[Al Skierkiewicz]

Name:Al Skierkiewicz
Team*:111
Role:Electrical Mentor
Years involved with FIRST:14


1)How has FIRST affected you personal? The training everyone receives in First especially during the build season, forces us to think differently when presented with a problem. Time and time again, my co-workers are shocked at the speed in which problems are analyzed and conclusions are drawn.
In addition, both of my children have gone through the program, one is now a Mechanical Engineer for Underwriter's Lab and another has learned to cultivate your creative eye in crafts, photography and picture framing.
2)How has FIRST affected your community? Many former students of our team and others, now work for Motorola in our local area and some are mentors on our team. Our presence has encouraged students to pursue engineering careers and has led to the formation of several new FRC, FTC and FLL teams in our area.
3)How has FIRST affected your school? Directly, our success is in the number of our team members who choose to pursue education beyond high school. The average number of students going on is much higher than the school and district average. Graduates of Wildstang have gone on to MIT, John's Hopkins, Washington, MSOE, U of I and many other schools. Our students have also placed very high on the ACT test and several instances, they achieved perfect scores.
4a)What steps has your team taken to promote FIRST to government officials? We have participated in presentations to local government, school board, state government and to Congress. Our most recent was a long time goal of having Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago attend the Midwest Regional. Although there has been an explosion within the Chicago City School system, there are more schools that need to join First. Currently, there are more than 30 teams within the viewing area of Chicago TV stations. Local TV coverage is essential.
4b)How have those government officials responded? It is hard to judge directly at this point. All government officials have been positive in thier response. The ability to translate that to funding, encouragement and directives remains to be seen.
5)Any information that you feel would help. There is no doubt that extracurricular activities fill out the educational needs of students who are challenged for more opportunity. Activities like music, sports and First challenge these students to become better citizens, open to new educational challenges, and all the concepts that Gracious Professionalism encompasses. Although this program is designed to encourage engineering and scientific study, it is just as important for those who find that science and technology is not their career choice. By narrowing their search, these students can find a career and a direction in another field.