In contrast with the others posts, I do not feel that my experiences in the FIRST community directly made me a braver or more confident person. Rather, I found that I was drawn to FIRST because I was able to exercise these very skills. FIRST for me was more like the first time you let your pet dog off the leash outside on a sunny day-the dog is still a dog, but there's a whole lot more to explore in their little doggy universe now.
I have seen myself grow as a person during my time as a student in FIRST, but, in a possibly overly simplistic comparison, just as I don't give the ground credit for making the dog dig holes, I can't give FIRST credit for making me braver or more confident. Rather, it gave me the opportunity to develop my confidence through a variety of hands-on and presentation methods (build, on-field competition, and talking with judges to name three examples).
So, for me, FIRST has been a huge shaping factor in my life to date, and undeniably was one of the largest sources of opportunities for growth in my life for four years, but I've remained myself throughout and prefer it that way.