Gov. Rick Snyder wasn’t asked to cut the ribbon when he attended the grand opening of the new FIRST Robotics Community Center at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, on Friday.
Instead, a robot was given the honor.
The robotics center is in a 9,600-square-foot gymnasium on the college campus that was transformed to house eight high school robotics teams. It’s the first of its kind in the nation.
“To put it simply, this is awesome,” Snyder told the Flint Journal. “Our goal is to be first in FIRST and I’m proud to say we are.”
FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” It was founded in 1989 to create an interest in science and technology with young people. Michigan leads the nation with 280 FIRST teams.
“We added more teams last year than every other state combined,” Snyder told the newspaper. “It’s not about catching up. It’s about leading. We are looking at the finest facility for this in the United States.”
Formerly known as General Motors Institute, Kettering University focuses its curriculum on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and business fields.