FIRST is one of the most important sports in the world, and brings back many great memories to anyone who has participated. There is no high school program tha

FIRST is one of the most important sports in the world, and brings back many great memories to anyone who has participated. There is no high school program that teaches the principles of engineering, programming, rapid prototyping and teamwork so well. That, and it is just downright fun to build robots. Part of FIRST's value lies in its ability to get anyone involved in a team and get them excited about technology. There were non-technical students who joined my high school's FRC team (Team 3652) and helped by leading our fundraising and media projects. They learned plenty of business and life skills. But best of all, when the robot scored for the first time, they were just as excited as the rest of us.