Happy New Year to all of our Friends of BEST!

With the new year, we are trying a new approach to sharing updates with our Rocky Mountain BEST community! We are shifting from a solely volunteer-focused communication to one for all of our partners.

We hope this new format keeps everyone informed of important information for our hub.

If you have feedback, please reply or complete the rating at the end.

Team teachers and mentors will continue to receive separate competition communication from Gwynn Moore.

During the first week of December, the top 32 teams from 8 hubs in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota headed to Friends University in Wichita, Kansas for the 2025 Denver BEST Regional Championship.

Rocky Mountain BEST sent the top 6 teams from our hub competition to participate at Regionals, including the top teams in both the Robot Performance and BEST Award categories.

Our RM BEST teams did a fantastic job representing our hub! Abraham Lincoln High School was awarded the "Blood, Sweat and Duct Tape" Award for overcoming hurdles. Interested in seeing the final 2025 results? Check out both the Denver BEST Regional Championship results and the 2025 BEST Robotics National Standings. You can also view the recording of the regional competition.

Zac Tate of Broomfield High School and Genevieve Hoatam of Our Lady of Loreto were recognized as Finalists for the Kendrick Castillo Memorial Outstanding Student Award for their fantastic leadership and mentoring within their team.

Congratulations to all of our teams, coaches and mentors on a fantastic season--we are so impressed by your hard work, creativity, ingenuity, team spirit, and collaborative endeavors!

Each year, BEST Robotics collects survey data from student participants to learn more about the impact of our competition. Below are data showing how we're empowering our Next Generation of STEM Leaders.

Together we are providing an opportunity for education and workforce to intersect!

4,978 Inspired Students and 494 Participating Teachers

4,120 Student Participants in Regional Championship

BEST Robotics is offering several new and exciting opportunities for teams to stay engaged during the spring "off season".

Professional Speaker Series



BEST is hosting a 10-part industry speaker series for students to listen to and interact with professionals from a variety of STEM-related career field. Presentations will be 30 minutes long followed by a 10 minute Q&A. Teams can register beginning January 22. Registration will close 1 week before each event.

NASA HUNCH Design Competition

BEST is partnering with the NASA HUNCH program to offer a spring robotics challenge in which teams design a lunar or martian landscape and develop a swarm of small robots that can be driven remotely to carry out missions on the specialized topography. Teams would present their designs to NASA professionals in April/May.

For more information about this exciting new challenge, listen to a webinar by Michael Hayes, NASA Professional (and former STEM teacher and BEST coach), peruse a PDF of his presentation, and check out the NASA HUNCH HERA website for more details.

Additional information will be provided as it is released.

2025 Sponsors of Rocky Mountain BEST Robotics

Corporate ($15,000 - $49,999

• Donors to RM BEST via the Community First Foundation
• John and Lois Walton

Diamond ($10,000-$14,999)

• Adolph Coors Foundation
• Judith Schlesinger

Platinum ($5000-$9,999)

• BAE Systems
• Carolyn Bauer
• Mike & Linda King
• Northrop Grumman
• Ben & Kayla Straub

Gold ($2,500-$4,999)

• Donors via America Online Giving
• Ken Black
• Foresters Financial Community
• Dick & Judy Tumlinson

Silver ($1000-$2,499)

• Jim Baron
• Marc BouNader
• Freelance Robotics
• Lauri Harrison
• Diane Minka
• Dave Porter

Bronze ($500-$999)

• Roger & Sandy Erickson
• JoAnne Fry
• Shannon Ragland
• Mark Yoss

BEST Friends ($1-$499)

Many thanks to the 100+ individuals and businesses who made contributions to support RM BEST!

VENUE HOSTS:

• St. Mary's Church, Littleton
• STEM School Highlands Ranch
• Rangeview High School
• Friends University

2025 National Sponsors of BEST Robotics, Inc.

STEERING TEAM POSITIONS

• We are looking for volunteers interested in developing, coordinating, and implementing our BEST summer and fall robotics events.
• No robotics or special skills required.
• Especially helpful, but not required, if you enjoyed volunteering at our events or have mentored a BEST team.
• You can support from home.
• Meetings are held online and include monthly management meetings, and during the fall season, weekly event preparation meetings.
• It would be great if you are able to volunteer in person at our events.



BOARD OF DIRECTORS POSITIONS

• We are looking for enthusiastic RM BEST advocates to join 6 other board members to help us fulfill and advance our mission.
• Especially helpful if you have contacts to expand our community connections and fundraising opportunities.
• You can support from home. Monthly meetings are held online. 

NEW SPONSORS: 

• Know a company or foundation that might want to hear about how they can help provide our inspiring STEM program free to schools?  

To learn more about these opportunities, please contact Carolyn.Bauer@bestinc.org. 



RM BEST is working to update our social media presence and reach a broader audience.

If you use Instagram, please consider following us! Over the years, several accounts have been created for our hub, but the official account that is facilitated by RM BEST is @RockyMtnBESTRobotics.

Rocky Mountain BEST Robotics

rm.best.info.request@bestinc.org | http://www.rockymountainbest.org/