[jvriezen]

I haven't read all the posts on this thread, but more than enough to chime in. I'm very saddened by many of the complaints I read here.

What is FIRST? "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."

From the web site:

Vision

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."


Mission

"Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership."

One of the often stated goals is to inspire kids to take an interest in engineering fields. I suspect everyone that cares enough about FIRST to read this thread (and this post) is already inspired. FIRST has accomplished their goal with respect to you.

When I first saw Will.i.am at kickoff and Dean alluded to seeing him again later, my first thought was that their would be a free (or nearly free, perhaps a food shelf donation) concert at St. Louis. Or perhaps for the general public to get into the concert you have to visit the pits and get your ticket stamped by 20 teams after seeing their bot. At the concert you'd also get to see matches played. This would be a great way to get kids in the St. Louis area who have no idea about engineering and only care about pop music and bounce, bounce, pass exposed to FIRST and engineering.

FIRST is not about all about you and your experience and whether your experience is maximized. Would you rather have a great personal experience or would you rather know that your team was instrumental in getting hundreds of Will.i.am kids involved in FIRST who may not have had any previous idea or inkling about the wonders of engineering?

The notion that the dome should be reserved for FRC, and push FLL or FTC to smaller venues is pretty selfish. You know how exciting and important you feel competing under a dome (well some of you do.) How much more exciting and encouraging do you think it is for a 4th or 5th grader? If you get a 4th grader excited and that excitement rubs off on her classmates for the next 8 years, is that not better than a sophmore who will have less influence on an older set of peers for a shorter time?

If the St. Loius model (what ever it turns out to be) had been the 'norm' for the last seven or ten years, everyone would be ecstatic to be going to CMP, and there would be little complaining.

Get over yourselves. Its not all about you.

John Vriezen
Team 2530 "Inconceivable"
Mentor, Drive Coach, Inspector