First I'd like to applaud the poster above this [kazzykaty]...the 'little stuff that the guys won't do' is very important to the success of a team...no food = no robot...no planning = no robot....no organization/logistics = no robot....ANYWAYS.
FIRST has been part of our family's life since 2002 when my dad [teacher at small private school] got, as he says, lured into FIRST...enticed by Dean Kamen's inventions....hehe. This resulted in him started a team at the school, and some years teaching/facilitating a robotics class.
As little-kid, I saw Dad come back late every night during build season, but didn't really know what it was about until 2006 when our team went on the road to the Sacramento regional. That was Step 1 on the path to robotics-addiction. I wish it were feasible to ship a big load of students to all our regionals, it would result in a lot of new recruits....
I sort of forgot about robotics until two years later [freshman] when, about two weeks before regionals, I got randomly recruited to be a scout [that was the year we had 5 people on the team]. I got completely hooked, although all through middle school and part of high school I hated math and never thought I'd do anything with engineering [now I enthuse over math and want to go into computer science].
The next year I was filming a movie in my spare time and wound up not doing much, except scout at competition....but now [2010] I am the most enthused person on the team, I believe. Going to Championships with another local team [as videographer] helped with that
Next year we have only 3 students returning [graduating-genius problem] but I am more dedicated than ever....you know you're a FIRST junkie when you fill out an end-of-season NASA grant survey with endless praise for FIRST...sit back, and realize you meant every word.
I tend to view FIRST-the-organization with a jaundiced eye but [to quote another CD member] I'd still throw myself under a bus for FIRST-the-idea.