School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) DBA FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island, has announced that Rick Ramhap has been named one of FIRST LEGO® League Explore’s Volunteers of the Year by FIRST.

In a year where nothing was “normal” and every FIRST volunteer rose to the occasion to ensure teams were still able to participate in a meaningful way, a few volunteers were recognized by their peers as extraordinary.

Mr. Ramhap is one of four Volunteers of the Year honorees worldwide to receive this honor. He joins an exclusive group of honorees from the United States, Morocco, and Canada.

Mr. Ramhap became involved in SBPLI thirteen years ago, when he formed a FIRST LEGO League Jr. (now known as FIRST LEGO League Explore) program within the organization and started a team for his two children.

“It is an honor to be recognized by FIRST as Volunteer of the Year,” Mr. Ramhap said. “I volunteer because I enjoy seeing the impact that FIRST has on the students. I have seen the development of my children through FIRST, as well as countless others, as they progress through each program. FIRST has forever changed my family and provided me with an additional FIRST family as well.”

“We on Long Island heartily congratulate Rick on this honor,” said Eileen Kaler, Co-Director, FIRST LEGO League Explore. “His tireless efforts have helped to make all of our FIRST programs successful. We are very lucky that Rick is part of FIRST Long Island.”

In FIRST LEGO League Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education WeDo 2.0.