K-State's Dean of Engineering said something at freshman oreintation that really reminded me of FIRST. Engineering is a field where communication, teamwork, and people skills are vital. Without them, and the desire to improve human lives, engineers would just be scientist. Not that scientist are bad by any means. They are actually very important to the technical group. But he emphasized how important it is to not only become technically sound, but also to be able to communicate and work together.

Think about FIRST. The teamwork. The communication. We are engineers in FIRST. We may not become professional engineers (I plan to become a ChemE), but the skills and desire that engineers need to be successful can carry over into many fields. FIRST breeds people to become good engineers, because people with good communication and teamwork skills are successful people. And Dean as a engineer of sorts, constantly try to instill the engineering thought process of improving society in whatever you may do. To leave the world a better place than when you came into it.

So you may not choose to be a professional engineering but whatever you choose to do, be an engineer. Use your team and communication skills, and help to make this world a little better place.

That's my plan at least. I'll find out in August. BS in ChemE, the possibly MBA, MS in ChemE, or slim chance law school(patent lawyer)

Yeah, I was thinking of applying for one of the FIRST scholarships when the time came. Well, that was when i first joined the team and didn't know Diddly Squat about FIRST. Our captain at the time told me that practically all, if not all all, of the scholarships offered were for students interested in pursuing a career in engineering. I was dissapointed. I look forward to the day when FIRST offers a large variety of different scholarships for many different career paths.

I think most FIRST teams have a place for everyone. Think of each job there is to do and what careers it may relates to, and you can see the diversity a program like FIRST offers. For the future IT majors, you have programming. For the Business majors, there is scouting (organization) and budgeting. For the future Mechanical Engineering majors, you have robot building. The list goes on and on and I'm sure, with a bit of time, one could find numerous more possibilities.

That aspect of FIRST isn't fully developed yet... and it might be quite a while before it will be.

I guess now we can just make sure the emphasis isn't on being in FIRST to become an engineer, but instead being in FIRST to become a better person.

I'm pretty sure the Clarkson FIRST scholarships are for anyone, they are based on HS participation in FIRST and have no "strings attached" for college (except... you need to attend Clarkson, obviously). Clarkson has a pretty good school of business, and a good school of science. So you aren't just limited to enginerding.

John

There was a similar discussion to this one a couple months ago. Here are a few excerpts from a post I made in that thread.

"In high school, if you really like athletics, you can play football, baseball or such. If you like music you can be in marching or concert band. If you like english you can be in journalism. What is there for the kids who like math and science? Really, there are only so many quiz bowl competitions a kid can handle. So, there's FIRST: an extra curricular activity for cultivating math and science...

I got something totally different from my FIRST experience. To me the spirit of FIRST is all about sharing. During the 6 week build period, you share yourself with the 5, 10, 20, or 50 other people on your team. At the competition, you share your creation with everyone who watches your 'bot play the game. And the whole while we're involved in this concept of sharing called gracious professionalism. So, I took that to heart and decided to share knowlege for a living. I'm in school now to be a high school math teacher."

I didn't have to worry much about scholorships here in Florida (severe teacher shortage + pretty good high school record = George gets to go to school really cheap), but I think it would be good for FIRST if students with other intrests had scholorship opportunities, too. However, we're probably not going to see it anytime soon.

Creating more engineers is what attracts sponsors to FIRST. Creating more journalists, politicians, dentists, veterinarians, cowboys / firetrucks (;)), and teachers isn't.

I'll probably end up going to college in the hopes of becoming an Animator for Pixar or Disney, maybe a gaming company... or any one who needs an Animator really :) I could also do some drawings on the side or something... using Inventor or CAD.... yea.. that'd be the life :)

There is so much more to FIRST tan building a robot. You are learning how to work with a diverse group of people. You are learning to interact with adults and probably spend more time talking with your teachers that are advisors than anyone else in your school. You are learning to be responsible for yourself when you travel with your team to new cities. You must constantly market and sell your team to maintain sponsors, to win awards at events and to recruit new members. You are becoming the leaders of tomorrow by leading today.

No matter where you end up - college, tech school, apprentice, straight to a job - your are going to be a better person from FIRST. And then, you can help inspire someone else by sponsoring a team or being a mentor or leader.


My guess is you will all be great at whatever you do.

Personally, I have neither the mentality nor the ingenuity to become an engineer, nor a real desire to.

I will begin at Syracuse University this fall, double major in History and Computer Science.

I like programming and web stuff, but I also like liberal arts :D.

Plus, staying local means I should be able to stay w/891 :)

Re: Who doesn't want to be an engineer?
 

I find most engineering work boring... I can't stand it!

I am planning on going into computer science type stuff; thouogh since most jobs went to india, it's hard to find a good paying job.

So in the end I'll try to work for the FBI, or any kind of armed service as a technology expert... I don't really know these days. I really don't want to work in general... I hate having a boss, I hate having to do stuff I don't really want to do...

That's why I enjoy FIRST, because I get to do something that I like, which is building stuff, as well as try out different 'jobs.' Some programming, some building, and some engineering.

guess that's my 2 cents,

cheers

Re: Who doesn't want to be an engineer?
 

I'd really like to be involved with political science. Either writing columns as a journalist or being a political analyst. Thats just the stuff that really interests me. I've never been good at math or anything so I searched for something that interested me. I like this and I understand it.

Re: Who doesn't want to be an engineer?
 

im kinda interested in engineering but i dont know if i want to do it for a livving. this fall i'm going to school for fire science.

Re: Who doesn't want to be an engineer?
 

i've kinda thought about going into the field of engineering, but it really doesnt seem like something i'd want to do all of my life. there are about a million different things i've wanted to do in my life, from being an astronaut (naturally since i live right by KSC and have seen rockets and shuttles go up all of my life!) to being a linguist to being an artist. i seriously want to be an author of fictional stories though, and i've been told many times since i was in 4th grade that i could publish! ^_^; (i'm thinking about it... but i dont think my work is that good yet!) anyways, FIRST has taught me so much that would be encredebly valuable wherever i end up in life, whether i'm on the moon (or mars!), or in the Air Force flying an F-15 (-devious grin- i love fighter jets!) i'll still use what i've learned from participating in FIRST robotics after i graduate and move on in life. :]

Re: Who doesn't want to be an engineer?
 

i do not want to become one...

want's are as follows

#1 - Game level design (make maps/3d enviorments for games espiaclly first person shooters on PC)
#2 Computer Animation
#3 Game producing (putting together the scripting and events in games)
#4 Game pengine creator (making the app that makes the game run and puts everything in the game)
#5 Proffesional Golfer
#6 Proffesional Surfer (very very far feteched)

*EDIT* i would like to add that i do make maps/3d enviroments for games like Unreal Tournament 2003, Call of Duty, and Return to Castle Wolfenstien