Milford Schools' Robotics Team Receives Support From Optimum

UPDATE: The team will not be attending the FIRST championship.

An Optimum representative provided the following statement Monday morning:

"Although the team is eligible to compete this week in Houston, they have decided not to attend and instead focus their efforts on improving their skills and robot for next year’s competition season.

"This is the third year in a row Optimum is sponsoring the MOJO team, providing them $6,000 since 2023 to help the team with their robot build. FIRST robotics teams, including the MOJO team, are now able to apply to the Optimum Innovator Awards, a grant program that recognizes and awards grants to local FIRST teams for their innovation and efforts in areas including community engagement, technology, inspiration, diversity, and sustainability. The awarded grants help further support the winning teams’ growth, creativity, and innovation as they prepare for the next season of competitions and find new ways to engineer their robots."

Original story

MILFORD, CT — A robotics team from Milford Public Schools is participating in the FIRST Championship in Houston.

The event, coming up next week, is an international robotics competition and "an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for our community," according to the FIRST website.

Below is a statement from Optimum, which is helping to sponsor the team:

Reaching out to share that a FIRST robotics team from Milford Public Schools – MOJO – will be heading to the FIRST Championship next week in Houston to compete in a four-day robotics international competition. To continue supporting the team, Optimum, local provider of internet, mobile, TV, and phone services, is providing an additional $1,000.

FIRST is a robotics community where each year FIRST teams build and program a robot to perform the season’s challenge, and this year’s ocean-inspired challenge is REEFSCAPE. Throughout the season, students learn engineering and problem-solving skills as they compete for awards, create a team identity, raise funds, hone teamwork skills, and advance appreciation for STEM in their community.

As part of Optimum’s long-standing partnership with FIRST, the company sponsors the MOJO team throughout the competition season, providing them with resources and tools needed to build a robot to compete. This is the third year in a row Optimum is supporting the MOJO team and now with the team heading to the Championship, Optimum is providing an additional $1,000 donation to show their support.