In the rapidly growing world of STEM education and competitive robotics, Fremont has become a major hub with more than 100 FIRST robotics teams spanning elementary through high school programs.
Just a few miles away, however, Union City and Newark together have fewer than 15 teams, making the region one of the most underserved STEM areas in the Tri-City community. Local student leaders describe areas like this as “STEM black holes.”
Determined to help close this gap, members of FTC Team Polaris Robotics 18340, part of the Fremont Robotics Academy (FRA), launched a pilot robotics program in fall of 2025 within the New Haven Unified School District (NHUSD) at Guy Emanuele Elementary School. The middle and high school student mentors from FRA introduced elementary students to STEM, programming, engineering and teamwork through a free eight-week after-school robotics curriculum.
The program builds on similar outreach efforts Polaris Robotics has successfully conducted for the past five years at schools across Fremont, including Mission San Jose, Harvey Green, Hirsch, Azevada, Chadbourne and Weibel Elementary Schools.
As part of the initiative, Polaris Robotics students helped establish the first FIRST LEGO League team within the NHUSD school system. The team also raised funds and donated robotics kits and materials to help students begin their robotics journey.
In another milestone, in January 2026, the students hosted the first robotics competition held on a Union City school campus, welcoming 18 teams from nine Northern California cities and introducing many local families to competitive robotics for the first time.
The students say their mission extends beyond teaching robotics lessons. They hope to build a sustainable STEM culture in underserved communities and inspire more schools, mentors, volunteers and organizations to get involved.
“STEM education is not just about building robots or learning to code; it is about giving students the confidence to solve problems, think creatively and believe that they can shape the future,” said members of the Polaris Robotics outreach team. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we hope this is the beginning of bringing the joy of robotics and STEM learning to more students in Union City and Newark.”
