School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) will kick off the 2012 season for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) on January 7, 2012, starting at 10:30 a.m. More than 40 Long Island teams will meet at Room 100 in the Jacob Javits Center at Stony Brook University to learn about the game.

The teams will receive this year’s game rules via NASA satellite transmission from FIRST headquarters in New Hampshire. They will then pick up their kits of parts to begin the 42-day period of designing and building their robots. The SBPLI Long Island Regional FRC will take place March 29-31, 2012 at Hofstra University. Some teams participating in the event will move on to compete at the 2012 Championship event at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on April 26-28, 2012.

Working with engineering mentors, students will apply concepts of math and science learned in the classroom. They will also learn important concepts such as teamwork, problem solving and healthy competition. Ultimately, many students are inspired to pursue further education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Over the years, LI FIRST students received more than $2 million in scholarships. This year, students participating in FIRST will have access to over 600 scholarships worth over $14 million.