[Jon236]

I don't think we need to worry about splitting resources here. All teams should work on spreading the spirit of FIRST and help new teams start up. For newer teams, that focus should be locally, in areas of need. As teams mature, bigger approaches should be tried. The Team-in-a-Box is a fantastic idea to spread that help globally in a generic fashion. In Old Lyme, the local community is hosting several kids from the West Bank this summer, as it has for a couple of years. Last year we introduced the kids (all girls, by the way) to FLL and demonstrated our FRC bot. We will repeat this tomorrow and will meet with their community leaders to try to get the kids involved in FLL.

The whole concept of the alliance-based competition is so energizing for co-operation between teams and ultimately countries that it is our obligation to spread it around the world. I was a judge at the Tel Aviv Regional this year. The sight of an Arab team's 'bot pushing a Jewish team's bot up the ramp for the extra points conveys this concept more eloquently than any diplomat can.

While FIRST is not about diplomacy, we cannot and should not ignore the social implications of what we do. This is what makes FIRST so worthwhile to myself and others. We 'sell' FIRST to politicians and school officials in the US because of its payback in promoting science and engineering; it is no less attractive to other countries for the same reasons! As Dean said this year, imagine FIRST in all the high schools in the US! And I add, in high schools everywhere!

In terms of promoting the US, sadly the last few years has seen the world looking at us in a more negative light. What more positive thing than FIRST can we bring to the world? So, ultimately, spreading FIRST internationally is helping the US!

Jon Mittelman

Mentor Team236
Lead Inspector and Judge Tel Aviv Regional 2006
Judge UTC Regional 2006