Dean for Nobel Prize???

[Kevin Sevcik]

By way of a voice of reason, I suggest you look at Previous Nobel Peace Prize winners. I assume this is the award you would nominate him for, as it's the only one that would fit. Just look at a few of the names on there and their accomplishments. Things like stopping wars, ending the violence in Northern Ireland, nuclear disarmament, economic development in 3d world countries. Organizations like Doctors Without Borders, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, The Red Cross. Theses are huge accomplishments stemming from lifetimes or more of work. These are organizations that have made real, concrete differences in millions of lives.

I love Dean, he's an amazing person with a brilliant plan and inspiring goals. But the philosophy behind FIRST is very much targeted at a huge problem in the United States and other highly developed countries. We have enough leisure time and money to make athletes and actors idolized and rich. Being painfully realistic, FIRST isn't going to impact lives in Rwanda or the Congo or South Africa. Not for a long time. It takes $6000 just to enter a regional. For the privilege of working yourself half to death for 6 weeks. The poverty level in Kenya is $25 a month. You regional fee could easily support someone in Kenya for half a decade. Make no mistake, FIRST is a luxury and a privilege we are very fortunate to be able to afford.

As for his work on cheap water purification... It's a wonderful idea. It has yet to materialize in at least 5 years of work he's put into it. If it comes to fruition and it is truly affordable and Dean works as tirelessly at persuading people to build it and use it as he has worked at developing FIRST.... Then he would be approaching the kind of achievements on par with other prize winners. But if he wins it, make no mistake. FIRST won't be more than a distracting blip on the radar of the committee.

I don't mean to be a complete downer. As I said, I greatly admire what Dean has done. I just don't think he has nearly reached the level you're talking about, and I'm not certain he ever will. There's good news, however. As Dean has said, the awards aren't everything, they're just some shiny metal and plastic to get us motivated. The real worth of the his program and the real concrete legacy it will leave behind is the legion of ex-FIRSTers committed to continually learning new things, improving their skills, and applying their brains to solving the kind of problems you get Nobel prizes for. So, ironically, I think the best testament to the program he founded and his ideals wouldn't be if he won a Nobel Prize. It would be if you did.