The Ideals of FIRST have Changed...

[Erin Rapacki]

"For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology"

Some teams are big,
some teams are small,
some have nothing,
some have it all.

Did your team members have a ball?

Whether rural or urban,
foreign or suburban,
one purpose of FIRST (I believe) does lie.

Simply put in the acronym; did your team members RECOGNIZE?

OK, I can't write poems. My point is that FIRST is about inspiring young people into careers into science and technology. Whether it be an urban wanna-be gangster who's inspired into attending a tech school and becoming a mechanic, to a confused suburban high school girl who's inspired into going into engineering school in a big city, or a wealthy have-it-all A+ student who only does robotics as a resume builder so they can go to an Ivy League school and study to become a doctor.

My opinion is that if your FIRST team is spinning off alumni who study/pursue careers in science and technology; don't worry about all the arbitrary stuff. A big well-funded team pushes to win Chairman's because its challenging. A smaller under-funded team pushes for more funding & support because its challenging. A team with a lot of experienced mentors push to build a better robot because its challenging. No matter how big or how small, a team should be pushing their limits, and thats all that matters too.

So if your team pushes your limits (in any way) and spins off alumni in science and technology related career paths, your team is fitting to the ideals of FIRST.