Did you walk down the hallway this morning and wonder who the people in the bright yellow shirts were? That’s just FIRST Robotics Team 1156 Under Control, from Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This marks the second year in which Under Control visits our high school to shadow students and stay in their homes for the SBPLI Long Island Robotics Regional held at Hofstra University.

Under Control stays at our homes as a result of the Robotics team’s FIRST STEP program. STEP, which stands for Support & Team Exchange Program, aims to aid other FRC teams traveling long distances by allowing them to avoid costly hotel rooms and instead giving the team an opportunity to stay at Team 329 member’s houses and shadow them throughout the school day. When teams come from other countries, it also allows students to exchange culture.

“This program is incredible. For the second year we’ve been able to save $14,000 in hotel and travel costs” said Filipe Ghesla, Team 1156’s head mentor. For many students, this is the first time they’ve had the opportunity to travel outside of Brazil. Last year, Team 1156 beat Team 329 in the finals of the SBPLI regional, after a tiebreaker match. Our robotics team plans to makes this a yearly program, continuing to aid Team 1156 and expanding in the future.