The Soaring Colts of Half Hollow Hills High School West and East have continued to soar. The FIRST robotics team hosted a robotics open house on Friday in Dix Hills and was presented with a $2,000 contribution by Optimum for being named a 2025 Optimum Innovator Award winner. The award was presented to the team for demonstrating how its members inspire and support education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), most notably through a scholarship program they organized last year in honor of their mentor, Kenneth R Vassey Jr., who died in 2024. The scholarships will be awarded to two high school seniors from Long Island who are part of a FIRST team and are planning to pursue a career in STEM. On Friday, Optimum representatives were joined by Assemblyman Steve Stern, who presented the team with a $10,000 state grant in support of its next robot build and competition season. During the event, the robotics team provided a tour of their build room, demonstrated their robot and shared highlights from the previous robotics season. Optimum has sponsored the robotics team since 2019 and has provided more than $10,000 to support its efforts.