Blue Cheese 1086 Impact Essay 2026

Opportunities reach far beyond the people who create them; our favorite success stories are the ones we never get to hear. From the halls of legislature to the elementary classrooms, we strive towards our mission of “Spreading STEM Education Accessibility.” For the kids we’ll never meet: the student who can join a team because now it exists, the kid who discovers STEM because of a single interaction & the future STEM leaders who benefit from a pathway built long before them. Any WHEY you slice it, we’re not just creating moments, we’re creating momentum that spreads beyond us.

Above all, we shred the funding barrier by starting & sustaining teams. In 2016, we wrote SB246, the STEM Competition Team Grant Program, which brought $200,000 annually to fund STEM opportunities for Title I schools. The statute expired in 2018, but funding continued.

Determined to make this program permanent, we wrote SB806 in 2023, targeting underserved schools. After SB806 was tabled, we reintroduced it as SB5 in 2024. We didn’t just write it: we testified, met with legislators & shared how STEM access shaped our lives. This time, the bill passed unanimously & signed into law, which established the STEM+Computing (STEM+C) Competition Team Grant Program as a permanent fixture of the VA code.

Since its creation, our grant program has distributed over $1.9 million in funding, directly creating 245 STEM+C teams statewide in 185 schools, 102 of which were FIRST teams. The initiative has consistently prioritized students with the greatest need. Among recipient schools, 170 had at least 40% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, leading to the creation of 221 STEM+C teams, including 66 FIRST teams. Each new team sparks momentum that extends beyond classrooms, giving thousands of future students opportunities they otherwise may not have had.

And we’re not stopping there. This year, we proposed SB105, allowing teams created outside the program to apply & a budget amendment to increase funding to $250,000 annually, furthering support for established teams. Every meeting, committee we testified in & conversation with legislators added momentum to a growing network of opportunity.

In Henrico County, opportunity isn’t evenly distributed. 71% of county schools have High Poverty Concentrations, limiting STEM access in certain areas. We want every student to have the same resources & support that shaped our lives, regardless of zip code.

In our county, the grant program enabled the creation of the Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) FIRST Robotics Pathway, a system for students to progress through all levels of FIRST. By working with HCPS Leadership & Head of Innovation Learning, this pathway has been baked into our county. Before this pathway, HCPS had 0 official FLL teams. The launch of the first 2 HCPS FLL teams through our grant program in the 22-23 school year marked the beginning of rapid growth. The following year, the county grew to 13 FLL teams & launched an interschool FLL Explore Festival & FLL Challenge Tournament, creating shared experiences & visibility across schools.

Within the past 3 years, Henrico has become the fastest-growing FLL region in the VA-DC district. HCPS has expanded from 2 to 69 FLL teams, representing a 3,350% increase in HCPS FLL participation. Through our pathway, 36,477 students (71.6%) of all HCPS students now have the opportunity to join a FIRST team.

Building a strong FIRST pathway isn’t just about starting teams; it’s about making sure no one feels like they’re doing it alone. To ensure sustainability, we built a foundation for support: writing the operational guide for the FIRST in Henrico Mentorship Program, pairing FRC students with FLL teams & coaches, and the FIRST in Henrico website as a centralized resource on FIRST, local programs & steps to start. To highlight the benefits of FIRST, we showed alignment between the Henrico Learner Profile, a set of skills teachers use to build life-ready students & the FIRST Core Values, showing the county how FIRST gives students a real-world place to apply skills. To overcome space and storage constraints in schools, we designed a 3-part FLL table, constructing & donating 6 to new teams.

HCPS now has a pathway that doesn’t depend on a student’s zip code or circumstances, infrastructure we’ve helped build to reach students earlier, support them longer & keep opportunity moving forward season after season.

Mentorship creates the first push; support systems keep momentum moving long after the season ends. Through FLL workshops, coach training sessions, kickoff events with expert speakers & tournament preparation, we help teams turn uncertainty into confidence by giving them the tools, knowledge & encouragement they need to thrive.

Support doesn’t stop when the school year ends. Each summer, we run FLL camps, keeping curiosity alive when opportunities are often limited. This past summer, our partnership with the Build Forward Foundation expanded that reach, offering FLL & FTC camps for students from Title I schools.

