[118 Tech]

Besides me who else missed having the Disney produced show that usually follows the closing ceremonies. Im not trying to diss what they gave us, my friends Josh and Paul would have loved to see Mandy Moore and that fiery FIRST logo was pretty cool. Getting two names that non-FIRST teens can easily recognize like Will Smith and Mandy Moore is a really good step for FIRST.

Back to the topic, well in 2000 and 2001 they had a really cool Disney produced extravaganza. In 2000 I remember them having a clip show that showed pictures from all regionals and nationals. I think in there was a time lapse film of them building the area in the parking lot. In 2001 they showed clips from all the competitions from 1992 to 2001 in recognition of FIRST's 10th year. They also had pretty cool confetti cannons and flame guns. We felt the heat from those flame guns all the way at the top where they had the confetti cannons. In both they even added clips from that year's award ceremony, which is a pretty hard task for the production crew. Also both of them had fireworks and lasers choreographed to the music and video. If I remember correctly both of them ended with the camera flying out of Florida our then out of our solar system, showing a “You are here” arrow pointing to our position in the Milky Way galaxy and then ending with the FIRST logo.

That show always got the adrenaline flowing made you feel good about being in FIRST. It also made you feel kinda sad that the official FIRST season was over and it was January till the next season began. My senior year after watching it, I got that “aww its over feeling.”

I personally would rather have the clip show, but a performance from a recognizable name like Mandy Moore is a good tool to get people Moore interested in FIRST. With Dean’s even Moore growing popularity who know who it Will be next year.