STEM-Bridge
About us - STEM Bridge is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Bellevue, Washington, created and currently operated by FTC Team 21229, “Quality Control,” the 2023 World Champion team, with support from mentors and community volunteers.
Our mission - We are dedicated to bridging the gap in STEM education, especially for under-served and under-represented groups, by making high-quality STEM opportunities more accessible. As an innovation incubator, we empower youth to turn ideas into real-world projects and ventures through essential resources, dedicated mentorship, and technology-driven solutions that remove learning barriers. STEM Bridge serves as a true bridge—connecting local communities with opportunities across the broader global STEM landscape.
A highly accomplished FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team based in Bellevue, WA. As a World Champion and two-time winner of the FIRST World Innovate Award, we consistently demonstrate excellence in robot design, programming, strategy, and teamwork. We are also committed to fostering STEM education within our community through workshops, demonstrations, and mentorship programs for younger students.
Programs - Under our umbrella, we operate the following core programs:
A student-founded and -led initiative dedicated to empowering the next generation of innovators. Recognizing a critical need within our region’s thriving ecosystem of hundreds youth robotics teams – specifically limited access to space, mentorship, and sustainable funding – we established a physical hub offering unified resources and support. STEM-Bridge Center provides tools, guidance, and a collaborative community for young people to develop their skills and build their future.
First-Connect is an online platform developed to facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange among FIRST Tech Challenge teams. The platform features include a comprehensive team directory, a dedicated online forum enabling peer-to-peer support through question answering and problem solving, and a centralized resource repository containing technical documentation, design guides, and strategic resources.
An innovative online resource empowering the FIRST Tech Challenge community by streamlining access to game videos. Recognizing the difficulty of locating valuable content within lengthy broadcasts from numerous channels, we created an AI-powered index that centralizes these resources and provides a user-friendly search experience for tutorials, match footage, and strategy breakdowns. Since launch, FTCvideos.org has served over 60,000 searches from users in 42 countries within seven months, demonstrating significant impact and reach. This project exemplifies our mission to leverage technology to remove barriers to STEM education by improving access to critical information.