FIRST Technology Challenge

Photo credit: Scott W. Nichols from the The Webb School “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Who hasn’t been asked that a million times by adults? And when we were little, we would answer that question with whatever felt right to us in the moment: “Unicorn.” “Fire fighter.” “Astronaut.” "Superhero" “Ballerina.” “Doctor.” "Teacher." And we knew in our heart that we could be the thing we wanted to be, and more often than not we were encouraged to pursue our dreams. And when our dreams changed, we wholeheartedly pursued the new dream. And then one day the question became harder to answer. Why? We live, we learn, and we start to judge what our heart wants as attainable or not based on our beliefs about ourselves and our ability to achieve the dream. A boy dreaming of being a ballerina might only see pictures of girl ballerinas and develop the belief that boys can’t be ballerinas. Or a girl might dream of being an astronaut until someone says, “Girls with glasses...

When I was a kid, we lived on a road that led from the highway to the fairgrounds, so the last week in August we haunted the front porch waiting to see the onslaught of vendor and ride trucks hurry past. At the fairgrounds, we would stand out of the way and watch empty fields turn into a magical world of tents, booths, animal stalls, and of course, rides! Then for five days the field became its own world, bustling with lights, noise, and energy that we lived within during the day and could see and hear from our bedroom window each night. And then, on Tuesday morning, they were all gone, having packed up and crept away in the middle of the night to head off to other fairs and events. The absence of that temporary world was always palpable for a few days as we re-emerged from its magic into the real world and preparations for the first day of school. If you have ever attended a FIRST Tech Challenge event, then you have also experienced a magical world called the FTC Pits. Physically, ...

Imagine it, the FIRST World Championships and Festival . You are in America’s Ballroom, which is packed with teams, coaches and mentors, video cameras and photographers, and Dean Kamen. He’s speaking to you about the importance of STEM, and how you are the future. But he doesn’t mean “you” rhetorically or “you” as an audience member or “you” as a young adult. He literally means you , a Dean’s List Award Winner. Alec Kumpf and Simran Parwani are both 2014 FIRST Robotics Competition Dean’s List winners. Since 2010, ten FRC team members each year have been on the stage in America’s Ballroom with Dean Kamen to receive the Dean’s List Award, meaning Simran and Alec are part of a group of fifty winners. That’s fifty out of almost five thousand finalists.   This year, there will be ten more FRC team members added to the ranks, and for the first time, ten FTC team members as well. Alec onstage at the FIRST Dean's List Award ceremony “The whole experience is priceless. Very few experienc...