Why do you FIRST?

[Poseidon5817]

Happy Week 3 everyone!

This thread is basically what the title says. Do you FIRST for the thrill of competition? Do you love the challenge of problem solving? Do you do it to inspire the future generation of engineers? I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!

[FrisbeeFunTime]

I do it mainly because I love the idea of building robots with friends but i also love the shear amount of stuff you can learn through the program. If FIRST didn't exist there is no way i'd know what a mill or a lathe or cad was or any machine or program was really other than the hand tools I have in my basement and computer games. In the end really i do it because its fun, all the rest is just a nice bonus.

[M217]

Why not?

[dmaggio744]

I always knew I would study engineering in college, but who wants to wait four years more than you have to?

[Ekcrbe]

Anyone who knows me knows first and foremost, I'm competitive and a big sports fan, plus I like problem solving. Those are in line with the FIRST experience, but they barely scratch the surface.

FIRST meant the world to me in high school, and it still does. I found a great community of like-minded friends. It set me on an amazing path to pursuing a major where I'm excited to go to class, studying at a school where I had never imagined I'd go. It took me from being a smart kid in middle school who liked getting good grades but didn't really feel a calling to a confident engineering student—capable of understanding failure, but never satisfied without success—ready to take on the world.

I continue with FIRST because I want it to become as important to someone I mentor as it has become to me ever since I first walked in the door to my high school's shop five and a half years ago. I see the power of FIRST as a life-changing program because I've felt it. It's so integral to who I am that it stings only being able to go to one competition per year (maybe two this time!). I still itch for kickoff and for competition, and from time to time I roll around impossible ideas about how I could maybe make it back for hometown Detroit champs next year.

Above and beyond it all is the unbelievable atmosphere FIRST maintains even at its size. FIRST reports to have around 400,000 students involved, meaning that, including parents, mentors and coaches, and volunteers, there are likely somewhere near three quarters of a million people under the FIRST tent, and yet the community still upholds the highest standards of character no matter where you go. I don't know of any other organization that can stop FIRST from cornering the market on the best people in the world.

[Koko Ed]

FIRST is like a Chinese fingertrap. Once you get your fingers into it you can't get them back out.

[Tom Ore]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

FIRST is like a Chinese fingertrap. Once you get your fingers into it you can't get them back out.

I've always felt a bit guilty for not telling potential new mentors about this problem. Seems like the socially responsible thing to do would be to warn new mentors that there is no way out.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Tom Ore

I've always felt a bit guilty for not telling potential new mentors about this problem. Seems like the socially responsible thing to do would be to warn new mentors that there is no way out.

The more we assimila--uhm, I mean recruit, the more we can evenly spread out the workload on the team. We wouldn't want to give them the option to leave. They might actually take it.

[nerdrock101]

Because without FIRST, I would have become a lawyer. I now shudder at the thought.

I want more kids to have the same epiphany I had.

[Brian C]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

FIRST is like a Chinese fingertrap. Once you get your fingers into it you can't get them back out.

Absolute truth.

It kind of sucks you in and never really lets you go. But in a good way.

[JustinCAD]

I love meeting new people doing something I love. I enjoy creating new things, and building a robot allows me to bring out my creative side. The bonus is that when you go to competitions, you meet new people from all around! With new people comes new ideas, and it's really cool to see what other teams has built. Plus the community is so intertwined with businesses, I have a chance of getting my foot in the door of opportunities in the future.

[iyportne]

When I think way back to the time I was young like our students, I recall all the fun, often dangerous, rarely sanctioned and not always legal things we did that inspired us to be tech nerds. FIRST let's us inspire this generation of youth in safe, legal, sanctioned and even more fun ways to be tech nerds and entrepreneurs...AND makes me feel young again.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Well,
Youth is contagious and I want to catch as much as I can.

I know that this is one event, club, activity, competition that gets students into college. That is all I need to keep me going. I am here for students and the adults that lead them.

[RoboChair]

I have to do something to feed my FIRST addiction, the withdrawal would probably kill me.

[JamesCH95]

From one of my recently-graduated students:

"FIRST ultimately was the reason that I decided to pursue engineering in college. I am currently at [a good technical college] and majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I learned about FIRST when I was in middle school. At the time, I did not fit in because I wasn't great at sports and school wasn't my thing. My mom found out about FIRST and I reluctantly joined. It was one of the best decisions that I made. FIRST robotics is a place that any kid can go and fit in. It doesn't matter if you want to be a math major or if you want to design the team's t-shirts. FIRST robotics was special to me because it was a place that everyone acted like they wanted to and didn't have to put on a false face to fit in. FIRST gave me the confidence to succeed that led me to make varsity on the swim team and JV crew. More importantly, it fostered my interests in mechanical engineering and make me realize that my overwhelming passion for cars could some day be a career. FIRST robotics gave me confidence and a passion."

That is why I do FIRST.