[Chief Hedgehog]

I am stealing this from another comment on a different thread, but I believe that Philip Arola stated:
STEM is objective, art is subjective

I hate to have this boil down to an argument on where FRC is heading or what is best (STEM or STEaM) - it will result in a fruitless argument. We could go down the path that if we include art, we should include Business. And if we include business, we should include Family and Consumer Sciences. In short - they all have a place in FRC if you wish to include them. It is up to each team and school to figure out what amalgamation of letters they wish to adhere to.

I am a VERY strong proponent of STEM as it relates to the fields that need to be focused on so that we can continue to place students into said fields (whether it be because of national security interest or based solely on economics). In my curmudgeonly old mind, the world is not hurting for more art majors - but we are definitely in need of more students studying in the STEM fields asap.

However, I can offer some insight from my own team. FRC 4607 CIS is not the same team if I just included the typical 'robotics kids' that may (or may not) succeed in the STEM fields. Instead, when we created this team, my former co-coach and I decided to go after the leaders of our school: the athletes, theater bugs, debate kids, NHS students, etc. We knew that the 'robotic kids' would be there - so we decided to build a team around them. And it has paid dividends.

I have been working this over in my mind for many weeks now - what is FRC and why is it so darn special? With all the other competitive robotics competitions, what is FRC and what does it mean to my school, my students, and (most importantly), to me?

To me FRC means two simple words: Opportunity and Access. I don't care what side of the argument you fall on - STEM or STEaM - the true beauty of FIRST is the fact that it offers students many opportunities to fail and succeed; it also allows a great many students access to areas of their community or personal skills/talents that they did not know were available.

The OP can attest to this. Without the opportunities that FRC offered, Ginger Power most likely would not be one of the most prolific members on this site. He would not have started NDSU's Bison Robotics or the GreenHorns Ri3d. His life was changed by 4607 - and because of his opportunities, he has changed the landscape for many FRC teams in ND and MN. His access to this program in his junior and senior year of high school were a catalyst of change in his life. I am sure if you have talked with him he has gone on and on about the robots and the many failures and some of the successes he has experienced.

But he may (or may not) have mentioned our Propogandanistas - the all-female marketing squad from our rookie season - a group of 4 sophomore girls that were instrumental in developing FRC 4607 from a strictly 'Robotics team' to the multi-faceted team we are today. Of those 'nistas, one would go on to be our captain her senior season, another would become the VP of the State NHS program, a third would fully develop our Marketing and PR department, and the last would forever change how we conduct our business department on 4607.

They joined on a whim and were interested in the arts as well as STEM. So if I went my own way and was hell-bent on STEM only, they would not be included and FRC 4607 would look (sadly) different today. It was the artistic flair that Emma, Dani, and Sydney-squared brought to our team that first season (and I swear to this day they were the reason we were drafted onto the winning alliance back in 2013 at NorthStar).

So STEM or STEaM - it is how you make it relevant to the students. Whichever you choose, put the students first and give them opportunities and allow them access to success!

For me - FRC was created to offer students such as Ginger Power the access to many, many opportunities. And this young man has gone on to create a great life for himself and countless others!