Elm City Robo Squad has been part of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) program since 2000. Each year, the team has six weeks to design and build a robot to compete at the UTC Connecticut Regional.

The team is located at Hill Regional Career High School, a Health/Science and Business/Computer magnet school in New Haven, CT.

In the early years, the team was run as part of a physics class. A few years later, it became an after school program and the team was given a workroom in the school's basement. Thus our team's slogan was born: "From the basement to beyond.”

In 2006, after finishing as a finalist at the UTC Connecticut Regional, the team was rewarded with a new, larger work space on the school's main floor, making its slogan a reality and truly moving the team "from the basement to beyond."

Currently, the team is made up of 25 extremely dedicated and diverse students and seven mentors. The team's sponsors are varied as well and include the New Haven public school system, a local university, a community foundation and numerous area businesses.

The team has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2007 UTC Connecticut Regional Daimler-Chrysler Team Spirit Award, the 2005 UTC Connecticut Regional Imagery Award and the 2003 UTC Connecticut Regional Judge's Award. The team also was a winner at the 2007 UTC New England Regional in an alliance with teams from Southington and Avon. This qualified the team to attend the 2007 Championship Event in Atlanta, GA, where the team finished 15th out of 87 robots in the Curie Division and was selected as a quarter finalist.

Anyone interested in joining the team as a student, mentor or sponsor should call Career High School at 203-946-5845 and ask to speak with Laura Roblee or Andy Wight.

"This program not only gives you a time to be with your friends and have fun, you can also learn, and have a good experience."

"Robotics is a way to meet new people and make friends. Mr. Smoker is the type of person that teaches you so many new things. Being here has taught me skills that I might use later on in life."

"Robotics is really a great program because it teaches kids handy skills that they wouldn't otherwise be exposed to."

"In Robotics we learn beyond what you would normally know during some courses in high school."

"Words can't describe how awesome Robotics really is."