Have you ever read Microsoft's mission? "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential."
Huh? I thought they were a computer software company!
Usually missions/visions are pretty broad, they're conveyed in that way so that a multitude of people can relate with them. Thus, Microsoft isn't just making software, they're enabling people. Pharma companies aren't making drugs, they're changing lives. The means to that vision usually change more frequently, since the vision hardly ever changes at all.
I see the whole changing society thing as FIRST's mission/vision. Dean says it
here: “…to create a world where science and technology are celebrated….where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes….”.
Point is, the means to that end may have changed, but the vision/mission stays the same. So whether we be part of a national or an international organization, we're still changing the culture no matter what.
The reason why I structured my previous argument as such is that the conversation was more about the means change of broadening from a national org to an international org, not about why FIRST exists.
I think that this thread is a bit misleading in the title (but I can see why it was listed as such...so I mean no offense, Steve
). I think it's a great thing that FIRST is international now, and I primarily think that because it reflects the state of industry today.