FIRST, but also to help organizations in the community. This is called Da Bears Care Initiative. The first organization our team chose to help was the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This year, our team has chosen to help Yad Ezra, a kosher food pantry in the community. Shirts are sold with a specific design toward the organization and program. 100% of the profits go to the organization chosen.

Our outreach efforts are essential in spreading the message of FIRST. These events form permanent links between us and the community.