I’m in my mid 20s and FRC was probably my favorite high school memory. From the community, to the challenges, to the robots you get to participate in building. It’s such a cool program.
Hopefully it gains higher adoption among other public schools, FRC was foundational to my SWE journey
I’m a SWE now, but being on the build team of FIRST taught me an incredible amount and now that I’m a homeowner I’m realizing how applicable it is. I remember cutting 2x4s to build demo field parts and now I’m building walls of my home out of the same material with the same tools I used as a teenager.
Same, I’m in my late 30s and it’s one of my best high school memories as well. Learned so much, made so many great friends, and worked with amazing technologies.
Back in the days of personal computing, an administrator at my high school managed to secure funding for a robotics course despite there not being anyone at the school who knew more than basic wiring.
We wound up buying an Apple ][ and a Rubbermaid trash can and an early voice recognition module (Cognivox) which we then mounted on a set of wheels and put the monitor on a lazy susan on top and the opening was made into a drawer for the computer/keyboard, and the bottom was opened up to have a latchable door where an extension cord and other accessories could be stored.
We called it CTC-1 (Computerized Trash Can, Mark 1) --- always wondered what happened to it and the lab of TRS-80 Model IIIs...
I still regret not over-ruling the finance committee and buying my kids a Lego Mindstorm set when they first came out.....
Incredibly exciting that you can do this!