Team Competitions

Pre-college Team Competitions

WYSE collaborates with campus and community organizations to bring FIRST Challenge Competitions and the Science Olympiad State Championship to Champaign-Urbana.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge & FIRST Tech Challenge Events

Founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12).

The FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge provide competitions for youth, integrating robotics with solving real-world challenges. WYSE works with volunteers, Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), and community organizations to host scrimmages, qualifying events, and the sectional competition that takes place on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Learn more about FIRST Events at UIUC

FIRST Illinois Robotics Competition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in November 2022

2 Young students working on a STEM challenge project at the 2023 Illinois Science Olympiad while a judge watches.

Illinois Science Olympiad State Championship

Illinois Science Olympiad (ISO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in a variety of science disciplines, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education of students, teachers, and community coaches. The Illinois Science Olympiad program supports Illinois school districts, teachers, and parent participants through classroom activities, facilitating training workshops, and encouraging intramural, district, regional, state, and national tournaments.

Learn more about the Illinois Science Olympiad State Championship

Academic Challenge

The Academic Challenge event is a high school competition that was created and conducted annually by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering WYSE Outreach Program for about 40 years.

Academic Challenge is no longer hosted by the University of Illinois. Find out more about the Academic Challenge by visiting the program’s current website at Eastern Illinois University or contact the program directly (Academic_Challenge@eiu.edu).