---
title: FIRST made me a passionate STEM ambassador
description: FIRST is a global robotics community preparing young people for the future and the world’s leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education.
image: https://community.firstinspires.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/avanti_395x380.jpg
---

### Avanti Ramraj

*FIRST* Alum

### As a then-high school senior, *FIRST *® alum Avanti Ramraj delivered a TEDx Talk about the use of gamification and role models as a means of overcoming stereotypes to diversify STEM. Her talk’s title, “There’s a Brown Girl in the Ring,” was inspired by a song based on a children’s game played in the West Indies where each child takes turns leading while the others imitate.

 

A *FIRST *® Tech Challenge Dean’s List Award Finalist (awarded to extraordinary *FIRST* student leaders), Avanti began her *FIRST* journey at age nine with *FIRST* ® LEGO® League, during which she discovered her strengths, confidence, compassion and love for STEM – while learning women make up only 28% of the STEM workforce. “My nine-year journey through FIRST truly transformed me [into] a passionate STEM ambassador,” she said. “As a girl in STEM, I am on a tough path, but maybe it’s one where I become a role model.”

Avanti and her teammates embodied the mission and Core Values of *FIRST* through community outreach such as mentoring teams, teaching coding, and supporting PPE needs. Avanti continues to be a role model in her local community, the *FIRST* community, and beyond.

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