[Anne Shade]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the fact that even student run teams with no engineering support may very well have received the help of engineers. There are many teams that have used the resources made available here on Chiefdelphi by some of the very engineers that Andy listed in his post above. These resources have helped many teams that don't believe they need engineering help take their robots to the next level. Imagine what you could do if you had some engineers full time?

FIRST isn't about building robots. That's just the tool used to get the message across that with some effort, these high school students can have careers in engineering and that those careers are fun!!! Working alongside these engineers or even interacting with engineers at competitions and on these boards is what achieves these goals. The closer the engineers are the more accessible it makes their job seem and the more students learn about what it really means to be an engineer.

I know how it feels to be on a team where the students get to do very little for their robot and to be on a team run fully by students. There are very few people that have been on both sides of the fence. I've learned that the engineers are a very vital part of keeping this program successful and that before you judge others, you should try to step into their shoes for a little while. Try getting a few engineers to help out and see what happens...

After some more thinking.... Andy, there is one little problem with your list above. Where are the women engineers???