Quote:
Originally posted by amandabean
The question is, has FIRST succeeded? Has FIRST touched the lives of high school students, inspired engineers, and given society a new and promising future? Indeed it has, and FIRST has done it all with style.
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In time, we will know if FIRST has succeeded or not. It is one thing to inspire a bunch of kids into going to college and many more things about science and technology, team work, and life. It is another thing to change the culture and become a part of it.
I remember Dean once said (and repeated many many times afterward) that "in a 100 years, it won't matter how much money you have in your bank, or how many cars you own." I see that in a bigger meaning that, if you don't do something that keep going, then eventually it won't matter at all.
Don't get me wrong. FIRST have done wonderful things to inspire many many students already. But just like any FIRST teams, if your program aren't sustainable by itself, it will eventually perish and stop affecting people's lives.
I think there are 2 level of success in FIRST. The 1st level is just what everyone else said, when everyone are able to get the most out of this program and have a positive influence on all the participants. And that's what FIRST and teams achieved so far.
Then the 2nd level is to build a sustainable program that will continue to influence all the participants in the future. And some teams have achieved that, just look at the 10, 11, 12 years teams... But not every team is like this...
I said, in time, we will know if FIRST has succeeded or not, because right now I cannot see what's going to happen in 10, 20, 50 years, etc. Will FIRST continues to have enough sponsors to expand its program? Will FIRST be big enough that every high school will have a FIRST team? Will FIRST get enough acknowledgements that all the high schools will integrate it as a part of school curriculum? Will FIRST be accepted by everyone just like Sports?
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My hope is, in the future, there won't be anymore wars in the world, and instead, every student will compete in FIRST and similar programs, to try to make themselves a better person, and at the same time make a positive difference to the rest of the world. But that's just a dream of mine. Maybe one day there will be enough people doing similar things who will agree with me that this will happen... Maybe there won't be.
If we are able to focus on the most important values and experience, and pass them onto future generations as stepping stones to build and expand on top of, and them doing the same to their future, then not only are we successful in affecting lives, but also in affecting our society’s future. And that, I believe, is a good direction to work hard toward in trying to change the world to a better place.
Mean while, not even for a second have I doubted how successful FIRST has been. I am extremely grateful of what happened to me because of this program, and I am willing to work hard to help programs like this expand and affect more teenagers like the kid I used to be.