Oprah Winfrey Show

[KenWittlief]

I thought that was pretty mis-leading to show students at this wonderful 'high tech high' school, building a robot

with no mention that, hey wait a minute, that is a FIRST robotics team design, and there are over 1000 HS that are doing the same thing

except they work on their robot after class, not when ever they feel like it!

Oprah got sold a bill of goods, again!

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

Oprah got sold a bill of goods, again!

I think that should read: Oprah bought a bill of goods. Remember: Oprah gets what Oprah wants, and Oprah thinks 95% of high schools in America are failing...

(She might have the right idea, but it's not necessarily as dramatic as she would like it to be...)

But looks great guys! It's good that you got a TON of exposure from this!

[Jon Jack]

Well... I have just seen the episode (I live on the left coast, so Oprah airs at 7:00 pm EST here). I have a couple things I'd like to say:

The first is that we talked a lot more about what FIRST is and what we do. The entire interview lasted about 20-30 minutes, but was, as expected, cut down to a much smaller 'tv friendly' version.

With regards to what Ken said we explained that we participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition and that we are by no means the only high school in the world, let alone the United States doing this. Bill understood what FIRST was and what we were talking about. He said that he had met with Dean Kamen and thought that FIRST was a great program. As for Oprah, she just kind of sat back and observed the rest of the class (at that time in the day it was a Engineering Design and Development class). She was silent for the most part until she saw a few of the girls on the team, that is when she stepped forward and started asking questions.

[Ed Sparks]

I saw the clip .....

I just happen to be 'vegging' on the sofa when all of a sudden I saw that CAD design with two very familiar CIM motors. Then I saw the poof ball and a machine that looked somewhat familiar. "Hey", I screeched to my wife, "That's a FIRST robot !".

Too bad the clip never even mentioned FIRST. I watched the credits but no FIRST there either.

Great job to your team though, looks like you guys have a great school and a great team.

[John Gutmann]

Originally Posted by jjack

Well... I have just seen the episode (I live on the left coast, so Oprah airs at 7:00 pm EST here). I have a couple things I'd like to say:

Did he really just say LEFT coast?!