Gear Squad formed in 2015 after the Gear Guys and Gear Girl teams dissolved. Several members aged out of FLL and moved on to the Gear Masters FTC team. We also added some kids moving up from the Gear Kids. Ever since, the Gear Squad has been a successful combined team. Building on the strong history of the Gear Guys and Gear Girls, Gear Squad has earned top awards in New Mexico Qualifiers and the Regional Championship. In 2017, they earned a 2nd Place Champions Award and a trip to the FLL North American Open held in LEGOLAND California!

In 2016-2017, the team grew so much that they split into two teams. The Gear Wizards competed for one season, and then the team shrunk back down slightly and continued as just the Gear Squad again. The Gear Wizards had a very strong showing at the Alamogordo Qualifier in late 2016, but unfortunately they did not advance to the Regional Championship. In the 2017-2018 season, the Gear Squad took top awards in Robot Performance and Robot Design, but they missed advancing to the Regional Championship, competing against an excellent group of teams at the Los Alamos Qualifier.

Gear Squad had a great 2018-2019 season, taking on the Into Orbit challenge! They talked to space experts and astronauts Roy Bridges and Mike Mullane! They won the 2nd Place Champions Award at the New Mexico Regional Championship. From there, they competed in May, 2019 at the LEGOLAND International Open in Carlsbad, CA. They were very excited to compete again at this competition. Since many of the members moved up from Gear Kids over the previous two years, only one member of the team was on the team when Gear Squad competed at LEGOLAND in 2017! 

In 2020, they earned a spot at the Razorback Invitational in Arkansas, but the event was cancelled due to COVID, like so many things that year. That was a real disappointment, but the team continued on, having a very strong season in 2021 meeting and competing mostly remotely for the whole season. We had to get very creative to build and program the robot, mostly in isolation for the whole season. 

In 2021, we started meeting together in person again. Unfortunately, the qualifier and the NM State Championship were both switched to virtual events as Omicron cases surged. The team did well at the qualifier, and did very well and won the 1st Place Champions Award at the State Championship! This was the first time Gear Squad has earned this honor, and the first time they’ve received an invitation to the World Championship in Houston, TX. We are very excited to compete, and represent New Mexico at our first in-person event in over two years!