The inaugural FIRST Tech Challenge Governors Cup will be hosted in Washington, D.C. in February 2026—during the National Governors Association Winter Meeting and America 250 festivities—uniting all 50 states in a high-visibility, March-Madness–style tournament over the course of two days. The event 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.

Colorado teams who were interested in the Governors Cup opportunity filled out an application of seven essays. These essays asked applicants to discuss why they wanted to represent Colorado, the importance of Colorado FIRST programs, and what they hoped to take away from the experience, among other things. Governor Polis then hand-picked one team to go to Washington DC: us!