[Jacob Bendicksen]

I've seen plenty of stuff from 'back in the day' that shows Dean/other FIRST people talking about FIRST as a way to 'catch the US up' in terms of STEM, and while this may have been a great sales pitch in the early years, I think it's fantastic that FIRST has expanded to include more international teams.

Why? Inspiration, particularly with regards to STEM, is not a purely American concept. Sure, the US should probably produce more engineers, and the huge number of American FIRST teams is making progress towards this goal. Other countries could also use more engineers, though -- the world needs more engineers and inspired young people in STEM, so I see no problem with FIRST expanding to include more international teams.

Another point that's particularly relevant is that the world today is a divided place, more so than it's been in recent memory. Xenophobic rhetoric is on the rise in many countries, mine included, and when you have a program like FIRST that introduces you to similar people from wildly different places around the world, it's something pretty special. FIRST gives you connections to people like you who live in countries that aren't on the best terms with your government, and I believe that if you can see the common ground and have a conversation, the world is better for it.

tl;dr FIRST builds bridges, and absolutely should not build walls.