FIRST Team 1710 has modeled their team after Top Gun, The Naval Fighter Training School. Both organizations are founded upon the principle of achieving excellence through partnership and cooperation.

FIRST team 1710 was founded in 2006 when Olathe Northwest High School Aerospace & Engineering (A&E) instructor Mrs. Susan Rippe approached Electronic Communications (E-Comm) instructor Mr. Matt Breitkreutz with an exciting idea. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation had just announced that they were bringing FIRST to Kansas City by funding the creation of over 20 teams in the KC Metro. They offered a three year grant totaling eighteen thousand dollars to start up, and for us it worked....we were hooked! Once officially announced, Team 1710 quickly attracted a group of students dedicated to trades such as mechanical design, graphic design, CAD, 3D animation, C-based programming, web development, and more. Top Gun develops young fighter pilots, but Olathe Northwest develops young engineers. In 2007 Darren Worcester, the (A&E) CAD teacher came on board as one of the head coaches, in 2008 Matt Peterie, A&E Physics teacher, joined the team.

Top Gun is known for producing some of the finest pilots with their specially designed program. Olathe Northwest High School's mission is to advance the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills of their students. Through the A&E program, students are offered classes with applied math and science to the areas of Engineering. Our E-Comm department has also tailored a program where students are taught in depth graphic design, 3-d modeling, animation, video production and web development. These unique programs have provided Ravonics Revolution a core of students that are serious about engineering and electronic communications FIRST is a natural fit.

FIRST Team 1710 is a student-led, student-run entity. Our team is organized in a business structure led by a leadership group of seven seniors. These seven groups are (CEO) Chief Executive Officer, (CFO) Chief Financial Officer, (COO) Chief Operations Officer, (CDO) Chief Design Officer, (CIO) Chief Information Officer, (PRO) Public Relations Officer and (ACO) Awards Coordinating Officer. Each team member is placed into one of these groups for the pre and build season, maximizing everyone's opportunity to contribute and gain engineering/ design experiences. This organization allows us to effectively manage our diverse team while fostering leadership attributes in each student. The new officers/ leaders are chosen each spring after Regional's. To facilitate the passing of the torch, the current seniors spend the last few weeks of the school year mentoring the juniors who will lead the team during the next season.

Much like the top pilots of each Top Gun class are displayed as an inspiration to newly inducted pilots, FIRST Team 1710 looks to its alumni as we continue to learn from their experiences. In the same way our seniors mentor the juniors, our alumni come back throughout the year especially during build season. We are very proud that our alumni have received over one million dollars in scholarships and over 35 internships. In addition, 46 of 47 went on to major in STEM fields, 34 of which are various engineering majors.

The flight control tower and maintenance crews provide the support necessary to maintain Top Gun. Team 1710 relies on partnerships with corporate sponsors to execute our endeavors. They also have a strong core of mentors; many of these come from our sponsors. Without the financial and physical support our sponsors and mentors give we would be unable to continue competing.

Maverick and Viper form an inspirational partnership through which Maverick gains knowledge and experience while becoming the best pilot he can be. Team 1710 has the same partnership with young adults in our community, supporting and creating opportunities to foster their engineering creativity. Community service and community outreach have been focal points for such programs as VEX Camps, You Go Girl, Adopt a Street, Green Team and many others. Looking at our awards is good way to see that out team has been successful since its conception winning: Spirit, Animation, Safety, Woody Flowers, Regional Chairman's, Entrepreneurship, Autodesk Visualization, Judges Award and Regional winners. The cornerstone that summarizes our teams is Spirit, the passion we feel for engineering and FIRST is it the same passion we are noted for at competitions with our dancing and cheering. FIRST Team 1710 works hard to incorporate spirit with "gracious professionalism" and "Coopertition" that is what defines a team as a FIRST team.