Do you know a person or organization that might be interested becoming an ORTOP donor or sponsor? Please give us some information using the form below.

The Oregon Robotics Tournament & Outreach Program (d.b.a. ORTOP; d.b.a. FIRST Oregon) is 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. Donations are tax-deductible in accordance with federal IRS and Oregon state regulations. Our Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 46-4276182.

If you have questions or would like to speak to someone about making a donation, please email Beth Hutchins, Interim Executive Director at executive-director@ortop.org.

FIRST students are two times more likely to show an increase in STEM-related attitudes and interests than comparison group students. Positive impacts are evident for all FIRST students regardless of race, gender, income, or community type.

81% of FIRST alumni declared a major in STEM compared to 58% in the comparison group.

Female FIRST participants are 2.2 times more likely to have significantly stronger STEM interest than comparison group peers.

FIRST seeks to blend training and education through project-based learning that creates authentic learning opportunities through experiences provided by our programs, both competitive team and classroom-based opportunities.

In the Fall of 2019, ORTOP worked with Dialogues in Action to train a team of community interviewers and collect data from FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition Students.

Survey data reveal a positive impact of FIRST on areas related to project planning, planning, persistence, and follow-through. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported making substantial progress on the area of the statement, “As a result of FIRST, I understand better how to manage a project from start to finish.”

The full report, completed in March 2020, can be found here.

FIRST is partnering with Brandeis University Center for Youth and Communities to conduct a multi-year longitudinal study measuring STEM-related impacts for 5+ years. The study uses a quasi-experimental design, including students participating in FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition and a comparison group of students recruited from math and science classes at the same schools. Even with just one year of FIRST participation, study participants are 2-3xs more likely to have gains in STEM outcomes than a comparison group of peers not participating in FIRST.

More information can be found here.

While evidence of the the impacts of FIRST are apparent across all demographic groups, recent data suggests this impact may be especially significant for girls and young women.

Girls in FIRST see amazing impacts. All FIRST participants are significantly more likely to have stronger STEM outcomes compared to their classmates, as evidenced by the FIRST Longitudinal Study. However, girls in FIRST report the largest differences in STEM outcomes over time when compared to their female peers, and higher than boys.

Explore the latest data here.