Amanda Roark STEM Center at Adams Middle School
The Amanda Roark STEM Center at Adams Middle School is a programatic space currently available to Hillsborough County schools and students through scheduled calendar events and programs. Email [email protected] for more information.
In 2026, Foundation for Community Driven Innovation in partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools collaborated on the development of a precedent setting facility, dedicated in October as the Amanda Roark STEM Center, at the site of the decomissioned Adams Middle School in the Forest Hills community in Tampa. FCDI’s big FIRST Robotics Competition field, as well as FIRST Tech Challenge REC Foundation, VEX and Aerial Drone Competition fields are housed at the STEM Center providing practice and competition space for area teams.
In addition to serving as competition, education and practice space for middle and high school competitive robotics and drone programs, the Amanda Roark STEM Center supports the development of elementary robotics and mechatronics education programming, as well as providing professional development opportunities for Hillsborough County teachers and educators statewide, training for robotics program volunteers, coaches and mentors, and serves as the new home of FCDI’s annual Manufacturing Month STEM Showcase, ROBOTICON Tampa Bay.
See HCPS K-12 STEM Supervisor Dr.Catherine White’s full Welcome letter here and see WMNF coverage of the new STEM Center here and an FCDI overview here.
Through our collaboration with FCDI on this initiative, we envision a future where every student has access to transformative experiences that build critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. …We believe this partnership will not only strengthen STEM education for our students but also create lasting connections between schools, mentors, and our broader community. Together, we’re building more than robots. We’re building confident, capable young people ready to shape tomorrow’s world.