[Jeff K.]

We think that this is a great idea. A competition, whether it be official or unofficial, still boggles kid's minds and allows them to solve a problem. Since there is no fee, that can allow more teams to play. At our school, we have 12 other vex teams, and this way, they will be able to play. Besides that, it also adds more competitions, since only one competition isn't fun enough. You can never get sick of build season!

We have 3 FTC teams now, and we were one of the original 52 teams, and find Vex to be a great program. It is an excellent learning tool as well as prototyping tool. I took a tour of USC and saw in one of the workshops they were using Vex. We also used it to develop and prototype drive systems, and well as work on programming and sensors. We just wish that FIRST will stay with the vex platform in the coming years, but this is a great step to spread the interest in engineering and science.