FIRST - Reason for existance

[Marc P.]

I remember my first year in FIRST- Dean's speech at the 2000 UTC Regional. I remember it's focus was more on transforming culture in terms of social standards. What I remember is Dean comparing engineers and scientists to famous sports stars, actors, and singers, and where the spotlight of influence was/is in our culture. I remember thinking "Yeah, why do people get paid millions of dollars to swing a stick at a round object, while the people who design and build the things that affect our everyday lives make a small fraction of that."

To me, that's always been one of the main goals of FIRST. I've seen it (and it's happened to me) as transforming people's visions of what engineering is, and how much it really affects our everyday lives. Before my involvement with FIRST, I would look at things for what they are- I'd look at a computer monitor and think "hmm.. monitor," or a stoplight or bridge, and just think of them as random things. Now I look at everything and wonder who designed that, or what the inspiration behind it is, and try to figure out how everything works. Once you realize that literally everything around us has been designed and engineered, it's really an incredible feeling to know you can play a part in the design of things that will make life better in the long run.

When I was growing up, my heros were the typical sports stars of the day, Larry Bird, Michael Jordon, Don Mattingly, etc. etc. But now I think, "what did they really do to better humanity..." Now my heros are people like Dean Kamen, Dave Lavery, Ed Gilchrest, George Rhiem, and all the FIRST mentors and engineers out there. I think that's the main aspect of FIRST- to change our culture from superficial idle-worship of movie, sports, and music stars to a reality based respect for people with varying talents. I appreciate and respect the talent it takes to star in a movie, or produce a record, and even play sports, but on the same level I appreciate the engineers that designed a car I use to drive to work, or the architects that designed the house I live in, or the inventors of the computer so I can post in this thread.

To me, that goes beyond any political or geographic boundary. Inspiration is a human feeling, and as such all humans are capable and deserving of the same chances, regardless of where they live. I'm proud to be part of FIRST, and hope it does continue to expand around the world. When we can have an international championship, I'll be there cheering everyone on, as a global community of people dedicated to making a positive difference.