FARMINGTON — Blue Crew FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 6153, a nationally recognized high school robotics team based at Mt. Blue Campus, has been informed that it will lose access to its build space, jeopardizing the future of a program that has earned accolades while providing local students with hands-on STEM experience at no cost.

“On the tail end of a very successful season, the Blue Crew Robotics Team got some disappointing news,” wrote team members Mason Labonte, Richard Wilde, and Kathleen Joseph in a public statement shared by team mentor Lucy Knowles. “Our team found out yesterday that we are losing our space at Mt. Blue Campus. This will completely alter our ability to do what we do.”

The team, which earned three awards this season, including the prestigious Impact Award for its contributions to STEM education, relies on limited space and a lean budget compared to other teams in the region. Many competitors have access to practice fields over 60 feet long and operate with significantly larger build areas and financial resources.

“We were already working with the minimum space needed for a team like ours,” the statement reads. “Our students compete against teams with build spaces three times larger… We achieve consistent awards and successes on a fraction of the budget and at no cost to our students.”

Community members were asked to attend the RSU 9 board meeting June 12 to show support during the public comment period.

In the past year alone, Blue Crew students have contributed more than 2,000 hours of community STEM outreach. Their efforts include free STEM nights at the Western Maine Play Museum, mentoring the middle school Lego League team, and hosting afterschool programs in local schools.

Team leaders emphasize the educational value of their work. “Our students apply what they learn in the classroom, engage in teamwork and develop critical problem-solving skills,” they wrote. The program boasts a 100% graduation rate, with 94% of alumni pursuing careers in STEM fields. Past graduates have gone on to study at prestigious institutions such as MIT, WPI, Purdue, RIT, UMaine, Wentworth, Northwestern and Embry-Riddle.

The team is actively seeking community support through public comments, letters to the RSU 9 board, and help identifying alternative spaces for their program.