At team 38’s kick off party, a question was raised by one of the engineers, which turned into quite the discussion question: What do you personally get out of the FIRST program? Does it help academics, general knowledge, spir an interest in math and science? What does FIRST mean to you?
Well before i got involved in FIRST i wanted to be an attorney…but after a year in FIRST, i have my career set…also its really cool to meet people all over the nation and hearing how people all over the US know thatb me (5’11" 126 pounds) ate 14 pieces of pizza at a pre-kickoff party…i think thats pretty funny :D…but basically FIRST put me in the direction to have a good future
FIRST has given me a life, friends, and a nice resume.
FIRST has also taken my life, friends, and ruined my resume.
Ahh…
-anton
*Originally posted by D.J. Fluck *
**Well before i got involved in FIRST i wanted to be an attorney…but after a year in FIRST, i have my career set…future **
Hmm…that sounds a bit familiar. Before FIRST I wanted to be a doctor, after a year in FIRST I decided upon becoming an engineer. And I can honestly say, in college, FIRST has not helped my academics. 
Though, it has given me quite a bit of experience. So, as long as you don’t look at my transcipt, I’m all good.
~Christina
I improved my HTML skills, I learned Perl (self-taught), then I learned PHP & mySQL, and all of that has helped me tremendously at my current job…
I have also gained many new friends (online) because of FIRST.
As a bunch of you have already stated, new friends are a big portion of my FIRST experience. Aside from that, I’ve learned practical applications for everything in my Physics class, such as actual effects of friction, torque, power, work, etc. outside of the classic “place block A on wedge B.” I’ve found academically (spelling right?) an increase in my grades in Calculus and Physics, but a very slight decrease in more literary classes such as English and Current Issues. From FIRST, I also come out with a better understanding of the world in general in relation to design and manufacturing, as well as budget and time management skills, and basic machine shop skills. I thank all those who make the FIRST competitions possible, for it’s become an integral part of my life.
Before I joined FIRST I wanted to go into Anthropology, and now I want to go into Industrial Engineering. After just one year in it I realized how much information I’d been missing in technology areas and how fun it really could be. I actually got to see practical applications of math and science, not just the repeated endless problems of my math book that get so boring. I learned an incredible amount of information ranging from simple things that i just never knew like tool names to how to use different machines in our shop to the whole design process and prototyping, it was awesome. Not to mention the endless friendships that I have made with people who have similar interests.
Before I discovered FIRST (That actually hurt a bit…), I had already decided that I wanted to be an automotive engineer, so I’m not going to talk about any goal changing, because that didn’t happen. What did happen was goal strengthing. I was kinda shaky about if I really wanted to become an engineer before I discovered FIRST, but now that I’ve actually met engineers and not just M&Ms employees that call themselves ‘Technical Engineers’ when they’re actually taste testers, I’ve decided that this is THE route. Thank you, FIRST.
Besides all the stuff about engineering I got from FIRST, i met my girlfriend on my old team. So I guess you can say “I do robotics for the babes…” (not really… haha)
haha how many people can say that?
~JVN
I’ve wanted to go into physics since 5th grade. I’ve now narrowed it down to theoretical physics, mainly elementary particles, cosmology, and quantum mechanics. The fun stuff that is on the other side of the spectrum from engineering.
I know I won’t be an engineer. If I change my major, I will end up being in Greenpeace. I think physics is a more profitable career, even if it is only research.
FIRST has made me more sociable, though I don’t know if it has really affected my friend base all that much. Since OSMTech is such a small school, I would have gotten to know most of them anyways.
FIRST has given me the most in lifeskills. This year I am working in the administrative end. Taking notes, doing the newsletter, and basically overworking myself to death. I think my stress handling ability will skyrocket after this year. Then there is always the leadership stuff, and teamwork, and those good cliches. But, they are true and worth being repeated.
I never thought I would join a robotics team, but I fell in love after seeing a regional two years ago. It is everything positive about sports… without the performance drugs and other negative features… AND IT IS INTELLECTUAL!