CENTRE COUNTY — CentreSTEM, a Centre County nonprofit launched in September 2025 to support and expand youth robotics and STEM education, is urgently seeking donated or affordable space and community donations after learning the Centre County 4-H Robotics Club must vacate its long-time build facility by September, according to Co-founder Bill Gendron.
CentreSTEM has grown into 14 teams spanning elementary, middle and high school students from 29 schools across Centre County. And now, facing a sudden loss of its longtime home, the newly formed nonprofit is racing against the clock to secure a future home for those students.
“It started out as Center County 4H Robotics Club,” Gendron said. The club operates through Penn State Extension 4-H and competes in FIRST Robotics competitions — a global organization that sanctions robotics events in more than 100 countries.
Ten years ago, the program had one high school team. Today, it includes seven elementary school teams, six middle school teams and one high school team.
“It’s an extracurricular activity,” Gendron said. “So we’ve been very successful in growing the club.”
With growth, however, comes pressure.
For the past decade, the club has operated out of a 4,000-square-foot industrial space donated by a generous local owner. But that space is now needed for a different tenant and by September the students must move out.
At the same time, leaders had already recognized they were outgrowing the facility. The solution was to create CentreSTEM as a separate nonprofit corporation in September 2025. The nonprofit, Gendron said, provides a fundraising platform to lease a larger facility and expand programming into artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
“We have a real acute issue to deal with,” Gendron said. “So we need to raise money or find a new place very, very quickly.”
The program is seeking between 6,000 and 8,000 square feet of mostly open, light industrial space with enough room for dozens of students to design, fabricate and program their robots.
The organization is asking the community for help in three ways: donated space, below-market lease options or tax-deductible donations. Contributions can be made at centrestem.org.
“We currently raise about $70,000 a year to cover the base operations of the clubs,” Gendron said. “So we just need more of all of that.”
And what exactly are those operations producing?
In 2018, the club’s high school team was part of an alliance that won the FIRST World Championship in Houston while competing against hundreds of teams from around the globe.
“It’s amazing,” Gendron said. “We were crowned world champion in 2018.”
Students design their robots from scratch in a six- to eight-week sprint. High schoolers use 3D computer-aided design software, fabricate metal parts, integrate systems and write their own programming. Middle schoolers work from kits but still custom design and code their machines. Elementary students begin with LEGO-based platforms and structured challenges.
“These kids have incredible skills,” Gendron said. “They’re doing 3D CAD. They’re mocking up their designs in the computer. They prototype them using machine shop tools.”
The benefits extend well beyond competition day. Gendron said colleges recognize the rigor of FIRST Robotics participation and students often receive preferential consideration in admissions.
“Colleges know FIRST,” he said. “When you say you participated in five years of FIRST Robotics, they know what that pedigree is.”
Looking ahead, CentreSTEM plans to launch structured AI and cybersecurity training programs for K-12 students, aligning with Pennsylvania’s push to lead in emerging technologies. This summer, Gendron will personally teach an elementary-level artificial intelligence camp, the first of the nonprofit’s AI curriculum.
Still, none of that matters if a roof cannot be secured.
“If we aren’t successful in doing that come September, it will cause a fairly significant disruption in what we’re able to do for these kids,” Gendron said.
“Our product are these kids. Our kids, our community’s kids that are going to end up in our workforce,” he said. “So anything that the community is willing to do to help is not helping a for profit company. It’s helping our Pennsylvania workforce thrive and be successful over time.”
For information about joining, mentoring or donating, visit centrestem.org.
