Volunteers Power FIRST RGV at Every Level

Volunteers power FIRST RGV at every level, impacting more than 4,000 young people around the Rio Grande Valley each year. Whatever your expertise, FIRST RGV has a volunteer opportunity for you.  Whether you have a few weekend hours, the desire to mentor a team for a season, or want to work behind the scenes to help FIRST RGV grow, opportunities abound for people who want to give back – helping to change lives, change our culture, and change the future.

Once you register with us, we will assign a local ambassador to help guide you through the onboarding process, training and welcoming you to the FIRST family.

FIRST® Volunteers Make It Happen

Over 230,000 FIRST volunteers worked 17,000,000 hours and put on more than 4,600 events during the 2017-2018 season! (world-wide statistic)

Background Screening Is Important

Want to Learn More?

FIRST and FIRST RGV requires all adult volunteers to be screened using the FIRST national background investigation contractor. This clearance will allow you to do event support and to work in public places with students and on behalf of the FIRST program. This background check includes local, county, state and federal record searches looking specifically for indicators of previous violence charges or felony convictions.

Volunteers, employees or mentors that are wishing to go on campus to work with students MUST also have a FAST check completed by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) that includes a fingerprint search that checks local, county, state and federal databases. This record search is provided free of charge by FIRST RGV and will enroll the mentor / employee in the DPS system for school districts to use to verify your clearance. This is a requirement of state law (Tx Education Code 22.0834) and is strictly enforced.

What Could I Help With?

Event Support – The easiest way to get involved with FIRST is to volunteer in supporting events. Each event needs more than 40 volunteers to be successful. Event volunteers receive training on the challenge and their specific role for the event (referee, registration, judging, usher, master of ceremonies, crowd control or safety). *can be technical or non-technical roles*

Program Support – This is a key volunteer role in the Rio Grande Valley as you are trained in either a specific program or on all four programs. These volunteers help given presentations, help recruit other volunteers, help fundraise to increase program bandwidth and to directly train volunteers that are assuming key roles. This role could also be clerical assistance in managing paperwork. (yes plenty of that)

Other – There is a role for everyone in supporting FIRST in the Rio Grande Valley.

What Are The Requirements?

We Need Your Help

  • Aged 17+
  • No Felony Convictions
  • No Domestic Violence Arrests
  • No Weapons Violations
  • No Registered Sex Offenders
  • Great Team Personality
  • Big Heart Towards Helping Others

Im Not An Engineer...

Thats ok. Neither am I. We need volunteers in various roles to support the technical and non-technical operations of our fast growing non-profit in the Rio Grande Valley. Don’t let your lack of technical skills prevent you from making a difference in STEM education. There is a role for everyone.