At its VIP reception on March 30, School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) received checks in the amount of $25,000 each from Motorola Solutions Foundation and FESTO Corporation. The money supports the cost of this year’s Long Island FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC), which was held March 30-31 at Hofstra University.

Each year, it costs approximately $250,000 to provide the Long Island FIRST Robotics Regional program. Due to challenging economic circumstances, SBPLI continues to reach out to potential sponsors to help finance this excellent and unique STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) high school level program. In 2012, SBPLI showcased 42 Long Island teams and eight other teams from the metropolitan New York area, Pennsylvania and Ohio at Hofstra University.