FIRST
Competition team hosting, mentoring, build space, coaching, and workshops.
What is The Collaboratory?
A place to wonder, imagine, experiment, create, connect, and belong.
The Collaboratory is where curiosity becomes discovery, imagination becomes possibility, and people come together to explore what they can learn, make, and contribute.
We are a not-for-profit learning community where youth can follow their curiosity wherever it leads — diving deeper into something they already love, trying something completely new, or discovering an interest they never knew they had.
At The Collaboratory, youth can join FIRST Robotics teams, enter competitions and challenges, explore coding and gaming, build and make, investigate scientific and environmental questions, experiment with new technologies, wrestle with big ideas, and have real-world conversations with people who are just as interested and curious as they are.
There isn't one path through The Collaboratory. An interest in gaming might lead to coding. Coding might lead to robotics. Robotics might lead to engineering, design, AI, or a competition. A question about the natural world might lead outside, into an experiment, a research project, or a conversation with someone who has spent their life studying it.
And along the way, young people have the chance to find their interests, find new challenges, and find their people. Because sometimes the most important part of following your curiosity is discovering that other people are curious about the same things you are.
You don't need to know exactly what you're interested in yet… curiosity is enough to get started.
Ideas connect
Curiosity Doesn't Belong in a Box
The most interesting questions rarely belong to just one subject, and we don't think learning needs to either. At The Collaboratory, science can connect with art, mathematics with philosophy, technology with the environment, and engineering with community. We want youth to see how ideas connect and to have the freedom to follow those connections wherever they lead.
A question about how to make a robot complete a task might begin with coding, but quickly lead to engineering, mathematics, physics, design, problem-solving, teamwork, and a lot of trial and error. A question about a river might begin with environmental science but lead to chemistry, biology, mathematics, mapping, technology, local history, or conversations with people who know the land and water. Building something in Minecraft can turn into a conversation about engineering, architecture, sustainability, coding, or how communities are designed. A discussion about infinity might start with mathematics and somehow end up in physics, philosophy, or a debate about the nature of reality.
That's part of what makes The Collaboratory different. We don't always know where a question is going to take us, and that's okay. Sometimes the best projects, conversations, experiments, and ideas happen when we let one question lead naturally to the next.
Let's follow the questions… and see where they take us.
Learning at The Collaboratory
We don't just learn things. We do things.
At The Collaboratory, learning happens by doing. In our makerspace, youth can take an idea and figure out how to make it work. Designing, building, coding, testing, taking things apart, changing their approach, and trying again.
A robot rarely works perfectly the first time, and we think that's a good thing. The trial and error, troubleshooting, collaboration and sometimes starting over are where a lot of the learning happens.
Youth learn to refine their ideas, solve problems together, ask for help, share what they know, and learn from people with different skills and experiences. They can work alongside other youth, mentors, engineers, programmers, makers, and community members who can challenge their thinking or show them another way to approach a problem. Whether they are preparing a robot for a FIRST competition, building a prototype, experimenting with electronics or coding something new, the goal isn't simply to finish the project. It's to become more confident asking questions, testing ideas, learning from what didn't work, improving what did, and using what they learn to build something better.
Learning becomes more powerful when getting it right the first time isn't the point.
Try
Test
Learn
Refine
Try again
Imagine
Start with a question, a hunch, or something you want to try.
Learn
Learn through interdisciplinary, community-connected activities.
Build
Be inspired by purposeful projects — then make them real.
Belong
Find your people. Share what you know. Grow together.
Explore our Collabs
There is more than one way to be curious.
Find something you're curious about. Find other people who are curious about it too. Collabs are ongoing communities built around shared interests. Join one — or start one.
FIRST LEGO League
Younger robotics teams, challenges, and competitions.
The Maker Space
Open build nights, electronics, 3D printing, prototyping, tools, Arduino/Raspberry Pi, and “bring your idea” projects.
Girls in STEM
Mentorship, women in STEM speakers, projects, networking, and leadership.
Camps
March Break, summer, PA days, and possibly winter break.
Challenges & Competitions
Robotics, math contests, hackathons, science challenges, and design competitions.
Coding & AI Lab
Coding, AI experimentation, game development, ethical AI, and creative technology.
Minecraft Design Lab
Engineering, architecture, world-building, game-making, realms/servers, command blocks, Redstone, sustainability, and collaborative challenges.
Environmental & Field Lab
Ecology, water, biodiversity, citizen science, conservation, and outdoor investigations.
Games & Social Space
Board games, D&D/RPGs, strategy games, chess, gaming nights, and simply hanging out.
The Round Table
Big questions, current issues, science, technology, philosophy, ethics, and conversations with interesting people.
Theatre House — Powered by The Story Lab
A creative community where youth write, perform, design, build, and bring stories to life.
Meet a…
Meet a scientist, engineer, mathematician, coder, environmentalist, researcher, tradesperson, designer, and more.
Community Projects
Youth use STEM, design, and research skills to work on something useful for the community.
Field Trips & Expeditions
Conservation areas, labs, universities, observatories, museums, engineering facilities, and businesses.
Workshops
One-off experiences: soldering, 3D printing, coding, astronomy, electronics, microscopy, podcasting, and more.
Youth-Led Clubs
A way for youth to propose and lead something they're interested in.
Speaker Nights
Researchers, professors, engineers, innovators, community experts, and unusual thinkers.
Some questions have answers. Some lead to better questions. Both matter here.
Problems worth solving
What if learning started with a question instead of an answer?
How healthy is the water around us?
Can we design communities that work better for people and the environment?
Is mathematics invented — or discovered?
How should we use artificial intelligence?
Can we build a robot to solve a real problem?
What does infinity actually mean?
How could we reduce waste in our community?
What can the land teach us?