White House announces major STEM initiative

FIRST General Forum
#45

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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#46

Good point Dave. I didn’t realize that the fixed mics were further than the video mics. It’s a shame that they didn’t mike Brian and Steven; you guys did a very good job demonstrating the robot as well. I was bouncing off of the walls to see the proverbial wheels in the President’s head turning when he was “inspecting” the robot.

My favorite part was where he was essentially reading off Dean’s talking points. In fact, other than hyping the Recovery Act (keeping Detroit from becoming a complete wasteland since 2009! :wink: ) his entire speech could’ve been a Dean Speech

It’s clear from the context that pretty much everything the President said regarding the robot was in jest, from “keeping an eye on those robots in case they try anything” to “Where are they aiming right now?” to “This is all stuff you can get at Radio Shack?” As far as laying off the press, however, I give no quarter. We need to spoonfeed talking points to the press to keep them from Rita Skeetering us. Elevator speeches too - everyone should have one.

#47

Concerning IndySam

my comment was aimed at the person who compared radioshack obama to wwe bush.

#48

Please explain how that is “hate on Obama.”

Bush’s WWE quote is something I remember with great joy.

#49

Seconded on the loving it. It shows interest and it got a chuckle out of me.

I don’t read it as “hating on” Obama at all. Honestly if making a joke at something the President said is “hating on him” someone needs to grow some thicker skin and realize that the President is human just like the rest of us and we can laugh at jokes or flubs he makes.

#50

My apologies, i just interpreted the Bush quote another way than you did. I thought the comparison was meant to belittle the president but i was wrong. No hard feelings. :slight_smile:

#51

Yeah, I was going to say…as the one who originally compared the two quotes, I didn’t intend to insult/belittle either president :confused: I just feel like they could both sum up the general idea of FIRST to someone who doesn’t know about it. Almost everyone knows what the WWE is, so comparing FIRST to it helps emphasize the scale of the program. Asking about RadioShack means that we have to refute the statement, so we have the opportunity to show how expensive and complex our robots are (sponsorsssss!)

This could go in the elevator pitch thread, too :confused:

#52

Maybe Obama was thinking about VEX?:smiley:

#53

My bookie tells me that there is better than a 50% chance the president shows up in Atlanta this year. If not this year then 75% next year.

That assumes no unseen emergencies, crisis, summits, or other things that will divert his attention.

The president has three things he wants to accomplish. 1) healthcare, 2) energy, and 3) education. FIRST addresses all three of these but from a tangible policy level it really hits energy and education.

Okay - I do not have a bookie but I’ll take the odds.

#54

You don’t even want to joke about a thing like that. Having a sitting president visit a large public arena full of mysterious-looking hardware would give the Secret Service the screaming fantods. The disruption of the event would be incredible, too. My personal preference would be to have the President appear on video, not in person.

(Of course, if FTC 417 doesn’t win, I won’t have to worry about it at all. :slight_smile: )

#55

For those of you at the Houston Championships (2003): Would you be willing to go through that type of security, but tighter, just so the President could be at the Championship?

(For those that weren’t there, every time you took a robot through into the Reliant, it, and any backpacks you carried, were searched for whatever they were looking for. The gates were crowded; I found another one that didn’t have a line but had a security guy. I understand that the Astrodome staff wanted to search incoming toolboxes until they were told that they’d have to do several hundred of them, with several thousand impatient high school students waiting to get in.)

#56

I’m going to do a find and replace, replacing “public arena” with “factory”.

You don’t even want to joke about a thing like that. Having a sitting president visit a large factory full of mysterious-looking hardware would give the Secret Service the screaming fantods. The disruption of the event would be incredible, too. My personal preference would be to have the President appear on video, not in person."

Sounds just as justifiable, right? Except that the President has toured several factories across the United States over the past year:


http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/04/obama_on_factory_tour_friday_m.html

http://thepage.time.com/pool-report-obama-at-the-pennsylvania-glass-factory/

So would it be possible? Yes, I’m sure the Secret Service would find a way (The President has already had people with actual AR-15s outside rallies).

The pre-recorded video would be easier logistically and schedule wise, but wouldn’t have the same impact as the if given in person. A live webcast would, but I think the ideal solution would be to have something funny that’s scripted like when Obama appeared on The Colbert Report during his week of reporting from Iraq for the Armed Forces, ordering Colbert to shave his head for the troops. Something like Obama signing an executive order mandating that Sasha and Malia pick up their toys, and having them build a robot to do it for them would probably be quite funny and resonate with students better than just a canned “stay in school speech”. Or maybe have Obama appear with a veteran from the war with Dean’s robotic arm, thanking the students as future scientists and engineers for creating in the future devices such as Dean’s robotic arm that could make the lives of those who fought for our freedom better.

Actually, Dean could use that advice as well. :wink: Students nowadays are living in the Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert generation. We like our news with comedy and intelligent satire*. If Dean throws some well-crafted humor and satire throughout his speeches, you won’t see too many people sleeping through it anymore.

  • Even though many people call them “fake news”, regular watchers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on average scored higher than most other news networks in Pew Research studies. Why? Because no one would get the jokes on these shows if they didn’t already have strong background knowledge of the news.
#57

The question is would the hassle of the necessary security be worth the national publicity and just plain coolness of having the POTUS attend?

