Ok, we got the word.
First we need a list of e-mail address of the state level congressman and senators for Nevada.
Second The letters we posted on FIRST Forums last year seem to be gone, but the count of the number of letters is still there. So I cant get you the whole variety of letters the students wrote, at least not yet. I do Have my own however. I do not know how to the the white paper thing so I will post my letter here. This is one addressed to Senator Kyle.
Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi
72 N. Velma Dr.
Gilbert, Arizona, 85233
Dear Senator Kyle
The United States is facing many new challenges in the world today. One that I wish to discuss in this letter is the one of the future of the youth in America. Our society has been lax for far too long in pushing our kids to go into math, science and technology. We celebrate professional athletes, movie and pop music stars, more than any other culture. Kids today think that their future is to go into one of these popular fields or get an “ordinary” job that consists of everything else. They don’t know what an engineer is much less what he or she does. Ask a young person in the United States today to name an inventor that is living, and they can’t do it. It is as if nothing was invented after the Wright brothers. We are doing a terrible job in this country ever since we won the space race against the Russians. We had more students going in to math and science during the space race than we do now, even though the population is much larger today. Of the number of students that are in math and science today, half are foreign students. We are still enjoying the fruits of this surge in focus during the 60’s, but not for long. Most of those people are now either dead or retired. Luckily there is a solution.
Fifteen years ago, U.S. inventor, Dean Kamen, saw the direction that America was going in and saw that the standard of living that Americans have been enjoying the 50 years was in danger of being lost. He started an organization called FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology, that hosts a robotics competition to get the youth of America interested in learning about engineering so they can see that it can be fun, challenging and rewarding. He saw that the U.S. was a competitive oriented society with all the emphasis on professional sports. Since the competitive model worked so well he used this drive to hook the students into science and technology which normally would be seen as subjects for nerds and geeks. It worked beyond anyone’s wildest expectations! Today there are 32,500 high school students on 1,300 teams in 37 regional competitions across the country in the FIRST Robotics Competition. There are also 92,000 grade school children that participate in 45 countries in a Lego robotics competition. Here is a model that has been proven, there is no experimentation or risk involved. FIRST changes kids lives and helps to ensure that the U.S. will maintain its number one standing in the world.
As a sponsor-mentor of the Falcon Robotics team, I am inviting you to attend the FIRST Robotics Arizona Regional competition March 9-10, 2007 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum as guest of the Team 842, Carl Hayden High School, Falcon Robotics. (event is from 9am to 4pm both days) Please find it in your schedule to attend and witness first hand how being in the FIRST program has help transform Carl Hayden High School from a underperforming “gangster” school to an improving school with a robotics team that has been consistently one of the top teams in the country and achieved world wide publicity. There will be 40 teams from surrounding states, Canada and Mexico. You are also invited to attend the FIRST International Robotics Championships in Atlanta Georgia April 12-14, 2007. There will be 800 teams from 17 countries competing in the Georgia Dome for the title. The Falcon Robotics team has qualified for the International competition and we will be there. Please contact me for more info.
We are also behind Governor Janet Napolitano’s initiative to fund after school academic programs like FIRST robotics teams. It is FIRST’s goal and our goal to see every high school in the state to have robotics teams like they have football teams. Rhode Island and Hawaii have already declared this as a goal for their state. We need your support to put Arizona up there for once instead of being ranked last in education as we are. Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Faridodin “Fredi” Lajvardi
we will be waiting for that list of emails and I will let let Nilo Thomas, our team Vice president and chair of the letter writing campaign, know about emailing Nevada too. Stay in touch.
Coachfredi@hotmail.com
Talk to you soon.