[Justin Stiltner]

Something that non FIRST persons may relate more to is to put it to them like a sport.. say high school football.... is it only a 1 day a week thing (Friday nights at the game)... or what about a class... is it only a few days a year thing on the days that your taking the test.. of course the answer to all these is no. One of the most important things that I have found to stress is that its not just a robot competition... its a vehicle used to deliver education (and lots of fun), be it engineering, PR, Marketing or what have you.. While you can learn alot at competition, most of the learning goes on during build and throughout the year.

As ken said its the preparation, what you do during the 362 days of the year that your not at competition that matters... analyzing forces, coding out bugs, learning new skills . First is a real world education on a small scale.