ABOUT US
TEAM • COMMUNITY • MISSION
The Bedford Express is a high school FIRST FRC Robotics team located in Temperance, Michigan, USA. Many people ask us why we are called Bedford Express as it doesn't correlate with the town's name or the school's mascot. We use "Bedford" because our school district is situated in the township of Bedford. There are several small villages/towns that make up district, but we all share the same junior and senior high schools. The second part of our name, Express, was chosen when the team was founded in 2003. The high school mascot was, and still is, the "Kicking Mule". FRC teams normally use a fun twist on their home school's mascot to associate their robotic's team to, but the "Mule" just didn't sound very high tech- we had other ideas. Our first coach for the team was a graduate of Purdue University and thus loved the mascot "Boiler Makers', but we didn't want to just usurp Purdue's namesake so the express train theme was adopted to give a nod to our coach's history. An express train is fast, sleek, powerful. Thus, Bedford Express was adopted as the official team moniker. We might have a couple details missing, but that is the story we pass along.
Our team logo has developed over the last 20 years or so. Originally we simply used the universal railroad symbol you see near crossings, but several years ago we dropped the "RR" from the logo and replaced it with "BX", and thus an iconic brand was born. Teams from around the world know us by our X crossed arms, and our chant of "BX...On Track". It's fun and catchy...and you will forever remember our team every time you cross over a set of railroad tracks. You're welcome.
circa 2007. Photo by, Courtney Roberts
Our current logo
We live and play in the great State of Michigan! You can easily find where we are, just look on the North part of a USA map for the huge in-land seas called the "Great Lakes" They surround our state making us a large peninsula. Our home is on the West shore of Lake Erie in the SE corner of Michigan. If you could see my hand, I'd show it to you...yes, we all use our hand to show people where we live in Michigan...the state is shaped like a mitten.
We are part of the FIRST in Michigan program, FIM. We run on district competitions, the best way to play, and have about 500 teams throughout the state.
Told you so. We are about where your wrist starts on the right hand. Below Ann Arbor.
And for those of you that prefer using technology...zoom in and out here!
Why Bedford Express?
Where are you from?