The MARS Plan

In 2008, MARS created the “West Virginia Plan,” which was a strategy for beginning new FIRST teams around the state. In 2013, this was renamed the “MARS Plan,” as the team began to reach beyond state borders to share their vision of FIRST growth. The plan previously contained four main areas of focus when building a new team: community, partnerships, barriers, and sustainability. In 2016, the MARS Plan was remodeled to be a more detailed and accurate description of the strategy which MARS implements when building new teams and taking part in general STEM outreach. The MARS plan now focuses on the five main areas of growth and involvement; Engage, Inspire, Sustain, Progression of Programs, and Creating Leaders and Innovators.

 

1. Engage: Community Presence and Visibility

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The first step in this plan is to engage individuals, groups, and communities within West Virginia through visibility. Sometimes MARS' strategy is simply to appear at public events such as baseball games and parades in order to increase MARS' visibility in the local  community. Through the years, MARS has found that it often takes just a single interaction to start an entire robotics program. 

More often, however, MARS partners with local organizations to take part in STEM-focused initiatives: STEM nights at schools, summer camps, museum science days, and festivals comprise the majority of MARS' outreach events. In these settings, it is easier to talk face-to-face with both youth and adults to help them discover that with little aid, everyone can follow their passions. For example, MARS participated in approximately five new STEM nights around the area through a partnership with the Children’s Museum of West Virginia in the fall of 2015.

At every event, MARS provides general FIRST information (flyers, brochures, etc.) for the public, as well as stickers, buttons, and pens to increase FIRST visibility even more. At outreach events, MARS students demonstrate and make efforts to explain design decisions and systems of the capabilities of both the MARS competition robots and MARS' special outreach robot, Parade Bot. MARS also encourages participants to drive at least one of the robots. 

MARS commonly includes an interactive activity when there is a more hands-on component required for the event.  In 2015 and 2016, MARS' activity combined both a craft and the construction of a small robot referred to as “Doodle Bots” which drew with markers. Since “Doodle Bots” were so popular with the local community in the 2017 season, a group of MARS students developed a similar “Brush Bot” activity, with toothbrush heads controlled by vibrating motors, resembling Hexbugs. In 2017, MARS also created a “What’s Inside a Robot?” visual tool that compares the MARS Parade Bot to a human body. During the 2018 season, MARS began a new outreach initiative that combines play-doh, electrical circuits and lights to help students learn about electric currents through a creative method.

During the year, MARS attends approximately 65 outreach events around the state, including the MARS hosted FLL Jr., FLL, and FTC outreach efforts.

 

2. Inspire: Starting FIRST/STEM Teams

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MARS stays in contact with parties that show interest in starting a robotics program. Through a delegated student or mentor MARS provides informational documents as well as contact information to interested individuals, MARS also provides instruction for coaches alongside MARS' partners at NASA’s Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility. 

MARS' partnership with NASA began in 2012 when MARS students approached and convinced their educational outreach program to use FIRST and robotics teams to promote STEM education. Since then, MARS has worked with NASA to create hundreds of robotics teams around the state.

MARS contributes direct funding as well as locating other potential sources of funding to sponsor these teams. MARS works with NASA Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility and other partners such as the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties to provide as much funding as possible to aid interested groups in starting a robotics team. 

 

3. Sustain: Mentoring and Supporting the Continuation of Teams and Programs

One of MARS' most important projects is to work as closely as possible with other nearby FIRST teams. In order to help sustain these teams, MARS stays in constant contact with them. Because of the often large distances between teams, MARS' email “blasts” to teams have become a key way to keep everyone connected and engaged. 

Student points of contact help MARS to stay connected with teams who need more personalized assistance or have questions that they need to be answered. Sometimes MARS students communicate only through email, but many times MARS students become integral parts of their FLL team and attend their regular practices.

Another key component of the sustainability plan is to encourage teams to forge partnerships with local resources such as businesses, schools, and state/local governments. When a community’s youth begin demonstrating their capabilities, it is not hard to convince these potential sponsors that this is a program worth investment. Many new teams that MARS supports began through connections developed over the last decade with other local organizations. These organizations often make FIRST part of their own outreach initiatives. Partnerships with NASA Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility and school administrations are good examples.

Finally, MARS provides travel funds for FLL/FTC students so that the expense of travel to the FIRST championship is not overbearing. This encourages students to return to FIRST programs and perform at their maximum capacity without being concerned with financial complications.

 

4. Progression of Programs: Encouraging Teams to Stay Involved in Robotics Programs

Along with their partners, MARS works hard to identify and support as many types of youth robotics programs as possible, to engage West Virginia students in STEM education. MARS actively helps groups evaluate their resources to identify programs that can succeed in their unique situation, but they also encourage students to progress to higher programs. 

To do this, MARS encourages higher-level teams such as other FRC competitors to have active and supportive relationships with younger teams. Additionally, MARS communicates with teams’ local government officials to find financial support. MARS also offers funding and information about grants to help these teams move from one level of FIRST to another. 

MARS also commits a large part of their time and personnel to organizing, hosting, running, and assisting as many local, regional, and state events and competitions as possible for FLL Jr., FLL, FTC, VEX, and FRC. The MARS-run FLL and FTC state championships occur back-to-back at Fairmont State University to make higher-level robotics teams visible to FLL participants and encourage this transition.

 

5. Creating Leaders and Innovators: Inspiring Students and Alumni

The final goal of MARS' plan is to help students gain valuable life skills which will aid them as they head toward high school graduation and beyond. To support this continuation to higher education, MARS events are held at universities around the state such as West Virginia University (WVU), Fairmont State University (FSU), and Shepherd University. This helps create a sense of familiarity with post-secondary educational institutions. Having information about the importance of and access to higher education on a personal, immediate level for MARS team members as well as other FIRST teams is the key to their students’ success.

Finally, MARS provides information and advocacy for college attendance. MARS shares information (both to MARS students and other teams) about scholarship opportunities and has partnered with WVU and FSU to help students obtain scholarships at these regional institutions, including the three scholarships WVU offers to students who are chosen during the MARS hosted biennial FRC event, WVROX.

Through outreach initiatives, MARS team members become role models for younger students. The power of youth leading STEM events, helping others, enjoying the work of creating something with a team, and volunteering their time for others is incredible.

This year, through a long-standing partnership with the Monongalia County Board of Education, FLL teams are being incorporated into middle schools in a pilot program for retention. This is a milestone towards helping youth gain access to FIRST programs in Monongalia County and the surrounding communities, gaining valuable skills through participation in STEM organizations. Now FLL teams in middle schools are a common occurrence in West Virginia, an initiative which MARS is extremely proud to have taken the lead of.

MARS welcomes all people without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, abilities, economic or family status, life situation, veteran status, or philosophy. We strive to be an inclusive environment for all individuals by advocating for and providing equal treatment to all.

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

MARS, and the presence of the buildings it uses, resides on land that is the ancestral territory of the Massawomeck peoples. With the statewide STEM outreach MARS provides, this includes the ancestral territories of the Shawnee, Lenape (or Delaware), Cherokee, and Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois--the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora), and other Indigenous peoples.

We recognize and appreciate all those Indigenous nations whose territories we are living on and working in. Indigenous peoples have been in the land currently known as West Virginia since time immemorial. It is important that we understand both the context that has brought our community to reside on this land and our place within this long history. We also recognize that colonialism is a current, ongoing process, and as scholars seeking truth and understanding, we need to be mindful of our present participation in this process.

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