To Attend Tech It Out

FIRST Robotics Team 4188
FIRST Tech Challenge Teams 16585, 16934
Columbus, GA

Columbus Space Program is the initiative that covers FIRST Robotics team 4188, two CSP FIRST Tech Challenge teams, the DREAMS high altitude balloon science, and the CubeSat program in Columbus, GA

Learn About FIRST

From mentoring of Boy Scouts, Brownie Scouts, and multiple FIRST Lego League teams, to demonstrating our robot’s abilities at local elementary schools and events, we have aspired to change the mindset of today’s youth to appreciate STEM and other academic fields in the same way that other areas like sports are popular today. We also interested our own peers in STEM through an attendance of over 100 people to our mechanical engineering, CAD, and programming workshops at the start of the season as well as helping to implement advanced placement STEM classes at some of our schools, such as: AP Computer Science, AP Physics C: Mechanics, and AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism. ​

FIRST Robotics Competition has been a way for our team members to excel in engineering, CAD, business, and leadership. The assistance it has provided for the college acceptance of our alumni is significant and undeniable. Since our start, thirteen of our own team members have been accepted into MIT; plus many of the others attend schools including Dartmouth, Georgia Tech (35 to date), Johns Hopkins, Auburn, SCAD, Amhurst, WPI, Georgia, Vanderbilt, and UCF.. The majority of our alumni have chosen to major in STEM fields such as Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or Computer Science (85% in fact). FIRST Team 4188 has also launched several careers, including with Facebook, Google and SpaceX. Not all CSP alumni have chosen to be part of the college experience, and they've instead joined sponsor companies in manufacturing roles while attending technical school and continuing to support CSP..  Both futures are successful ways to approach life. As of 2020, have a PhD alumnus and two alumni who are sponsors. 

Since 2016, the Columbus Space Program and the Muscogee County School District have launched multiple FIRST teams across the community, to include our own CSP Space Cadets and our CSP FTC teams (Space Devils, Ecliptic, and AstroBots). The demand to date has been great, due in part to the "Field Trip" to the Columbus Qualifier (Tech It Out) during the seasons since 2016 and various open houses and news stories. FIRST expanded to 72 teams across the Columbus area in 2020, and we are rebuilding following Covid.

Find Us:

On Saturday, May 13, we will be holding a Donor Appreciation Celebration, followed by a team celebration. Please contact us if you want to be included in the Donor Appreciation day, as we're always looking for new and exciting members for the team.