[Devon27]

In my opinion, not only does each team teach its members different things, but each member, even on the same team will get something different out of FIRST depending on the roles they take and the amount of time and effort they put in (the more one puts in the more they will get out). Some students may not even touch a tool or the robot while others will spend countless hours in the shop prototyping and building. The students who aren't working specifically on the robot all of the time will however learn other things, they will learn business and marketing skills, they may learn different programs like 3D Studio Max, Final Cut Pro, Illustrator, or In Design (those are a few of the programs my team uses for marketing etc.). They may learn public speaking skills, how to write a speech, or how to write essays for awards and grants. Some students may take the role of team captain or president, those students are going to learn an immense amount about leadership. The members of any team are going to learn time management, there is no way not to when juggling a time consuming activity like FIRST with school. I guess my point is that although some aspects may be the same, the experience one person gets out of FIRST is different than the experience any other person will have. All that matters is that students are learning and getting something out of their participation on the team and quite honestly, I don't think anyone would spend so much time participating in something like FIRST if they weren't getting something out of it.