I had a bit of a realization this week. FIRST Robotics is 27 years old and
515,000 students will participate in its various programs this year alone. That’s a massive reach.
Even though I was on one of the early teams in high school and have coached FIRST Lego League teams over the years, I hadn’t—until now—quite realized how big FIRST had gotten or appreciated how long it’s been around.
In case you aren’t familiar with it, FIRST started off as an international robotics competition for high schoolers building 120-pound robots, but expanded its reach all the way to elementary schools with FIRST Lego League.
I’m willing to bet I’m nowhere near being the only person reading this newsletter to have started working in robotics because of FIRST. It’s a force for getting kids interested in STEM, and
its impact can be profound.
Here’s the ask. We’re coming up on
FIRST Lego League season.
Please volunteer. It can be as low a commitment as a single Saturday helping out at a local competition.
It will be fun. It will make a difference.
- Josh
“We are the only sport that every kid in school can participate in and then turn pro.” - Dean Kamen, c0founder of FIRST