About Us

Team Overview

Up-A-Creek Robotics is high school robotics team in the St. Vrain Valley School District under The GEAR Alliance, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. We are a district-wide team.  We are centered around the FIRST Robotics Competition, providing students with a unique opportunity to work with professionals in the community on realistic engineering challenges… and have fun along the way!  Details at a glance:

• Founded in 2004.

• 70 high school students from high schools throughout the St. Vrain Valley School District.

• 25 adult mentors.

• Sponsor one FIRST Tech Challenge and 6 FIRST Lego League teams

• Develop a completely new robot each year (typically 5 feet tall and 150 pounds).

• Meet essentially year-round (including the summer), providing many opportunities for students to learn a variety of technical and professional skills, ranging from mechanism design to project management.

• Students design robots with 3D design software, fabricate them with advanced CNC equipment, and write software to control the robots' functions.

• Deal with real-world project constraints, including limited time, resources and budgets.

• Participate throughout the community, including holiday food basket programs and city-wide events.

History

It was a sunny day in 2004, and Mark Dotterweich had the goal to expand Colorado with more FIRST teams.  Where to start?  How about Longmont, CO!  And thus, Team 1619 was formed.  We started at Silver Creek High School in James Meyer's technology room, with students from high schools throughout the St. Vrain Valley School District   His mantra was "Inspiration Through Participation," something we practice to this day.

In 2007, we moved to Stewart Jordison's Engineering Technology room at the Career Development Center.  The CDC was our humble home until 2015, when we moved our current headquarters  This 6000 s.f. facility includes  a CAD lab, software classroom, assembly room, machine shop, and a full-sized practice field. Oh, and of course a kitchen to keep us well-nourished!

Since then, we have continued to grow in a variety ways.  We are now a truly district-wide team offering learning opportunities to students from every school in the SVVSD district.  The new facility allows us to sponsor our own in-house Lego League and FIRST Tech Challenge junior teams, offer educational summer camps and open our doors to the public for free "drop-in" learning nights.