[Jessica Boucher]

In my 17th season, I've seen a lot of things that wax and wane in the areas outside of the robot. The best example is the evolution of the animation awards, which used to be a huge deal - you were judged not by the judge crew but an assemblage of your peers who also submitted at that regional. Winning it at a regional was an honor, I've seen teams literally carry their animators onto the field. There was special time devoted at Nationals on Einstein to hear Autodesk brass talk about animation best practices, as well as a separate awards ceremony, and hundreds of students would show up.

Due to sponsor changes, it's now married to the safety efforts and played at every event. Although I miss the old days, I do appreciate how they've tried to give some honor to the way it once was. And honestly, I haven't found a safety video winner that I didn't like. (1)

It's tough to see HQ's marketing efforts shift, as well. In my day I've seen 8 different heads of that department, and I've seen the recycling of old ideas that are perceived as fresh because, well, no one at HQ was around when it was the old way and why we changed in the first place. (2) An example of this includes the switch from FIRST Robotics to FRC to FIRST Robotics Competition.

Back when I was graduating high school ('01), my choice to go to business school instead of engineering was considered sacrilege in the community. There were zero scholarships, and I was asked multiple times why I bothered to stay at all. There are multiple reasons I stayed, but the best answer I have is the skills you learn here will help shape your career. Even though it gets harder every year, one of the reasons I stick around is to tell that story - I know kids who focused in animation, writing, and other stem-adjacent skills that used those talents in other ways and have parlayed it into their careers. There are so many success stories that expand beyond STEM and if one more person stays a fan of FIRST because of it, you're helping other FIRST fans be born. In my eyes, that's great work.

Yes, building a parody video for the sake of an award that is not really well-defined smacks of bandwagoning, and the videos that aren't that stellar are hard to watch over and over. But, just as one robot can change the world, encouraging a student to think about a problem in new ways and take a chance on something new may inspire a whole new career. The OP speaks about how their video skills have improved significantly, and who knows what they or these kids who created a video will do with their lives. The method may not always be ideal, but the act of inspiring in new ways is always good.

And hey, I'll take this over a new rev of "the FIRST song" any day.


(1) Additionally, Automation Direct is also doing a fantastic job of carrying the torch into the Modern FRC era. They get it.
(2) It should also be noted that aside from the head of the department, there are some people who have been in HQ Marketing for a good amount of time who I am incredibly grateful for that handle the initial gatekeeping of ideas.