[liviamarrs]

As the Chief Community Operations Officer on my team, I work a lot with politicians, STEM professionals, teachers, and business leaders. I always volunteer as a student ambassador at FIRST events, so I meet with a wide range of sponsors in particular. In all these encounters, I never fail to get nervous and uncomfortable when I'm asked about my future plans. I've watched the surprise and even disappointment of countless people as they get less interested in what I have to say when I tell them that I don't want to major in engineering.

I understand that I'm not the poster child for FIRST, but I still represent the incredible impact that FIRST can have on a student's education and life opportunities.

I feel like some of the problems lie in how FIRST markets its programs to sponsors, promising this amazingly huge and talented group of engineers. No one comes out on the field to talk to the future business leaders, the graphic designers, the inspiring activists. The program has developed to the point where sponsors should understand the effect they have in fostering all different kinds of people and interests. I know there has been talk of changing how FIRST fundraises from the top down, so maybe they're already on top of this.