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Young
people today are bombarded with many
distractions like video games, television, personal
electronics, music, sports and media personalities. While
these may be
entertaining distractions they will not help a young student think of
what their future could hold for them.
FIRST
(For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology)
is committed to give students a
glimpse into the world of science and technology. The goal is to have
them consider a career in these fields to help keep America
one of
the
leading investigators in science and producers of technology
the
world has ever known.
FIRST accomplishes this task by creating an engaging, fun yet
challenging
competition called the FIRST Robotics Competition
(FRC). This program encourages students to imagine great
things
and
helps them to make them reality. This is all done
while applauding
those scientists and engineers that have made our modern life possible.
Most importantly students work hand in hand with real
engineers,
scientists, school faculty and parents from the local community to
accomplish their goals. |
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Lansdale Catholic High School made the decision back in
1998 to embrace the ideals of FIRST. Since then we have graduated many
students from our program destined to careers in science and
engineering. Several of
these have returned as mentors to our program. The
"Robotics" program at LC continues to be a source of
pride
for our school, our students and
our community. It remains one of the most popular activities
and
well known non-sports activities at Lansdale Catholic High School.
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Lansdale Catholic Robotics has held
a FIRST LEGO League Competition
since the FLL pilot back in 1998. The FLL program has the same goals of
FRC but at the middle school level. Over the years our competition has
grown from 6 teams in the pilot to over 50 teams in the last few
seasons.
Our running this competition has created a hot bed of FIRST
FLL and FRC activity in the Philadelphia area. Our Robotics
program is seeing the effects of this effort through the students we
get into our program. Fully 30% come into Lansdale Catholic
Robotics already knowing of FIRST and its ideals having been
through several years of FLL in their own schools.
In addition to FLL and FRC, FIRST runs programs like Junior
FIRST Lego League (JFLL) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). These
are
designed to allow more students an opportunity to participate. |
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| In short, FIRST, through its many competitions,
embraced by
thousands of programs like Lansdale Catholic Robotics
throughout
the United States and several other countries, are
transforming students' lives. The many community based
volunteers
attracted to these programs bring a wealth of experience and passion
to help students see a bright future. |
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