Kod-Red:
In 1997, FIRST® FRC Team 36 was created within in the Fairport community by Mr. Gene Gordon and 27 students.
Inspired by the team’s original sponsor, Kodak, and the high school’s mascot, the Red Raider, Team 36 was named “Kod-Red.”
A school-wide contest was held at Fairport High School to design a logo for the team, from which the original “Kod-Red” logo (above) was chosen.
Team 36 participated in its first competition at the Mid-Atlantic Regional as a rookie team, and was presented with the Judges Award for unique robot function.
One year after its creation, the team’s number changed from 36 to 52. Despite the change in number, the “Kod-Red” name remained and the team competed at Mid-Atlantic Regional for its second year in a row.
Fairport Intelligence Agency:
As the team entered its third year of operation, their primary sponsor, Kodak, experienced changes which left the team sponsor-less.
Fortunately, The Gleason Works company recognized the team’s need for sponsorship and adopted the team.
At this time, Team 52 re-registered with FIRST® as Team 227, changing their name to the “Fairport Intelligence Agency,” aka “FIA.”
Within the coming build season, the “Fairport Intelligence Agency” gained way to the FIRST® World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri.
Blue Lightning:
Interested in updating the team’s image, the team’s name was changed to Blue Lightning. Blue is one of Fairport High School’s colors, and lightning symbolizes the team’s energy. The original slogan was “Thunder makes the noise, but lightning does the work.”
Blue Lightning held another school-wide art contest to come up with a new logo. The team ended up winning the Philadelphia Regional in 2000, and the NASA Langley-VCU Regional in 2001 (in Virginia). Every year Blue Lightning competed in FIRST ® Regionals, the team learned about building, 3-D animation, marketing, and much more. But even more important is the impact FIRST has had on the team. In 2005, 100% of the members went on to college to study something related to science and technology, and all of the members that have gone through the program have graduated from high school. The trend continues to this day.
Red Raider Robotics:
It was decided in the summer of 2010 that the team was not connected enough to the high school, causing confusion as to who FIRST ® Team 578 actually was. Most of other the teams at Fairport High School were known as the Red Raiders at the time, while FRC Team 578 was Fairport Blue Lightning. To reduce this confusion, the team’s name was officially changed to Red Raider Robotics, or R³ for short.