When we were exploring our community for outreach opportunities, we found an ecosystem as unique as each of its members. When we learned how large the special needs community was and how little was being done to bring STEM to this group of people it sparked the idea for our STEM is for Everyone Initiative. Because the Special needs community is often overlooked for STEM, kids that are interested in STEM fields; robots, coding, and learning about ways to keep innovating and improving on technology may never get the chance to learn more because they get overlooked because of a disability they have. This made our team want to help to bring STEM to this community. Since we started this initiative our team has aided through volunteering with several groups that host events for special needs kids in our community. At these events, we have also had a booth with our robot.

In the 2024-2025 season, Team 538 raised $2300 to purchase 4 FIRST LEGO League Discover Class packs, 4 LEGO Education STEAM Park Sets, and 4 FIRST LEGO League Explore Team Registrations to expand our school’s FIRST program offerings in grades K-12 to include over 200 students.

This season, we also spent $3361 on robot kits, parts, team shirts, and practice field elements for our two FIRST Tech Challenge teams, Team 19459 and Team 21830.

In an effort to be more organized when it comes to our outreach events, this year, we developed our "Outreach-In-A-Box." This kit includes team flyers, merch, and STEM activities for kids.

We have held LEGO robotics workshops for the last two years to help local Girls Scouts Troops earn their robotics badges!

Catch us volunteering and showcasing our program around our community at events such as Fridays After Five, the Athens Farmers Market, and our local and district Optimist Club meetings.

Our team can be seen supporting a variety of FIRST in Alabama events! From being referees and judges for FIRST LEGO League, to being Queuers for FIRST Tech Challenge, to helping build and teardown the field for FIRST Robotics Competition, we love helping make FIRST happen in our state!