[Joe Matt]

I've been pondering the idea for a while of a separate animation competition, imagine what FIRST did for science, technology, & engineering, imagine what FIRST A+nimation Challenge (my name) could do for art & technology.

Imagine having a separate competition where you were given a problem statement (in terms of what the animation is about), a time (2 months), and the tools. The competition could be held locally and nationally, it could tie in with traditional FIRST program like it does now, but also have an addition reach outside of it. Think of the synergy! The animation teams come and see the tournament on Saturday, judge the entries, then after the regional winners, they announce the animation winners.

I see a day when the a FIRST team is a hub, with regular major meetings. One spoke to the hub will be the robotics challenge, another for animation, another for Lego League, and another for VEX. But at the same time animation teams could sign up for the competition outside of FIRST. After a $2000 registration, the team gets all the software needed to compete. They'll upload the animations to the server just like now after 2 months, then there will be an animation competition held around the country in current FIRST regionals and outside of them. We could have the TSA type "design & make in a day" competition and the awards they give out, then the 2 month contest awards.

How does that sound? Cool? I think it would really catch on. I could see major motion picture companies signing people up for this.

But the main problem is that it doesn't fit into Dean's theme of changing the world. This helps the same thing FIRST is trying to compete against, mindless entertainment. FIRST is for getting people into engineering and science, how does this fit in? Will FIRST have to widen it's mission beyond inspiring kids into science and engineering? Will FIRST focus on chaining the culture into a place of technology and understanding, of positive attitudes?