Team 1389 The Body Electric is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team for students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD. Our mission is to support STEM education by giving students the opportunity to experience real world engineering through competitive robotics

 

Team 1389 had our rookie year in 2004. The team started with only a few students and one teacher as an after school extra-curricular activity. Since then, the team has grown to over 50 students students and 10 mentors, still running as an after-school extra-curricular activity at Walt Whitman High School.

 

FIRST is a global nonprofit organization focused on engaging youths in K-12 in STEM education through robotics engineering challenges. FIRST stands for “For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” Team 1389 participates in FRC, which is FIRST's program for high school-aged students. FRC is comprised of over 3,000 teams participating from 30+ countries. Team 1389 is part of the FIRST Chesapeake district which has over 100 teams from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

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Every January, FIRST unveils a new themed FRC game, challenging students to design, build, and program a robot in just six weeks. Those robots then compete in three-team alliances on a basketball court-sized field. FRC competitions are fun, exciting and action packed!

 

Through it all, FIRST focuses on promoting its core values of Gracious Professionalism®, Coopertition®, and good sportsmanship among teams. These values are central to Team 1389's culture, inspiring our members to work with integrity, support one another, and collaborate with other teams both on and off the field. 

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Our season begins at the start of each school year. Throughout the fall, team members work alongside professional mentors to develop new skills and expand their technical knowledge. Through demonstrations, hands-on projects, robot-building exercises, and technical lectures led by both mentors and student leads, members gain valuable experience before the build season begins in January. This training period is essential to the team's success. Our goal is that by the start of build season, students will have developed the technical skills, teamwork, and FIRST knowledge needed to contribute effectively on day one.

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Team 1389 is about more than building robots. We strive to make an impact in our community by promoting STEM education, robotics and FIRST. We hold STEM-focused day camps for elementary-age students, host open lab evenings for the larger community, attend events such as KIDFest, and visit preschools, elementary, and middle schools to bring the excitement of FIRST and robotics to many. Team 1389 has also been host to multiple FRC and FTC events over the years.