Does every FIRST-grad HAVE to go into science/technology?

[Jessica Boucher]

I mean, think about it, first of all, its impossible.

But I was thinking about it when I was just reading a few posts: Is "mission complete" when a student goes into a science/technology/engineering field? Is the main object of FIRST to send students into science/technology careers? Should it be?

Personally, I think it should be what it literally is: for inspiration. FIRST should be inspiring and cultivating their graduates to infuse science & technology awareness into their careers, no matter what it is, not just to go into engineering.

So, I guess what Im saying is that theres always room for science....but I cant accept that FIRST is here to just crank out engineers.

[Joel J]

Not really. . Those who participate on FIRST teams and help to create each year's animation, might opt to become a graphic designer; Those who do the chairmans award and the other boring things (no dis-respect) might opt to explore whatever field they can do that stuff in (I don't know what you would call it). Most students who opt to further their studies in engineering (the whole schema) are usually the ones who fell in love with building/programming the robot.

[Robby O]

Nope. It may not sound like the right thing to say, but as stated above, not everyone on the team takes part in robot building. But there are also those weirdo's like me who for some sick reason enjoy 2 really time consuming activities, IE Technology and Theatre, and chose one over the other in High School, yet graduated returns to theatre. Although I have not lost my addiction to FIRST, I need to go back to theatre. I have the acting bug biting again and it's showtime. But if it werent for FIRST, I would never have had made all of the friends and connections I did. I also would most likely not have learned all of the programs that I did, like photoshop, illustrator, 3DS MAX, allowing me to be one step ahead of the game when I hit art school. I've even shared tips and tricks with people who have been at the school for several quaters.

So all in all, I think FIRST should be more of an inspirational (duh!) thing, more helping you figure out what you want to do in life before getting to college. There's so much to do and try on a team that it gives a taste of a fair amount of jobs that are out there in the work world. Of course, then again, there are those sickos in the FIRST community who would rather be on the creative team at FIRST, helping with the annual game development and marketing... [looks with shifty eyes]...

[ColleenShaver]

i don't think that every FIRST student should go into science/technology as their future.. or that their FIRST experience has been 'failed' if they don't...

I think a great thing about participating in FIRST, whether you work on the robot or not, is that you are opened to the world of science and technology and get an early jump on the boat to where the future of the world is heading..

soon, anything and everything will be infused with the technological bug.. it's more of a recoginition of it's importance and usefulness in life...

I was in engineering- and transferred to System Dynamics.. which is a Social Science major.. and I have a concentration in public policy. The job uses technology to predict and analyze the outcomes of certain public policy changes (i.e. how a tax cut would effect the middle-class and so on) as well, on a broader spectrum, analyze the relationship between society and technology and their interacting effects on one another. It's crazy, it's cool.. and it's what I see as the bridge between the future and the past.. the new and old generations.. between those kids that come out knowing how to use a computer and my mom who still doesn't fully understand email or IM.

So if you do FIRST and don't become an engineer- I say it's all good. At least you come up with likely a deeper appreciation to what technology can do for things and people.

If that makes any sense!!

To give you an idea of what my major's like (cause everyone always asks at least 5 times!) here's the description of one of my classes for A-term:
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SS 1202. SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.
Cat. I
The aim of this course is to give students a general idea of the nature sociology while illustrating concepts using examples from a variety of societies to enhance one's comparative perspective. The secondary theme of the course is to focus on what field of sociology can offer those interested in the social implications of technological change and the social processes that shape science and technology. The course begins with a review of the debate over the nature of technology, whether it is more properly viewed as an aspect of social structure or culture, an integral part of society or a force external to it. Cases drawn from around the world and different technical fields are then developed both to address these questions and to illustrate various ways in which one might go about studying society-technology interaction effects. Classic sociological issues such as the distribution of wealth and power, intergroup relations, family structures and the nature of community are all covered as the cases unfold.

The cases covered range from the impact of disasters on different kinds of communities to a comparative analysis sof the space agencies of Europe, the U.S. and Japan, and the different kinds of technology they tend to produce. Such observations are placed in the context of their differing processes of modernization and international positions.
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gotta love it!! later gators.

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by Jessica Boucher
So, I guess what Im saying is that theres always room for science....but I cant accept that FIRST is here to just crank out engineers.

Well, although I plan to major in a science field, that I chose long before I knew about FIRST, I'm not going into engineering. My first love is marine biology. I have always lived for the beach and marine aquaculture. I didn't come into FIRST looking for the engineering aspect, lets face it math and dyslexia don't mesh, I came in because I like to use my hands to make things that I can feel proud of. I also just really like to use tools and compete.

[Jessica Boucher]

thanks for agreeing with me, guys...I started this thread to see if there were people out there who agreed with me, and to pose this question.......

But then, why are all the scholarships focused on engineering?

That I never understood....there was no point for me, a business student, to even attempt to fill out the FIRST scholarships because they're all for engineering.

Maybe Im just being ignorant, I mean.....its perfectly logical for colleges to want to give money to students going into engineering, and what better place to grab engineering students from than FIRST?

But, I guess I just am a tad wistful that he money isnt more generalized.

