One Firefly, LLC, a full-service marketing agency that caters to the custom electronics industry, is proud to continue its support of the “Mighty Mechanical Mustangs”, a robotics club from McArthur High School in Hollywood, Florida, that participates in the worldwide FIRST Robotics Competition, known as FRC.

This year marks the 4th consecutive year that the organization has provided both financial and in-classroom support for the budding program. Since One Firefly’s involvement, the Mustangs (also known as ‘Team 4592’) have managed to continually produce robots that are able to stay competitive amongst the some of the best schools in the nation, many of whom have access to more funds and resources than McArthur High School.

“Each year the program continues to build on the experiences of the previous years and the student’s expectations for the team’s success continue to grow,” said Ron Callis, CEO of One Firefly LLC.

Indeed, the Mighty Mechanical Mustangs of McArthur High School have put together an impressive list of accolades as of late. The team won the ‘Panther Prowl Award’ an off-season event in 2015 and in both 2014 and 2013 they were semi-finalists at the South Florida Regional FIRST Competition. The team hopes to continue that string of success at the upcoming Orlando Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, March 11-12.

“I’m very proud of the work our team has put in this year,” mentioned Ron Callis, whose formal education in Mechanical Engineering has greatly served the team, “These students have sacrificed many nights and weekends and in many cases have challenged themselves to develop new skills in order to give themselves the best possible chance to succeed at our upcoming competitions.”

For many students on Team 4592, the club serves as their first foray into the world of engineering, while the FIRST competitions offer exciting opportunities to work with fellow students and mentors to build a robot designed to navigate a pre-determined challenge. This year’s challenge is called the “FIRST Stronghold,” and requires alliances of three robots to go on a Quest to breach their opponents’ fortifications, weaken their tower with boulders, and capture it. Teams have just six weeks to design, build and test a robot that can function both autonomously and through teleoperation to score the most points by effectively defending their castle, retrieving and accurately launching foam boulders, defeat defenses, and scale their opponent’s tower.

Despite the team’s success at recent competitions, Ron Callis cites the educational and leadership experiences the students gain as the true victory.

“The Mighty Mechanical Mustangs and the FIRST program provide students with a terrific opportunity to gain significant experience working with a team to master a challenge. This experience will prove invaluable as they begin to head off to universities and eventually start their professional careers,” said Callis.

About FIRST®

Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST (FIRSTINspires.org) designs accessible and inclusive K-12 STEM education programs that use robot challenges to build science and technology skills and interests, in a character driven platform that also inspires self-confidence, leadership, and life skills . In Florida, FIRST serves over 10,000 students statewide. With support from a comprehensive network of Fortune 500 corporations, educational and professional institutions, foundations, and individuals, FIRST provides more than $25 million in college scholarships. Programs include FIRST® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST® LEGO® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. for Grades K-3. To learn more about FIRST in Florida, visit FIRSTFL.org.

About One Firefly:

One Firefly, LLC is a full-service marketing agency that caters to technology service professionals including designers, integrators, installers, contractors, consultants, distributors, and manufacturers. One Firefly is based in Davie, Florida and has been operating since 2007. One Firefly clients span the globe. To learn more visit https://www.onefirefly.com.