[Carol]

A little clarification. FIRST arranged the visit to the White House before the Championship event that year. And all three FIRST programs were invited, specifically the Chairman’s Award winner and the equivalent award winners from the FTC and FLL programs.

We actually had little time with the President, and it was very choreographed. First where was the photo op, then three of our students gave a 2 minute spiel about our team. The president spent a couple of minutes driving the robot, then left and repeated the same with the other two teams.

What is more important was that Dean spent time talking to the President beforehand. I don’t know for how long, but I’m sure he did his best to get the message and importance of FIRST across. And his best can be very good.

MOE did go through our state government to visit the governors and the senates of both DE and PA the next month. We were able to spend more time with the elected officials at that level.