[Nate Smith]

A while back, I remember a discussion(perhaps on here, perhaps elsewhere) where it was said that one of the goals of FIRST, within the schools, was to get the same level of recognition for these "academic athletes" that the sports teams recieved. While some people may not agree with how FIRST did the qualification for nationals, I feel that it will help toward that goal of "sports-level" recognition. The fact that some teams will not know until the last minute if they are attending nationals is very similar to sports teams qualifying at the last minute for regionals or nationals, and having the school and the community rally behind them to raise the funds necessary for them to compete. Hopefully, with FIRST moving to this format of a national competition, the same thing will happen for FIRST teams.

From a more personal standpoint, one of the hardest things that people have a concept grasping when I talk to them about the competition is that there is an event we call the "national championships," but that you don't have to qualify to go to it...