Quote:
Originally Posted by IKE
From the notes I took and some personal thoughts ...
Don started with Objectives and Core Values and the importance of the organization to stay mission focused. They wanted a solution that scales. They wanted more kids to have access to the life changing experience of FIRST and FIRST Championship. ...
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Thank you Isaac for these notes. Like many other volunteers I was a bit busy during the time the Town Hall was scheduled so I did not get to attend. I also enjoyed watching the video that 1640 made and linked in this thread.
What came through most clearly to me in the video was Don Bossi's preamble, in which he contrasts FIRST's mission to that of the NFL. The latter exists primarily to serve the interests of team owners, while FIRST's culture changing goal is directed to inspire a
whole generation of students to become leaders and innovators in science and technology. FIRST programs currently reach only 20% of US high schools, and a smaller fraction internationally, so the mission is mostly directed toward students that do not have access to FIRST programs now -- NOT only to the interests of teams that already exist.
Culture change, and the FIRST program growth that will drive it, will not happen without sustained engagement of strong teams. The inspiration provided by FRC games, and by winning at those, is a major piece of that sustained engagement.
__________________
Richard Wallace
Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)