Quote:
Originally Posted by GreyingJay
I understand your point about "no strings attached" but I'll just observe that the only "string" we have ever been asked for is a demo: We'll give you money to build a robot, and we want you to come in and show the robot to our employees! That is a fun experience which draws excitement, encourages new students and mentors to join, and encourages students to network and interact with other people. At sponsor demos I step back and watch the students as they talk to curious onlookers. I marvel at the students' ease at answering "so... what does it do?" for the umpteenth time. I watch a student who was super-shy in September comfortably launch into an elevator pitch about FIRST and STEM.
When I was that age, I was a complete wreck when it came to talking to anybody in public, let alone strangers! Not to mention all the other stuff like writing grant applications or sponsor request letters or planning fundraising events. This is a huge skill development opportunity.
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I wouldn't even call that a "string", let alone a string. It is one of the most valuable aspects of FIRST and something that is useful to all team members, not just the ones interested in going into engineering.
Also, this conversation seems to be taking over the thread and it is an interesting discussion that doesn't just apply to Ontario. Maybe a mod should spin this off into a separate thread.