Nearly 1,000 FIRST Washington youth compete at the FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship on Saturday at the ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St. Kent.

The competition runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is free to the public.

Students ages 6-18 will exercise their minds, work as teams and problem solve.

“These kids have gotten involved with a FIRST team for different reasons. Maybe it was to socialize or maybe it was because they already had an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math),” said Erin McCallum, FIRST Washington president. “Whatever the reason, in addition to the programming skills, they are learning work force development skills such as troubleshooting, collaboration and communication skills to help each of them go pro.”

There are 597 FIRST LEGO League teams throughout the state. Two weeks ago, 40 teams competed in the Eastern Washington State Championship in Spokane. This weekend 30 FIRST LEGO League teams have advanced to the Western Washington State championship in the season’s challenge, Animal Allies. Thirty-six teams out of 152 FIRST Tech Challenge teams have advanced to play in the season’s Velocity Vortex.

About FIRST Washington

FIRST Washington in a nonprofit organization that ignites youthful minds through education, hard work, mentorship and healthy competition. There are 10,826 youth participating throughout the state with close to 5,000 coaches, mentors and volunteers. In the four after school programs: FIRST LEGO League Jr. (ages 6-10); FIRST LEGO League (ages 9-14); FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 12-18); FIRST Robotics Competition (ages 14-18) young people are exposed to and are inspired to build on their passions to prepare them to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow.

For more information on FIRST or to find out how to get involved please go to firstwa.org.