White House announces major STEM initiative

[James Tonthat]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

What Obama was doing with the Radio Shack comment was "making a joke." If you don't get the joke, folks, send me a PM and I'll see if I can explain it for you. I'm all in favor of public figures making themselves look silly, but this wasn't a mistake -- he did it on purpose.

Is it VEX related?

[qwertyuiop[]\]

Also cougar cannon was the name of our robot. he didnt come up with a name a good as that. we did. so... the president didnt really make any mistakes. the only mistakes ive seen is the nytimes caption of the photo says brian hortelano when it should really say brian hortelano and steven harris. brian was out of pic controling the robot and im in the pic. also the nytimes states that the whole robot was built by two students in six weeks. not true. 30 students, six weeks.

[Rob Colatutto]

Give the media a break, its great that they are covering everything and putting these photos and videos online. This will create a lot of publicity and support for FIRST. Its not a big deal if they get a few facts wrong, overtime they will become familiar with the program.

This is excellent news for both FIRST and all other related educational competitions. Can't wait to see the impact this has.

[Ryan Gordon]

This is very cool news. Congratulations to team 116 and 623. Hopefully this will mean better things for FIRST in the near future.

[Vince]

The White House also posted a Q/A session with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Dr. John P. Holdren on the project: Sec of Ed and Science & Tech Director Comments About FIRST

See the section that begins at 7:06 to hear what they think of FIRST.

[Jon236]

Originally Posted by Vince

The White House also posted a Q/A session with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Dr. John P. Holdren on the project: Sec of Ed and Science & Tech Director Comments About FIRST

See the section that begins at 7:06 to hear what they think of FIRST.

Thanks Vince for posting this.

We just heard the Secretary of Education echo Dean's question "Why can't we have a robotics team in every high school?"

It sure looks like we have our work cut out for us early this year!

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by qwertyuiop[]\

Also dont hate on obama for the radio shack quote. he was asking that having inspected the electrical components of our robot. He has no clue about where we get our parts. he was expressing genuine interest in our robot. also if after this speech the only thing you can take away from it is that he made a silly quote about radio shack then you clearly didnt pick up the message he was trying to convey.
Heres the link to the uncut film footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33_nZaOUWYw

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

What Obama was doing with the Radio Shack comment was "making a joke." If you don't get the joke, folks, send me a PM and I'll see if I can explain it for you. I'm all in favor of public figures making themselves look silly, but this wasn't a mistake -- he did it on purpose.

If you are reading hate or lack of understanding the meaning of a joke in my post then you are reading your own ideas into what I posted.


I said I loved it.

[sanddrag]

Surprised no one has asked it yet: Will Obama be in Atlanta for the championship?

[Akash Rastogi]

Were Grant and Tory busy? o.O

Nevertheless- awesome. Just awesome. Congrats to both teams for being there!

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by IndySam

If you are reading hate or lack of understanding the meaning of a joke in my post then you are reading your own ideas into what I posted.

A few of the utes mentioned it. That's why I didn't quote anyone in particular and I certainly wasn't aiming anything at you.

[JaneYoung]

So - while I was having a meltdown over the fact that my son thinks my turkey is always dry (we are going to try a turkey brine this year), my husband came flying into the room, "Jane, Jane, do you know about the Connect A Million Minds initiative? It's all over the local news! They showed Dean Kamen talking to President Obama!" They were explaining the Time Warner Cable connection. It was a lot of fun listening to my husband be so excited about the STEM opportunities that will made available because of this type of interest and support being generated. This time it wasn't me doing all the talking, it was him. He could give me some coaching in my elevator pitch, I do believe.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Surprised no one has asked it yet: Will Obama be in Atlanta for the championship?

I doubt it... but that is just me and I know based on past discussions that a lot of us have different opinions on this (which is a very good thing).

[rsisk]

A good elevator pitch would be awesome.

I usually start mine with:

"I am a mentor for a competitive high school robotics team"

That always seems to get their attention, because their response is typically to look at me and say "What??"

Then I get to roll into the pitch about FIRST robotics. A little bit of competition description, a lot of the inspiration angle, a laundry list of benefits for students/community/mentors etc.

[IBdrummer]

This is a great thing for FIRST. I wonder if Obama got his line about NCAA basketball players from Dean Kamen...

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Surprised no one has asked it yet: Will Obama be in Atlanta for the championship?

I know that the President was asked at least three different times if he would come to the Championships. He did not make any commitment, but he didn't absolutely decline either. Given the demands on his schedule, I would not have expected anything different this far in advance (e.g. this event was originally scheduled to take place on November 10, but at the last minute it was rescheduled when the President's plans changed so that he could go to Texas for the memorial service at Fort Hood).

-dave



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