We are SMART, the Smoky Mountain Academic Robotics Team, a group of students passionate about engineering, marketing, design, and teamwork. Our mission is to inspire students and mentors to become leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, no matter who they are or where they come from. We believe in giving everyone the opportunity to grow through FRC regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or financial limitations, and strive to inspire students of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds to pursue their passion for STEM, and to give them the tools and skills they need to do so.

We advocate for FIRST and STEM in our schools and our community. We attend regional festivals and events such as Smoky Mountain High School’s STEM Night, Dillsboro Lights & Luminaries, and Sylva’s Greening Up the Mountains. These events attract tens of thousands of festival-goers, and are a great way to both give back to the community that has given so much to us and advocate for STEM and FIRST. We also attend the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT), demonstrating our robot and the opportunities FIRST gives at the high school level to teachers from all over the state.

We also support FIRST teams in our community. We support our local FIRST LEGO League teams by assisting at tournaments and making sure they’re never understaffed. Our members have worn both the black-and-white stripes of robot game referees as well as the yellow shirts of volunteers. We are also thrilled to be part of a thriving FIRST community alongside 8 FLL teams in our area and a soon-to-be FLL Jr. team that we’re working to start.

As one of two FRC teams in the seven-county region west of the city of Asheville, NC, and the only robotics extracurricular activity at our school, SMART offers students the rare opportunity to build their passion for STEM and develop crucial professional skills. Aware of this, we strives to promote STEM and bring robotics to our rural region through attending regional events throughout the year, supporting FLL teams, and keeping our community notified through our social media. Our goal is to inspire--to help students achieve their dreams and broaden their horizons, and to show our community that a FRC team can indeed survive and even thrive in our area.