[KenWittlief]

I have to completely disagree with you John.

Many HS sporting programs are all about winning competitions. And many HS athletes sit on the bench the entire season and NEVER get to touch the ball, unless their team is way ahead and their actions on the field dont matter anymore.

If I sit down and map out a plan for a HS team to win the championship this year, and then I map out a plan to show every student on the team what its like to be an engineer, I come up with two very different paths.

If your plan to inspire the students involves having a winning team then what happens if you dont win?

I know this discussion happens every year. In my opinion the thing that makes FIRST worth the time and effort is this: Professional people are opening their doors, and finding the time out of their busy lives to show HS students what their lives will be like if they decide to follow the same career path they have chosen. Engineers dont always create the best products, or the best systems. We dont have to. Engineering is a way of thinking, its a way of life, its a way of putting up the next few spans that takes humanity from where it is to where it can be.

For engineers, if you put a man on the moon, or you land a rover on Mars, or you create a new product that makes everyone in your company a millionaire you are not 'done'. Likewise if you have failures and setbacks, if your Mars lander crashes in the last 100 feet of its decent, if your company folds up and you have to start over, you have not lost.

Engineers solve problems. Engineers make the world a better place. You dont have to come up with the perfect - winning solution or the best answer every single time to be a successful engineer. We always strive for the best, knowing we can never really get there.

Its a journey, its a path, its a way of life.