[Chris Hibner]

The biggest reason most of the adults are involved in FIRST is to have a positive impact on the lives of impressionable young people. I think most of the adults agree that the biggest goal is to get the students to realize that the things you learn in school are very useful (instead of the "we'll never use this crap" mentality that you always hear in school). Thus, the adults hope that some students that have some potential decide to use that potential instead of waste it. Hopefully with more people using their potential, the problems of the world can be solved sooner rather than later. Not to mention that this inspired person will most likely be better off with a college education.

That is the ideology of FIRST. Now to the reality.

The companies get involved in FIRST for two reasons. The first reason is for the ideology mentioned above. The second (and a lot of times more important reason) is completely selfish.

The law of supply and demand states that, given constant demand, a greater supply of a commodity means a lower price. You (meaning you in general - myself included) as engineers are a commodity to corporate America. The larger supply of that commodity means that they get it for a lower price. So, one of the reasons that companies get involved is so they can help the number of engineers increase, thereby decreasing the average salary, which in turn lowers a company's overall costs. Lower costs means improved global competitiveness.

So, the reason for all of the engineering scholarships is mostly for the selfish interests of the companies (and universities). The companies don't really care if the number of teachers or psychologists are on the rise. They want the supply/demand equilibrium to shift in their favor as much as possible in terms of human resources that benefit their company.