WORCESTER, Mass. - Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito visited Worcester's Burncoat High School Monday for a special STEM Week event and to showcase the school’s FIRST Robotics program.

Robotics teams from around Worcester County were also at the school promoting science, technology, engineering and math education.

There are student teams from kindergarten to grade 12 and robots range from Legos to the FIRST Robots which weigh 120-pounds. Burncoat has had a program for 17-years and they want kids to be excited about STEM.

“I believe STEM is like a really important skill for everyone,” Nick Galotti, the found mentor of the Burncoat Robotics Team, said “It’s something you use every day, you may not realize you’re even using it. You use math all the time, but it’s kind of in the background. It’s very important stuff. You look at your weather app, that’s science right there. Everything you’re doing is STEM.

“Here we are at Burncoat High School that has an incredible partnership with WPI and FIRST Robotics who inspire kids to want to pursue careers that are STEM related,” Polito said. “Nearly half of our workforce is involved in the STEM field so it’s imperative that we have students that engage in robotics and other activities like this.”

This year's theme is “See Yourself in STEM, focusing on the power of mentoring and supporting underrepresented youth. Burncoat is hosting an event Wednesday night highlighting STEM activities in the Worcester Public Schools.