[MasonMM]

wow. This is a serious disaster. NASA, is huge to FIRST. If NASA has this large of a budget cut, FIRST is going to feel it. I don't know how many teams are supported by NASA, but by a quick count, over 60 teams were at the Championship event this year who had NASA in their name. Thats nearing 20% of the teams at the Championship in Atlanta had enough affiliation with NASA to have them in their team name. Then theres all the teams who were not at Championship who are funded by NASA. And Then there are all the teams who could be started by NASA that may never get the chance. By some stretch logic I could hypothesize that 20% of FIRST teams have affiliation with NASA, and if NASA loses 80% of it's budget that could mean 16% of FIRST lose their fundings and suddenly thats a big percent of FIRST being seriously affected. Now is that accurate... probably not, but it does show that this is a real concern.

This needs attention. This needs support. This isn't just a few teams, this is a large faction of FIRST. I don't know any details on what areas of the education department are being dropped or hurt the most, but I am certain that FIRST teams will feel a blow.

And it's not just FIRST teams. NASA education does so many things. Growing up around Johnson Space Center I saw firsthand how many lives this education changes. For years, I saw over 500 kids pour into a school auditorium throughout the day during a FIRST Lego League competition, a majority of the teams funded and mentored by NASA. 4th and 5th graders who otherwise would never get the chance to compete in an engineering competition, will lose this opportunity to be shown how enticing and rewarding a path in engineering can be. At this age it is crucial to have more, not less, funding to sponsor more teams, when the children are still so impressionable.

I'm shocked and frankly I'm scared. I couldn't imagine something so important is being cut by such a large amount. Something has to be done. This community has the means to do it. I know each and every one of you feels strongly about how important education, especially science and technology, is to our world's future.

Please, for all the future FIRSTers, for all the current NASA sponsored teams, and for the betterment of FIRST, write a paragraph showing how much robotics education means to you and how it has affected your life.

Looking for your support,
Mason Markee