[WEHickok]

It is great to see a state make this a goal. Michigan has done the same. The Govenor of Michigan has been to several events and even placed money in the budget for FIRST growth for a couple of years before the economy really went bad. Since then she has sent a letter to most of the R&D facilities in Michigan telling them about FIRST and asking for them to get involved.

The "experiment" in Michigan this year is about testing a plan to be able to get FRC in all schools. I am on the Board of FRIST in Michigan and we know that getting FRC in all schools is impossible---not everyone will want to play. But we want to set it up so that they can. That is why we are trying a method of "divisional" play where teams will get two events for less than one using the FIRST method.

I also believe in the other FIRST programs. I have been with FLL since the pilot in 1998. More than half of our FRC team are graduates of FLL. In my opinion, if you want a strong FRC program you must build a strong FLL program. FTC is fine, but it is missing one element of FRC...engineering mentors. FRC is where you get "professionals" to work with the kids to "inspire" them to take up fields of science, math, engineering, and technology. This is the key to FIRST. All other programs build to this and having a FRC team in every school should be our goal. Use the other programs to make that happen. Sure this is hard, but don't focus on the difficulties, plan for the positive. Don't you want kids in all schools to have the chance to have the same experience you have. I think you do, so Make It Happen.