[Matt Leese]

The scholarships are engineering for one main reason: funding. Must college based teams get their funding via the engineering department and therefore any scholarship given out would want to promote the engineering department. Those sponsorsed by companies are all engineering companies and have much more of an interest in creating engineers than creating business majors (they hire many more engineers than business people). This is an engineering competition and that's the primary focus of it. While there are many people that get experiences out of FIRST that aren't engineering based, that's a much smaller number than those who get an engineering based experience.

Matt

[Jessica Boucher]

So then why have all that other stuff, like Chairmans award, fundraising, etc.?

[A. Leese]

I agree with whoever it was that said that FIRST isn't in existance just to produce lots of engineers. It's to inspire.
I personally have no desire to go into engineering, but, through FIRST, learned a great deal about it. I also learned some things in math and physics, how the whole entire design process works (and can be applied to any design process..not just robots), how exactly a website is made to work correctly (harder than I ever thought it would be), and, the most marketable skill, how to make buttons.
Ok. So I don't want to be an engineer. Oh well. I learned a lot via FIRST and I'm sure I have even more things to learn in my next two years of high school via FIRST. I got inspired to continue a into a possible career in science (more specifically medicine).
I must admit, though, that if I wasn't doing medicine I would probably major in either comp sci or mechanical engineering because I "get" them very well (leese and patrick..that's not your cue to boast that you got me "converted" to being an engineer). I have close to no knowledge, but I understand them from what I've learned so far and college exits for you to learn all about your major.

~Angela who never planned on switching topics that quickly in a single post (sorry all for confusion)

[A. Leese]

Originally posted by Jessica Boucher
So then why have all that other stuff, like Chairmans award, fundraising, etc.?

For people like me who don't fully enjoy the enginnering aspects and still want to be on a team and have an excuse for being there.

[Matt Leese]

Originally posted by Jessica Boucher
So then why have all that other stuff, like Chairmans award, fundraising, etc.?

Is the purpose of FIRST to provide scholarships? No, not by a long shot. The main purpose of FIRST is to inspire and recognize science and technology. Not business. Not literature. Not art. Science and technology (which would include engineering). Now, that doesn't mean that things such as the Chairman's award and fundraising are unimportant. It's just that they aren't the primary focus of FIRST.

And if a lack of scholarships for business, art, etc. in FIRST is a large concern for you, I suggest that you attempt to influence some colleges into giving them. I doubt FIRST will turn them down and it will be good for us all.

Matt

[Chris Hibner]

The biggest reason most of the adults are involved in FIRST is to have a positive impact on the lives of impressionable young people. I think most of the adults agree that the biggest goal is to get the students to realize that the things you learn in school are very useful (instead of the "we'll never use this crap" mentality that you always hear in school). Thus, the adults hope that some students that have some potential decide to use that potential instead of waste it. Hopefully with more people using their potential, the problems of the world can be solved sooner rather than later. Not to mention that this inspired person will most likely be better off with a college education.

That is the ideology of FIRST. Now to the reality.

The companies get involved in FIRST for two reasons. The first reason is for the ideology mentioned above. The second (and a lot of times more important reason) is completely selfish.

The law of supply and demand states that, given constant demand, a greater supply of a commodity means a lower price. You (meaning you in general - myself included) as engineers are a commodity to corporate America. The larger supply of that commodity means that they get it for a lower price. So, one of the reasons that companies get involved is so they can help the number of engineers increase, thereby decreasing the average salary, which in turn lowers a company's overall costs. Lower costs means improved global competitiveness.

So, the reason for all of the engineering scholarships is mostly for the selfish interests of the companies (and universities). The companies don't really care if the number of teachers or psychologists are on the rise. They want the supply/demand equilibrium to shift in their favor as much as possible in terms of human resources that benefit their company.

[Justin]

Originally posted by Matt Leese

Now, that doesn't mean that things such as the Chairman's award and fundraising are unimportant. It's just that they aren't the primary focus of FIRST.

Hey Matt,

Tell the teams who are spending about 99% of their time fundrasising, or are without sponsors, or are wondering how they are going to scrape together enough money to field a FIRST team this season. I think it would be great if FIRST were about the engineering and things like money and such didn't have to come on the radar. However I think a great many teams out there would agree that FIRST is prohibitaly expensive and that to much time/resources need to be spent fundrasing and money collecting. Saddly FIRST cost so much that so much of a teams efforts are money related.

my $.2,

Justin

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by Matt Leese

Science and technology (which would include engineering).
Matt

I was always under the impression that biology was a science. And that all branches of science eventually went in the direction of math, which can inadvertantly lead to engineering based on physics. Shouldn't some of those scholarships be set up for other science majors too?
*is trying not to sound like a smart aleck*

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally posted by Matt Leese


And if a lack of scholarships for business, art, etc. in FIRST is a large concern for you, I suggest that you attempt to influence some colleges into giving them. I doubt FIRST will turn them down and it will be good for us all.

Matt

Well, I guess I went the wrong way with this....I think Im getting a tad vindictive. Forgive me, my dears

Basically, I was looking in this thread to see if there would be any interest in non-engineering scholarships. FIRST helped me in countless ways to get into business school, and why not help other people?

And, one of the ways to do that is to nudge the minority to talk a little....to see what they think.

Originally posted by Matt Leese


Now, that doesn't mean that things such as the Chairman's award and fundraising are unimportant. It's just that they aren't the primary focus of FIRST.

That, though, I dont get. Why is the Chairmans award held in the highest standing, then?

But thats a whole new topic.