The FIRST Robotics Competition Contra Costa Regional, held March 27-30, 2025, brought energy, excitement, and inspiration to a brand-new venue at Pittsburg High School, hosting 40 outstanding teams and over 1200 students from California, Arizona and Mexico for a weekend filled with competition and community.

The Contra Costa Regional highlights from the event included:

• A powerful Women in STEM event and panel that welcomed around 150 students. The panel featured all FIRST alumnae representing John Deere and KLA, who shared their journeys and inspired the next generation of innovators.

• PG&E had a strong presence at the event, with a dedicated table and around 15 enthusiastic volunteers supporting teams and engaging with students throughout the weekend.

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) also hosted an outreach table to connect with students and share information about their FIRST scholarships and programs.

Thank you to all the teams, mentors, volunteers, and sponsors who made the Contra Costa Regional a success. It was an incredible weekend of learning, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism – we’re already looking forward to what’s next.

Thank you Joshua Wagner for capturing these wonderful memories!

Feel free to download and share any of these photos.  You can tag FIRST California at @firstroboticscalifornia on Instagram and use hashtags #FIRSTinCA, #morethanrobots, #omgrobots, #REEFSCAPE and #FIRSTDIVE.

LIST OF TEAMS ADVANCING TO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HOUSTON!!!

The following teams and individuals earned top honors at the San Diego Regional and earned their way to compete at the FIRST Championships in Houston, April 16-19, 2025.

FIRST Impact Award

The FIRST Impact Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.

The FIRST Impact Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impact of its partnerships among its participants and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season. The winner is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient team will be invited to a FIRST Championship where it will compete for the FIRST Impact Award against winners from other qualifying events.

Since its inception, this team has demonstrated resilience, never backing down from a single challenge; AGAIN and AGAIN they transform obstacles into opportunities they can use to their advantage. The judges were particular impressed by the lengths they went through to design the entire team around financial accessibility. They ignite a spark by inspiring young minds in their community through partnerships with a diverse group of organizations. This team stood out as STARS with their effective use of assessment surveys and the engineering design process to find members of their community who might not otherwise be exposed to STEM opportunities. It was clear how they identified a problem, collected quantitative data and made strategic decisions to achieve maximum impact with continuous feedback cycles. This team is also building alliances in their community to strengthen the FIRST bond to unite the FRC teams in their district into one cohesive, functioning SYSTEM. Their SYSTEMATIC approach at self improvement and expanding FIRST footprint operates in perfect harmony like parts of a CIRCUIT BOARD to create meaningful impact for many years to come.

• Team 3598, SEStematic Eliminators from Sacramento, CA

Engineering Inspiration

The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization, and community. Inspiring others to respect science and technology requires passion, knowledge and commitment, and we recognize these qualities through this award. This team will advance to the Championships.

In addition to sustaining their long-lasting initiatives that impact their local FIRST community, this team has found creative ways to plan and execute several new initiatives this season. At a local and global scale, they sought to understand the needs of the underserved communities they help; focused on building a solid foundation for a meaningful education. This included both students and teachers. Having had so many of their members to through their programs has sent RIPPLES throughout their community, growing into WAVES across the world. Utilizing these DEPTHS across their team, they help everyone to SWIM FORWARD.

•  Team 649, MSET Fish from Saratoga, CA

Regional Winners Qualifying for Championship

• Team 1678, Citrus Circuits from Davis, CA
• Team 1323, MadTown Robotics from Madera, CA

The Dean’s List Finalist

In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding FRC students, the Kamen family sponsors an award for selected top students known as the FIRST Dean’s List. This award celebrates a student’s outstanding leadership and effectiveness in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as their community. FIRST Dean’s List Finalists will compete at the championship for the FIRST Dean’s List.

• Sanvi P, Team 6662, FalconX
• Pablo C, Team 3478, PrepaTec – LamBot

Woodie Flowers Finalist Award

FIRST stands apart from other competitions in STEM and sports due to the FIRST Ethos of Gracious Professionalism, the concept of Coopertition, and the commitment to the FIRST Core Values. The guiding force behind these principles was Dr. Woodie Flowers. Dr. William Murphy, Jr., who was instrumental in creating the concept of FIRST with Dean Kamen, recognized the unique perspective, wisdom, and communication style that Woodie brought to the FIRST Robotics Competition.

In honor of Woodie, Dr. Murphy founded the Woodie Flowers Award in 1996. He recognized that the FIRST ethos would be carried forward by our FIRST mentors and sought to celebrate those mentors who demonstrate the leadership, ethical behavior, and communication skills exemplified by Woodie. Woodie believed “societies get the best of what they celebrate”.

Being recognized by students, through nomination essays, makes this honor very meaningful to mentors. It is truly an honor for a mentor to be nominated for this award.

This mentor focuses on creating an environment where learning is the goal, where teamwork and cooperation are the norm, and where evidence-based decision making is the end product. This mentor shares his enthusiasm for learning and creativity with every student on their team. This mentor understands that quick can also be inspiring.

• James Best, Team 604, Quixilver

Additional Awards

Congratulations to the Teams and individuals that earned the remaining awards at the Contra Costa Regional! See the list here.