FIRST and Success: A Question of Definition

[Andy Baker]

Originally posted by Martin
$ + $ = $$....YAY!
what i mean is that it has become corporate...it is now a large scale project and as such it loses that "warm", "welcoming" feeling. I know many disagree with my view, But take this example: You play in the big leagues be it baseball...hockey....whichever. As a pro, you will always recall those days where you used an old broom stick for a bat....or the days spent in the street wacking a hockey ball around...

The initial FIRST competition took place in 1992, where each team had a corporate sponsor. Most of those teams were conjured up by the corporate sponsor being challenged to take part in FIRST, and then going out to get a high school to mentor.

I would assume that there are actually a higher percentage of FIRST teams these days who don't have corporate sponsors... so I suggest that FIRST is becoming less corporate.

Corporate sponsors have always been involved in FIRST. Keep in mind that this is about inspiration. A big key in the success of FIRST is the fact that students get to work side by side with professionals.

On this note... one of the goals of our team this year is to go through all of our old videos and digitize them so that other teams can see the on-field history of FIRST. History... it's is a good thing to know.

Andy B.