Every program, from mentorship to institutional support, contributes to sustained progress. In 2022, we went to our school board with a full plan: a budget, a shared practice-space proposal, & inviting them into our world. They visited outreach events, our build site & competitions, seeing firsthand the scale & potential of robotics programs. HCPS saw the results, leading to a shared practice space for all Henrico FIRST teams, coverage of 2022 registration fees for FRC teams & $4,500 for each of the 3 county FRC teams that qualified for FCMP 2025.

Our partnership with the HCPS Innovative Learning Department has given us an ongoing presence in district-wide events that build awareness and drive participation. At the HCPS Back to School Kickoff, we introduced FIRST in Henrico to 500 attendees & distributed 1,200 take-home activities. At the Life Ready Expo, we reached 3,000+ attendees with a robot showcase. This constant exposure is what keeps momentum from fading after a single event.

In 2022, we launched STEM Fest Powered By Blue Cheese, a free, community-wide event. Featuring hands-on STEM activities & collaborations with FIRST teams, the event introduced families to FIRST while making STEM accessible & engaging. This year, we partnered with the HCPS Family & Community Engagement division to host STEM Fest at their community center in an underserved area where 90% of students are economically disadvantaged, removing transportation & accessibility barriers, resulting in 24 hands-on STEM activities & 2,800+ STEM interactions. We partnered with multiple HCPS departments to add more experiences at the event.

As our outreach grew we realized that impact requires more than one time experiences to create lasting learning opportunities. Working with teachers, we revamped our hands-on activities to align them with the VA Standards of Learning. We then designed & created our "My STEMbook". As students rotate through our stations, they earn a “byte,” a page tied to what they just explored, turning each stop into something they can keep, revisit & share.

In 2024, we partnered with the Build Forward Foundation to take over & revive RVA MakerFest, a large celebration of VA’s maker community. We were one of the original contributors until the event closed in 2019. We rebuilt event support & hosted RVA MakerFest Resurgence in November 2024 at our school, welcoming 49 makers/partners & 2,000 attendees for free. Hands-on activities & live demos spanned from blacksmiths to glassblowers to programmers, introducing making & STEM as practical careers. At the 2nd annual event in Oct 2025, we grew attendance by 25% & maker participation by 50%. Each event we host builds momentum, inspiring more students to explore STEM.

In June 2024, we represented FCH at the inaugural ImmerseCon, a convention in Richmond focused on the intersection of STEM & gaming. We demoed our robot & taught cybersecurity using the Center for Infrastructure Assurance & Security card games. Events like this help us reach students & families we would not normally meet through schools or traditional STEM spaces. In 2025, we deepened our commitment by returning as a sponsor & partner, providing financial support that we are continuing in 2026.

While our members are not old enough to vote, we can still impact legislation. Since 2012, we have advocated in DC, attending every National Advocacy Conference (NAC) since its inception. In 2020, we became charter members when the Student Association for STEM Advocacy (SASA) was founded. In the past 3 NACs, we’ve held 21 meetings with federal legislators, the House Education Committee, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education & the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, advocating for STEM legislation.

As SASA charter members, we worked to bring NAC into VA. Asking 5338 & 422 to partner with us, we launched the VA STEM Advocacy Seminar, building a state-level space where teams learn how advocacy works, then practice it in the halls of the General Assembly. The results are significant: Since the inaugural VSAS, there have been 220 attendees, we’ve been recognized on the Senate Floor, conducted 387 legislative meetings & advocated for 7 pieces of legislation, 4 of which have passed so far. Momentum is what turns a single conversation into a system that keeps spreading.

Since 2003, 1086 has ensured that access to STEM isn’t dictated by circumstances, but by the infrastructure we create & the pathways we leave behind. It’s seen in the students we’ll never interact with, teams that came to life from new support & the futures shaped by opportunities that didn’t fade after one season. Like a well-aged wheel of cheese, each program, team, and mentor adds flavor, creating momentum and opportunities that continue to grow, spread & inspire. We are not just building teams, we are cultivating a legacy of success that reaches beyond our team.