INSPIRATION IS EVERWHERE

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Heidi Sipe

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Why this superintendent chose FIRST to boost student engagement

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Heidi Sipe

FIRST Volunteer, Oregon; Umatilla School District Superintendent

In our rural, northeast corner of Oregon, we have a shortage of both industry and opportunity, and too few of our kids attend college.

About five years ago, I learned about FIRST and brought it to my school district. FIRST has been amazing! It provides our schools with the perfect combination of interest (robots), drive (the competition), soft skill building (Gracious Professionalism®), hard skill building (programming, designing and building, electro-mechanical systems), and marketing, along with access to STEM professionals and universities. It also allows my students to dream new dreams. I go from watching them be students who lack vision, skill, and confidence, to becoming leaders who believe they can do anything. The effort is worth it; 25 percent of the kids in our district are now on a FIRST team, and 100 percent of our team’s seniors have both graduated from high school and gone into college.


INSPIRATION IS EVERWHERE

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TJ Evarts (center) and his FIRST LEGO League team, “The Inventioneers”

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Entrepreneur discovers you’re never too young to make a difference

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TJ Evarts

FIRST Alumnus

TJ Evarts is a dreamer. He’s an inventor. He’s an entrepreneur. And he’s been at it since he was a young child. FIRST, he says, had more than a passing influence on his life—it has become a lifestyle that defines who he is today.

Background

At 13, an age when most young people are just beginning to explore their own identity, TJ Evarts invented the SMARTwheel,TM a product that may well alleviate one of the nation’s leading traffic problems: teens who text and drive.

Growing up FIRST

Involved with FIRST for more than half his life, TJ says the experience played a major role in shaping who he is today. From FIRST, he gained knowledge and a toolbox of real-world skills—such as teamwork, how to pitch a product or idea, how to solve problems, and public speaking—that gave him a big head start in his career. FIRST inspired TJ to want to help others and taught him he was never too young to make a difference.

Young Entrepreneur is Paving His Own Path

TJ is motivated by the excitement of being an entrepreneur, which he likens to being on a roller coaster. The ups and downs help him learn how the business world works. He plans to build his own dreams, and envisions a college degree and additional businesses in his future.

“It’s important to give students outside opportunities to explore, excel, and make mistakes. And help students to take initiative outside of the testing environment.” — TJ Evarts


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INSPIRATION IS EVERWHERE

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Franny and Josh on Stage

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FIRST changed my son’s life

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Franny Madison-Kish

Mother of Joshua Kish, Alum of FIRST Tech Challenge Team 288, The RoboDawgs, of Grandville, Michigan; and FIRST Robotics Competition Team 931, Perpetual Chaos, of St. Louis, Missouri

I’m the mother of a child that teachers had written off and whose school could do little to help. In ninth grade, he switched to a STEM school where a counselor encouraged him to join FIRST Tech Challenge Team 288. Kids from all walks of life, all colors and cliques came together under this FIRST banner. My son, dismissed as a troublemaker, was accepted by them, no questions asked. He became a valued member of this team. FIRST changed my son’s life. From a little boy dismissed by many, to a proud member of a movement, he is succeeding today as a member of FIRST.


FIRST Announces John Deere as Strategic Partner

John Deere Continues to Expand Support for Global Not-for-Profit as Part of Their Dedication to STEM Education

 

Vincent Wilczynski

Dr. Vincent Wilczynski
Treasurer, FIRST Board of Directors
Deputy Dean, Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science & James S. Tyler Director of the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design

Dr. Vincent Wilczynski has served as the deputy dean of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science since 2010. In this role, he is responsible for planning and implementing all academic initiatives and overseeing the engineering school’s facilities. Previously, he was the dean of engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He retired with the rank of captain and has also served as a vice president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). His teaching skills have been cited by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Dr. Wilczynski has been a truly extraordinary volunteer for FIRST since 1994.  He started and mentored an FIRST Robotics Competition team in Groton, Connecticut, in 1994. Dr. Wilczynski used his sabbatical leave from the Coast Guard Academy in early 1999 to serve as the FIRST Robotics Competition program director. In late 1999, he helped FIRST with exploration of a concept that turned into today’s FIRST LEGO League program. Then in 2004, he piloted a summer outreach program in Connecticut that trialed the initial version of the FIRST Tech Challenge kit. Dr. Wilczynski served on the FIRST Robotics Competition Game Design Committee for 10 years and has been a critical part of creating the Showcase Presentation at the FIRST Championship since 2001. He has also co-authored three books on innovative engineering in FIRST. Dr. Wilczynski currently serves as the co-chair of the FIRST Executive Advisory Board and as a member of the Steering Committee.

Dr. Wilczynski holds a B.S. from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from The Catholic University of America.

Interesting CIM Motor Capability

May 23, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick.

 

What do you know. CIMs can run underwater.

 

Huh.

Frank

This Season from a Freshman: On the Bus Home from FIRST Championship

May 11, 2017 by Ryan Mares, FIRST Team 93, NEW Apple Corps, Appleton, Wis.


Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Reddit. The author, a ninth-grade student from Wisconsin, shared his thoughts as he rode the bus home from FIRST Championship St. Louis.

Wow!

May 03, 2017 Written by Frank Merrick.

Congratulations to the 2017 FIRST Championship St. Louis Winners! And be sure to mark your calendars for the 2017 Festival of Champions, July 28 and 29, 2017 in Manchester, NH, USA!

FIRST Caps Off World’s Largest Celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for Students

Championship Presenting Sponsor Qualcomm Incorporated and Others Celebrate Young Inventors from 33 Countries at FIRST Championship in St. Louis

Event Wraps Up 8 Days of Robotics Action and STEM Innovation in Houston and St. Louis; More than 60,000 Attendees Between Two Championship Events

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Marching for Science: We need STEM education and educated policymaking

Apr 28, 2017 by FIRST Alum, Melody Tan


The following article was originally published on Medium.com.

On April 22, scientists and science supporters gathered at Sam Houston Park for the Houston March for Science.