[Greg Needel]

So just a couple of things that have happened today.

* We offered him a free membership to the Dallas Makerspace (we have a 17,000 sqft facility with everything you could imagine and 1,000 members.

*He was offered some free parts from at minimum AndyMark and REV (maybe others but I have no direct knowledge)

*I reached out to him and invited him to come visit 2848 ( I can't offer him a direct spot on the team as the administration would need to be involved but I am hopeful he considers our school if he transfers from his own)

We do want him to land on a team this year, but alot depends on what school he lands at. There are some options for starting new teams this year (FTC or FRC) but as many of you know there is alot that goes into that type of commitment. I feel confidant that we can get their registration covered if it is a new team, but I think it is likely he might land at a school which is already covered.

I personally would like to still form a team of some type at his existing (old school) as there is a cultural change that needs to happen there and having a team there would help with that quite a bit assuming there is enough interest.

I also know that he was offered a trip the Maker Faire in NYC next weekend and a trip to the White House (which he has accepted). I am sure there have been many other offers to help and that personally he will be fine. The main thing we all need to take away from this is that no matter how good many of us have it inside our own STEM celebrating communities, there are loads of places where students don't have an outlet. When your teams are planning community events and demos I urge you all to make sure that you consider doing demos for people who have little exposure to this kind of thing and make education and acceptance part of your message in addition to talking about your team. While many of us laugh at the notion that what he made was interpreted as a Bomb, we may be in the cultural minority. Just remember this is FOR INSPIRATION AND RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

I am proud to be part of this community that is so quick to help people in need, but lets use this incident as a spring board to continue our goals of culture change.