What is FIRST? - Chairman's Help!

[smitikshah]

Describe how your team would explain what FIRST is to someone who has never heard of it.

Out of all the executive summary questions, IMO, this one is the hardest. Wondering how teams are tackling this. Can't think of much aside from the conventional "a wonderful program for students to grow in STEM with the help of mentors" and "the hardest fun you'll ever have"

Any opinions would be helpful, thanks.

[itsjustjon]

We ask this to all the freshmen and new mentors and see what the first thing pops into their heads, since their view is so fresh and (somewhat) representative of many people's face-value understanding of FIRST.

[Brian Maher]

The 2016 winning Chairman's essays can be found on the FIRST website. It may help to take a look at those.

[smitikshah]

Originally Posted by itsjustjon

We ask this to all the freshmen and new mentors and see what the first thing pops into their heads, since their view is so fresh and (somewhat) representative of many people's face-value understanding of FIRST.

That's a great idea, Jon. I might try this out!

Originally Posted by Brian Maher

The 2016 winning Chairman's essays can be found on the FIRST website. It may help to take a look at those.

I was using these as rough guides already, but thanks.

[AndrewPospeshil]

I think this question is each team's chance to be creative and out-of-the-box: this reminds me of the famous UChicago admissions essay questions. I doubt a regular, run of the mill answer will hurt you, but if you can think of a really clever way to answer this question the Judges may be impressed. I don't think it's nearly as important as your answers to other Executive Summary questions, however.

[Jardanium]

On our team we always try to mention the big attractors of the FIRST program. (growth of skills, scholarships, preparation for future careers, creating pathways to STEM careers, etc.) I tend to think of it as our team advertising FIRST to the community, and that usually helps me get that section written.

[smitikshah]

Originally Posted by AndrewPospeshil

I think this question is each team's chance to be creative and out-of-the-box: this reminds me of the famous UChicago admissions essay questions. I doubt a regular, run of the mill answer will hurt you, but if you can think of a really clever way to answer this question the Judges may be impressed. I don't think it's nearly as important as your answers to other Executive Summary questions, however.

This is exactly what I was thinking, which I decided to source CD - to reassure my initial opinion of the question. Do you know of any interesting team's responses to this?