The Prairie Bytes

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a robotics competition program designed for students in grades 7-12. It’s part of the broader FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization, which aims to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. In FTC, teams of students work together to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.

Each year, FTC releases a new game that presents unique challenges for the robots to accomplish. Teams typically have several months to prepare their robots and strategies before competing in regional tournaments. The program emphasizes not just technical skills, but also core values such as gracious professionalism, teamwork, and innovation. Through FTC, students gain hands-on experience with real-world engineering, learn valuable STEM skills, and develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative abilities that are crucial in today’s workforce.

We are The Prairie Bytes

The Prairie Bytes is a rookie team, the 2024-2025 season will be our first ever year as a tech team. Our average age for the team is 14 years old. Of course a few members are older, a few younger. We are working to get the kids interested in technology and other such STEM activities.

The idea behind FTC is to get kids into STEM with competitions and practices like children get interested in school sports. Kids who are apart of the team, will work on the robot, code the robot, as well as making life long friends along the way.

Being apart of FTC and understanding the aspects of it can also open up several job opportunities for when the team members graduate and go out to search for the next adventure in their life.

We have received grants for being a rookie team. These grants have enabled us to get our first robot kit but we’re in need of other items as well as funds for travel expenses. Due to our location, travel expenses will be significant so we’re looking for community support to help us out in our adventure. Below is a list of items that we need for this years competition season.

Travel to the 2nd qualifying event in mid January in Helena	Event registration, 2 nights hotel, food & gas	$1,875
Travel to the state championship in February in Bozeman	Event registration, 2 nights hotel, food & gas	$2,000
Bambu Lab P1S Combo 3D Printer		$1300 ($850 w/out dispenser)
Event Booth/ Sponsor Banners		$800

We are hoping to receive these item so that we can continue with building our team as well as our robots. Any of these items would greatly help the team, especially if you helped pay with travel expenses.

If you want to make a donation, you can make donations to:

Terry Public Schools

Attn: Tech Club

PO Box 187

Terry, MT  59349.

Our Socials – Our Facebook – Our Instagram – Our Youtube Channel

Our sponsorship pamphlet

Thank you!