For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, FIRST is an organization that creates a yearly challenge for high school students to create a robot to solve tasks set before them. Students work alongside mentors encouraging them to follow their interests and continue career paths in the STEM-related fields. The Berlin First robotics team was founded in 1993 and has been meeting and competing inspiring students since.

Sirois tool has been sponsoring the robotics team since 2009, helping the students pursue their interests and achieve their goals. On April 7th and 8th, Berlin Robotics competed in the New England District Championship, an opportunity for the top 90 teams in New England and we are proud to have helped them achieve this goal. Sirois has the unique opportunity as a sponsor to assist students to follow their interests in STEM fields. We know this well because one of our own employees was a student on the team years ago and has since returned to them as a mentor.

Ian originally began working for us in 2018 before completing his apprentice program in 2019 as a Precision Grinding Machinist. He most recently took a position as a Manufacturing Engineer. Now, to give back to the program, Ian volunteers as a mentor for Berlin Robotics, teaching students about the manufacturing process through his experience on the team in high school and at Sirois. “In my time on the team, I learned many things about design, manufacturing, assembly, and teamwork,” Ian said. Now, Ian gets the chance to give that back to students like himself.

Since 2009, Sirois has had the pleasure of supporting high school students in exploring the world of STEM. Seeing Ian grow his passion in high school and now returning to the same team he was once part of to teach the things he learned shows us that supporting organizations like these really matters.

We are proud of Berlin Robotics for their hard work and their performance in the District Championships and of Ian for continuing to support our community and look forward to our continued involvement with the team.