The Whirlpool Foundation has offered to help 3 Berrien County FIRST Robotics teams attend a national championship this month. Teams from St. Joseph, Berrien Springs, and Niles are raising money to go to the FIRST Robotics World Finals next week in St. Louis, and their travel costs are expected to be about $10,000 per team. So, Whirlpool’s Juliet Johnson says they’ve been offered a challenge grant of up to $15,000 as a match. She says the Whirlpool Foundation wants to encourage FIRST Robotics because the kids who join are the tech workers of the future.
“We know that kids who are involved in FIRST Robotics have an increased interest in school, they have more interest in taking challenging math and science courses, and 90% of them are more interested in attending college,” Johnson told WSJM.
The 3 teams — The GreengineerZ, from Berrien Springs, the Average Joes, from St. Joseph High School, and Team Excel, from Niles — will be raising money in the coming days in an attempt to capture that Whirlpool Foundation Challenge Grant. They have also agreed to share any excess grant money that is raised between the others so that the Whirlpool match is met.
