Well I just finished and submitted my home work, and email to DoDDS:
(Could some one PM me the link for home work submittal on FIRSTs website?)
Here's holding my breath. It be a dream of mine if DoDDS picked up FIRST. Frankly I'd be amazed if I actually got a response, but here's hoping!
The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DODDS)
DODEA, Human Resources
Personnel.Helpline@hq.dodea.edu
Communications Office
communications@hq.dodea.edu
Office of Educational Support Policy and Legislation
hq.espl@hq.dodea.edu
Diana J. Ohman
Director, DoDDS-Europe
E-mail Ms. Ohman at
Director.DODDS.Europe@eu.dodea.edu
Frank X. O'Gara
DoDEA Educational
Communications Officer
frank.o'gara@hq.dodea.edu
DoDDS-E Public Affairs
Dennis.Bohannon@eu.dodea.edu
Gifted Programs -
DoDDS-E.Gifted@eu.dodea.edu
Student Activities; DARE; Co-Currlicular Activities -
DoDDS-E.Activities@eu.dodea.edu
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
Contact
avid@eu.dodea.edu
Bitburg American High School
(My old High School for a year)
Principal: David Carlisle
BitburgHS.Principal@eu.dodea.edu
Assistant Principal: Susan Ransom
Susan.Ransom@eu.dodea.edu
Booster Club
baron_boosters@hotmail.com
School Advisory Committee, SAC
BitburgHighSAC@hotmail.com
To the leadership of the DoDDS,
My name is Jeff Martinez, graduate of Bitburg American Middle School, and now mechanical engineer with Lockheed Martin for the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter. I would like to request a moment of your time to speak freely about a high school educational program that literally changed my life.
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), is an organization with the goal of encouraging students into engineering fields while changing our culture’s perception of education. Each year FIRST holds a sporting like competition in which high school teams have six weeks to design and build their robots. In the last fifteen years, FIRST Robotics has grown to around thirteen hundred teams with forty regional competitions across the country. To mitigate costs while providing valuable mentors, each high school is typically paired with corporate sponsors such as Delphi Automotive, WPI, Lockheed Martin, Dupont and NASA.
The program provides students with hands on learning with real world engineering experience in one of the fastest paced, intellectually challenging environments imaginable. While the machines may be similar, FIRST Robotics is not the Battle Bots of television that focuses on destruction for entertainment purposes. Instead, FIRST is about building people: students are praised for their accomplishments, cooperation between teams is highly encouraged, and each member tempered by a spirit of Gracious Professionalism because FIRST knows when one succeeds, we all succeed.
It is a simple fact that I would not be where I am if it were not the FIRST Robotics program offered to me while in college. As a mentor of one of the few university based corporate sponsors, Clarkson University, I was given the challenge of educating students, inspiring them into engineering fields, while developing them into model citizens for the twenty-first century. It is my opinion that our students and I learned more about engineering in those first six weeks then four years of college.
FIRST Robotics is a program I am highly active with today nearly seven years later, being one of thousands who typically volunteer over a hundred hours per month. We believe that every American student should be given the opportunity to be involved. To that affect Dean Kamen, inventor of the first insulin pump, Segway Personal Transport, and found of FIRST, has charged teams with the homework assignment of getting government leaders personally involved with the program.
While most are contacting Senators and Governors, I decided to focus my efforts on the system that raised me: the Department of Defense. I am proud to be a brat while performing my duties for future presidents. The United States Air Force gave me incredible opportunities to experience the world while growing my quality as an individual. So now, I wish to return the favor by offering an equally exciting challenge to the next generation of military dependents.
Please review the enclosed program information and consider it for you school districts with a heavy heart and an open mind. Thank you for the honor of your consideration.
With utmost respect,
Jeffrey Adam Martinez
Mechanical Engineer Associate
Team US101 Weight Management
LM Systems Integration – Owego
(Attachments)
My FIRST General Program Proposal
FRC Summary 2005 FIRST pfd
Get Involved Teams 2005 FIRST pfd