[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

This is a huge mistake. Robots Competing is the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. Kill competition and you kill FIRST. There are a LOT of things that FIRST has done that are amazing. Almost none of them would have been possible without Robots Competing. Period. End of Story.

Dr. Joe,
I believe ultimately, this is true. As an educator for 21 years. and prior to that as a former student involved in other STEM-related competitions, I used to be involved with other programs and competitions that students were heavily inspired by. I did ISEF for many years and competed in Electric Vehicle racing both during and prior to FIRST and VEX.
If ultimately down the road, FRC became just another "exhibition," I believe it would lose students to other competing STEM programs. So why does that matter?
ISEF and other STEM programs will never be a game changer to changing the culture of how people view STEM with respect to Sports.
FRC can by continuing to do what it has done all these years.

Whether it be 1 or 2 or maybe more championships down the line, keeping that vision of a competition model is essential to maintaining that momentum it has, even when we started back when there were only 359 teams.