A National Competition to Inspire America’s Youth
As America Celebrates our 250th Anniversary, it’s a time to reflect on the traditions that built our nation, communities, and cultures: A spirit of innovation, resilient competition, and a desire to come together and tackle the world’s greatest challenges.
In this era of automation, we need to build new institutions that shape how we understand and use technology, and how we prepare our students for the future.
The United States Governor’s Cup is an opportunity to reimagine education, forging deep relationships between schools and industry mentors. Drawing inspiration from our past, we look forward to the new challenges of our time.
Constitution Hall
February 20th - 22th
1776 D St NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA
About the Governor's Cup
The U.S. Governors Cup grows out of a multi-year effort that began in 2019 in the White House Office of American Innovation to modernize education data and prototype new, workforce-aligned STEM models. That work evolved into an NSF research program testing nontraditional, hands-on approaches—most notably leveraging FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) as a foundation for experiential learning and skills development in underserved communities.
Five years on, a public-private consortium led by Experiential Robotics has delivered an open-source robotics platform at less than the cost of a textbook, with real-world traction: New Hampshire became the first state to adopt it statewide across 5,500 classrooms, and Ohio with the intent to scale statewide by 2026.
Against this backdrop, the Department of Education is moving to decentralize authority to the states—shifting from federal prescription toward state leadership, innovation, and collaboration in experiential learning. The U.S. Governors Cup is conceived as a ceremonial and practical launch of that state-led era, replacing paper-based assessments with live, applied robotics challenges that demonstrate each state’s commitment to 21st-century problem solving.
The name is intentional: it is the U.S. Governors Cup—not the Secretary’s Cup—because stewardship of American education is being returned to the states.
Each of the 50 Governors will visibly lead their state’s delegation alongside students and state education systems, signaling governors’ role as chief education leaders in this new, decentralized framework. The cup itself symbolizes this transfer of responsibility and the elevation of state-level accountability for outcomes.
Operationally, the inaugural event will convene in Washington, D.C. in February 2026—timed with the National Governors Association Winter Meeting and America 250 festivities—uniting all 50 states in a high-visibility, March-Madness–style tournament on the FIRST® Tech Challenge platform over the course of three days. This design showcases design-thinking, technology, and teamwork as measures of student achievement and workforce readiness, and underscores a bipartisan, state-driven model for scaling hands-on STEM nationwide.
About FIRST®
Kids have a natural curiosity, creativity, and desire to explore. At FIRST®, we understand the power of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to inspire their innovative spirit and boost self-esteem.
Project-based, hands-on FIRST® programs introduce students to engineering and coding in engaging, welcoming, and creative learning environments in schools and local communities, where students work collaboratively to solve an annual, themed robotics challenge.
FIRST® programs are designed to help all young people develop collaborative problem-solving, leadership, and communications skills. Supported by a network of mentors, educators, volunteers, sponsors, parents, and alumni in over 100 countries, the FIRST® experience gives participants lasting inspiration and confidence to build a better future for themselves and their communities.
FIRST® LEGO® League (ages 5-14) introduces young people to STEM learning and discovery from an early stage. Through age-appropriate divisions, students grasp fundamental STEM concepts and put their knowledge into practice through competitive experiences. Along this path, they develop essential learning habits, build self-confidence, and strengthen their ability to work collaboratively.
FIRST® Tech Challenge (ages 12-18) encourages teams to design, build, program, and engage in thrilling robotics competitions. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of innovation and teamwork. Participants build classroom-scale robots and program them using a blocks-based (visual) or text-based coding language along with custom fabrication with 3D printing. With Gracious Professionalism®, students are encouraged to create team identities and be ambassadors for FIRST and STEM in their communities.
Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of STEM, FIRST® Robotics Competition (ages 14-18) teams use sophisticated technology to build and program industrial-sized robots to play an action-packed, alliance-based game on a themed field. With professional mentors and sponsors, students learn engineering and problem-solving skills that they can apply to real-world situations today and in the future. Using Gracious Professionalism®, each team creates a team identity, raises funds to meet its goals, and works to promote STEM in their community.
