1. Pro: F.I.R.S.T. is a wonderful program that enriches the lives of everyone involved. They are especially interested in getting girls involved with the fields of science and technology, and specifically engineering. I interviewed a Mentor from Missouri Team 1987 the Broncobots, named Mr. Reynolds. He said how much the program helped the students get involved in learning and education. He goes on about how the program has gotten many kids “…off their butts and into a place where they feel smart and accepted.” I ask him specifically about the girls on the team. He says that there are seven girls and they are all very helpful. He says that they each have a job or task and most of them finish it before the boys might. He says he is really proud of the girls for trying to move into a field that is basically a boy’s club and try to make their mark. Team 1987 since it’s inception have won numerous awards, including the two highest awards that send teams to Internationals, Engineering Inspiration and also the very prestigious Chairman’s award at the regionals they attended. Mr. Reynolds says that they only reason they won was because of help from a very important girl. Con: F.I.R.S.T. is a wonderful program in theory. Nothing ever seems to work in real life like it does on paper. For this interview I talked to the other mentor on Team 1987 Mrs. Griffth. She began with, “I don’t want to be the bad guy, but…” She feels that the program really could help young girls get into the spirit of the F.I.R.S.T. world, but she said she has never seen it in practice. “I mentor a team, my daughters were both on teams, and we work very closely with the other teams in the city and near by. I just haven’t seen one team where there is a really important girl who actually helps build the robot.” She says how our team never would have won the awards that it has without the help of girls. She says how they knew what they were doing and were definitely a great help to the team. She goes on to say how none of them really got down and dirty with the robot. “There was one girl, but I wasn’t the mentor then and can’t really comment on her help,” The girl she is talking about is Sarah Bringer who basically won the team’s first award, the Xerox Design Award. She was only on the team two years and was important the first year but was slowly moved out by the boys. Mrs. Griffth said she hoped that there were teams out there serving girls better than they could. F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology ) is a robotics program that is designed to teach all age school students the fundamentals of working in an environment of engineering. It promotes critical thinking and problem solving, working in a group, and having loyalty, but also being graciously professional and knowing that even though this is a competition, you can always help out others in need. The program is designed to get students involved with science and technology by giving students hands on experience with real engineers and fast paced competitions with complex problems. Every year they put a specific investment of time in trying to get girls involved, trying to break the barrier that Science is for boys. At the same time around the world, all the teams watch a live feed and are given that year’s game to play. The teams then have 6 weeks to divine and create a working robot to play that game. They then travel and compete at regionals across the world. From what I can tell: This program is a gift from the god of science, Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway. He says that the vision of the program is "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.“ And yet, should those leaders all be men? There is nothing in any of their information that says anything special about girls. Each year at the regionals they stack their judges with the finest in science today, and there are usually only one or two women judges per regional. The girls who do join the team are often put into the business side of the program, or not doing jobs that are related to the engineering which they so love to promote. This program cannot be effective until they really start emphasizing that anyone can do science. Works Cited: "FRC Robotics." USFIRST.org - Welcome to FIRST. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.. "Gracious Professionalism TM." USFIRST.org - Welcome to FIRST. 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.. "Interview with Mrs. Griffth from Team 1987." Personal interview. 13 Nov. 2010. "Inteview with Mr. Reynolds from Team 1987." Personal interview. 13 Nov. 2010. Kamen, Dean. "Vision and Mission." USFIRST.org - Welcome to FIRST. F.I.R.S.T. Web. 29 Nov. 2010..