I think it would be very worth it.

#58

They have people that are pretty good with security and there is a lot that goes on that isn’t publicized or flaunted. I’m sure they can get it done smoothly if they do it at all.

FIRST is the sport of the mind and we would like the CMP to be the Olympics of this sport. Unfortunately the CMP doesn’t have the prestige or cache of the Olympics and therefore we don’t have that same level of security.

For those of you that lived through the Olympics in Atlanta there was miles of chain link fence with barbed wite and thousands of highly trained security personnel with very intimidating arms in a constant swirl around the Olympic Village the campus of Georgia Tech. As much as I’d like the CMP become as large as the Olympics I don’t savor the concept of turning it into an armed camp.

For those of you that went to the CMP the spring after 9/11 and if you paid close attention there was a LOT more security blended into the background.

I don’t know if the maximum impact comes from the Friday morning opening or Saturday afternoon closing. The press corp would like a Friday thing. The rest of us might like a Saturday thing. We have the stands maximized with attendees and it might make a better ‘endcap’ as we close the year and look forward to the future. So walking out of the CMP we collectively look toward a future filled with sugarplums and STEM happiness.

There are a lot of reasons for making the event secure as possible, POTUS or not.

There is an excellent long term strategic advantage to having POTUS making a brief appearance at the CMP opening or closing ceremony, or even in the pits. We need this to happen with regularity. Every POTUS should visit at least once in their term.

We just have to step up to the challenge and build into our thinking and planning things like security and bringing in VIPs such as POTUS and other political and corporate leaders. All of these folks are stakeholders in what we love to do and we are going to have to make it happen. I don’t mind putting up with a little extra inconvenience.

#59

Some people (like me) crack jokes to show humility in that which they don’t understand. For an instant in the public spotlight, those students were much much smarter than he was. I took Obama’s Radio Shack joke as a way for him to beat the critics to that point.

If we flood the white house with written letters requesting some sort of presence at an event, I’m sure he or his administration would make an effort. Keep in mind that if we want more exposure to the public we should pursue the presidential avenue. Yet if we want more exposure to the policy makers then we should pursue attendance of the Education Department and Congress. I honestly have no problem with pursuing both, but it will take the majority of teams to put forth the effort (no just those purusing CA…).

Perhaps one of the most critical things we could convince him to do is to watch a Regional’s webcast, or appear at the D.C. Regional briefly and/or unannounced to the public (it’s less than 5 minutes from the W.H. to the regional …). Then perhaps he would realize that the message of FIRST is one of the only STEM initiatives in the entire country that is fully aligned with his educational goals. From there he can decide for himself that FIRST is the best due to the close collaboration of industry engineers with the students. That is the first step, and is key in my opinion.

#60

I understand the desire to have the President at the Championship event. That said, the places of inspiration that showcase collaborations are in the shops and the pits. For there to be support for change in our educational system, the inspiration has to make a huge impact on the schools’ curriculums, spaces, stipends for the mentors, and educational/extracurricular priorities. The show isn’t going to highlight the shop/space deficits or lack of mentor stipends that many of our teams face. It can be used as a platform, yes.

#61

Seem like sneaking into the DC regional pits would be the good way to meet the students and mentors whereas speaking at the CMP would be a more a STEM recognition and policy oriented activity. Both are needed.

I’m not sure there is a huge need to get the administrations attention at this point but more along the lines of letting FIRST hq get their ducks in a row.

Inside of 6 weeks FIRST has made a presence in front of the administration and the Congress. In a few more weeks states will make their initial bid in the Race to the Top. Teams could/should try to touch bases with their Senators and Congressmen during the upcoming break and make sure they are aware of what is out there regarding the STEM push because as soon as the healthcare thing is behind us it will be on to energy and education.

#62

I seem to remember that President Bush went to Iraq, completely unannounced, a few years back around this time of year. If they could keep it secret until it happened, it might be quite possible to pull it off, especially at the D.C. Regional where security could presumably be quietly enhanced without arousing comment.

#63

Absolutely Amazing!

To think… one of “our” robots was inspected by the Commander in Chief. It’s almost enough to make all of the bitterness from losing the VH-71 contract just melt away.

Kudos to 623 and grats on a job well done!

I’ve been involved with FIRST Robotics for eight years and to see it start to gain the momentum and recognition it deserves is so touching to my heart. It is because of the people, here on this forum, that I earned my Engineering Degree and went on to work for the President as a part of Lockheed Martin on the VH-71.

Now, faced with unemployment I harbor no regrets but am actually very much encouraged to become a High School Physics teacher under this President’s Administration. In a very real way, I have bled for this country by means of broken braincells, eye strained papers and dangerous late nighters.

FIRST has been an incredible opportunity. We all know that, but in time so will the whole country as well. It was FIRST that pushed me to be my best despite adversity. It was FIRST that encouraged me earn my degree. It was FIRST that motivated me and gave me the chance to FIRST educate and inspire young minds.

I have shook the hands of the Pilots who have flown the President. However, that chance did not come from working on his new ride… It came from attending a Regional hosted by the US Naval Academy.

Well, I’m off to class. Time to hit to books some more.

Congrats again to all the teams this season and see you in 2010!

#64

The Mythbusters just posted some great video of the event on the Discovery Channel web site.

Well, they tried. :slight_smile:

-dave

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