Who We Are
The Chickadees, FRC Team 5871, are a girl-founded FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) team sponsored by the Boise State University College of Engineering. The Chickadees are an inclusive team that is open to all genders, races, ethnicities, and abilities. We aim to inspire future generations in STEM by ensuring that all members take an active role in team leadership and all aspects of building the robot and running the team. This team was founded, in part, to inspire girls to enter STEM fields where they have historically been underrepresented.
Our team is open to students from all over the Treasure Valley. The university provides many of our adult mentors who teach us all the aspects of building a robot. More importantly, though, the team is student-led and mentors are there to guide the students, but students build all aspects of the robot without direct assistance from mentors.
We believe that what some might consider failures are just learning experiences and that it is important to consider everyone’s ideas. We also believe that our team is more than robots. We impact our community by volunteering at STEM days, helping Girl Scouts earn their robotics badges, and helping referee at local FIRST Lego League tournaments.
Our Story
Our team was founded in 2015 by FIRST alumna Christine Chang as a response to the under-representation of girls and women in STEM fields, especially at the high school level. In its first year, the team consisted of seven active members who had little or no experience building robots, but they were passionate about STEM.
Since then, the team has impacted over 30 students, encouraging them to develop important skills that enable them to become future leaders. Despite some setbacks (such as a fire that destroyed our workspace right before our second competition season), we have grown and flourished since, never-ending a competition season empty-handed. In the past four years, we have brought home a Safety Award, three Judges’ Awards, and a Team Spirit Award for our outstanding practices and perseverance.
Our Mission
The mission of The Chickadees, FIRST® Robotics Team 5871, is to provide opportunities through STEM for young people of all genders to nurture and unveil their potential, achieving success in every aspect of life.