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Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik
I'm trying to say that I think FIRST could better pursue its stated goal of inspiring students and changing the culture by putting its money in places besides Israel. There are many other places in the world that are pretty bad off that could benefit from a program like FIRST and whose students could benefit from the inspiration and possible scholarships that FIRST could bring. The only real reason for FIRST putting money into Israel is because it is high profile and will make people feel better about what FIRST is doing. Again, I'll note that there are many countries like Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, and others that already have FIRST teams and could benefit greatly from increased FIRST support. I just think there are better places FIRST could be focussing its efforts.
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Alisha Wallenstein was a student on team 116 before I was on the team. I believe she is part of, if not the driving force behind FIRST being in Israel. She came back as a mentor on team 116 for the 2002-2003 season and that's how I met her. Her drive to bring FIRST to Israel is not because it's high profile. I'm not 100% sure if her job took her to Israel or if it was family or personal, but one thing I know she took with her was her love of FIRST. If there were more people like Alisha, FIRST would be everywhere.
Heidi