[Ken Leung]

Being a FIRST-a-holic is something you are proud of, its something you take pride in when ever you talk to people explaining what you've been doing in the 6 weeks you disappear from public eyes, and when you flew around the country going to different places meeting people from other states.

It is not some status, or honorary title you shoot for with a set of guide lines, trying to fulfill some artificial requirement so you can achieve the title when you get enough points for each category, and show the rest of the world you are someone worthy.

Just like the competition and its philosophy, being a FIRST-a-holic should not be about shooting for a title so you will be recognized for it. As Dean said in one of his speeches, after 20 years, it wouldn't matter what you won, or what trophies you got, and after 100 years, it wouldn't matter how much money you have in your bank account or how many cars you own. It only matters when you make a positive difference in the world, and tried to make it a better place.

Being a FIRST-a-holic is a celebration of knowing that you finally understand the ideals in FIRST, that you practice them, that you promote them, and that you teach them to fellow human beings. It is the mere thoughts before you go to bed, when you think about what you've accomplish in the past months, and are proud of what you did. Being a FIRST-a-holic should mean the pride in yourself because you know you did your best to make the most out of the time you spent doing FIRST, and made a positive differences in other people's lives, and most importantly, in your own life.

If you ever start a club for fellow FIRST-a-holics, it should be because you want to meet other people like you, and celebrate the ideas I mentioned. It should be because you want to connect the people out there and let them know they are not alone. It should be because you want to share your similar though unique experience. And most importantly, you should start a club for fellow FIRST-a-holics because you want to improve and expand your experience into something more fulfilling and more worthwhile, and more fun!

Guide lines, politics, by laws.... I say, blah's! to them. You should spend more time figuring out what's fun to do. Think of ways to make yourself and others more spirited in FIRST... Ways you can share your stories with lots of other people... Ways you can work together, so that through team work and group effort, you can do something you can't do by yourself.

It will be a shame if you spend 90% of time thinking about how to filter out others you don't want, or in the applicants' case, thinking about how to get nominated, and 10% of the time sitting around talking about how the system is supposed to work, and 0% of the time taking advantage of the sense of culture within fellow FIRST participant's mind.

I don't care about status, I don't care about what I got from the events, and I don't care about worrying if I will be accepted or not. I do FIRST because its fun and exciting, and I do FIRST because I believe in it.