Why It Matters
Your gift makes hands-on STEM learning possible for young people across Oregon. It helps ORTOP sustain teams, equip coaches and mentors, provide financial assistance, and bring robotics events closer to the students we serve. By supporting ORTOP, you give more young people the chance to experience the confidence, connection, and sense of possibility that come from building something together.
Skills That Last
Through FIRST® robotics, students learn to design, build, test, and improve their ideas. In the process, they develop skills that extend far beyond robotics: problem-solving, communication, teamwork, persistence, and leadership. Ninety-six percent of FIRST® students report becoming better able to overcome challenges through their participation.
College and Career Possibilities
Working alongside coaches, mentors, and STEM professionals helps students connect their interests with future education and careers. By their fourth year of college, 83% of FIRST® alumni are pursuing STEM majors. Whether students ultimately choose engineering, computer science, business, the arts, or another field, robotics prepares them to collaborate, adapt, and turn ideas into action.
Stronger Communities
ORTOP brings together students, families, educators, volunteers, employers, and community organizations around a shared investment in young people. During the 2025–26 season, more than 2,900 students participated on 468 teams across 29 Oregon counties, supported by 1,116 coaches and mentors and 1,711 event volunteers. This statewide network connects students with people who encourage their growth while building local capacity for STEM learning.
Opportunity and Belonging
Talent exists everywhere, but access to STEM does not. Team support, Girls’ Generation, regional partnerships, and collaboration with culturally specific organizations help ORTOP reach students who have historically been excluded from STEM education and careers. Your contribution helps reduce barriers, strengthen local programs, and ensure that more young people can discover what they are capable of building, leading, and becoming.
Robotics is the starting point, but the impact reaches much further. Students learn to think creatively, work across differences, recover from setbacks, and solve complex problems with others. These are the abilities young people need to shape their own futures—and that Oregon needs to sustain a strong, inclusive innovation economy. Investing in ORTOP means investing in the talent, leadership, and ideas that will move our communities forward.
Together, we can ensure that Oregon’s future benefits from the talent and ideas of every community.
**See what your support makes possible.**
