I started thinking today that there are so many reasons on why I love FIRST and then found my favorite. Once I get a few comments I’ll tell you mine. 
Thats tough, but probably the fact that its a chance for me to be productive and do things that I find interesting are my two favorites. I discovered a couple of years ago that the best way to fend off depression is to do something that I like and gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. With that sense of purpose everything in my life tends to get better. FIRST definitely provides that. It’s a fantastic thing.
Usually engineering classes entail either boring textbook learning, or simple “hands on” programs where you don’t learn anything. At FIRST you build stuff yourself, but in the process you learn a lot, because you are part of a large, advanced team doing a complicated thing.
I really love the fact that FIRST is like a giant family. You spend so much time together. You become really connected, and therefore productive. And the team’s always so supportive.
I have many favorites and I have shared them in various threads here in CD through the years.
If I absolutely had to choose one favorite - absolutely positively indubitably - one - it would be watching the students develop and mature into incredible role models through their years of participation on the team. The young Freshmen who stay with the team and find their niche are as impressive as the Seniors who begin the process of making college decisions and hard choices. Their journeys are often messy, filled with teenager ups and downs, and challenging for them and for the team, in general. But… the rewards that culminate through the process of helping to mentor them on their journeys are very very special and filled with inspiration.
Thank you for creating this thread,
Jane
I have no favorite one thing. The entirety of FIRST is my favorite. I’ve gone through a lot in life, but nothing, and I truly mean nothing, has happened to me better than FIRST, and I barely survived open-heart surgery.
FIRST, with all of its innovations, and the way it inspires science and technology, completes my life. It gives me a future, a future which I know I can depend on. I love it, and will be involved with it until the day I die.
FIRST is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Ever.
FIRST is the only place I have ever seen that accepts people no matter what, the competition is just, well I don’t quite know how to describe it!
Now if only the world worked like FIRST…
The reason I joined FIRST was because it sounded fun and I loved watching my cousin’s competitions. The reason I’ve stayed (it’s been 7 years now) is along the lines of what Jane said; I love watching the students become inspired and grow.
As I’m sure I’ve said in another thread my favorite memory in my FIRST life was when I was running a FLL demo at the GKCR in 2010. One of the high school students, if I remember correctly it was a member of 1825, was listening to a FLL student explain the program and just amazing him with all that they do.
My original FIRST coach and founder of the team impacted my life in many ways. She allowed me to be on what was supposed to be a senior’s only team. She always wanted her students to succeed and would help us so much in so many ways. She gave her heart and soul to the team and her students and even helped us in ways she never wanted us to know. She has inspired me to be more like her, a truly giving and kind person in every aspect of her life whether it be family or her students. So if I can inspire one student to do great things by bringing them to the wonderful world of FIRST or even into STEM or even help them find their joy/goal in life, I will have fulfilled my primary goal in life.
My post from a few days ago pretty much explains why I like FIRST
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1121523#post1121523