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When I joined FIRST, I was only a part of it to spend more time with my friends. However, the program allowed me to develop skills in STEAM, and introduced me to many new ideas. First also has a great community surrounding it, and the program been an inspiration to not just children, but to adults as well.

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My name is Isaiah Marriner, and I currently serve as the Director of FIRST Robotics Competition with FIRST Chesapeake. FIRST means "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology." The mission of FIRST is to provide life-changing robotics programs that give young people the skills, confidence, and resilience to build a better world. FIRST Chesapeake is a nonprofit organization that carries out and delivers FIRST programs in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. I assumed my current position as the Director of FRC. Before this, I was a teacher with Portsmouth Public Schools and a coach for FRC Team #3359 for 7 years. During my time teaching and coaching for Portsmouth, I witnessed the impact various programs had on a student's growth and development. Some programs were good, some were bad, but FIRST has been great. There haven't been any other school activities as impactful to a student's intellectual development as FIRST has been. While FIRST is a system of robotics competitions, it is also far more than robots. FIRST programs allow students to merge school content to produce business plans, engineering notebooks, websites, presentations, and robots. The culmination of these things has set FIRST apart from every other school activity I've seen, be it Model UN or a wrestling tournament. Every year, students engage in a new challenge. This year's theme is "FIRST in Show" and focuses on how STEM interacts with the arts. Please join us at an FRC event so you can witness the impact firsthand. All of our events are free and open to the public. Our schedule for this season is shared below. March 1-3 Blacksburg, VA FRC Event Blacksburg High School 3401 Bruin Ln, Blacksburg, VA 24060 March 1-3 Ashland, VA FRC Event Patrick Henry High School 12449 W Patrick Henry Rd, Ashland, VA 23005 March 8-10 Portsmouth, VA FRC Event Churchland High School 4301 Cedar Ln, Portsmouth, VA 23703 March 15-17 Glen Allen, VA FRC Event Deep Run HS 4801 Twin Hickory Rd, Glen Allen, VA 23059 March 22-24 Falls Church, VA FRC Event Meridian High School 121 Mustang AlleyFalls Church, VA 22043

FIRST has allowed me to improve my problem solving and teamwork skills in a fun way! I get to make myself a more well rounded person overall as well as volunteer to help young kids get interested in STEM.

FIRST has greatly impacted my life in so many ways. I have been a part of FIRST for 4 years so far, through both FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition, and I hope to continue engaging both as a student and later as a volunteer. FIRST has taught me a variety of skills, both in technical and outreach aspects, which will be used in all aspects of life. Most importantly, this organization allows students of all experiences and backgrounds to participate in such an interconnected activity. I am honored to be part of FIRST, and this bill will provide the program with more recognition, leading to more students being impacted by FIRST's widespread influence.

FIRST has impacted my life significantly. It has taught me many technical skills, as well as teaching and leadership skills that I will be able to use for the rest of my life. This is an amazing program, and deserves recognition.

FIRST has made a massive impact on my life, I joined the program fascinated by quick and fast robots and, four years later, I am leaving inspired. Inspired that I can make things exactly the way I want to, inspired that I can bring together a team to solve challenging problems, inspired at the helpfulness fostered between teams and the inspiration I can give younger students. The program builds character in unique ways and shows people the real world. It proves that not everything works in a way that school cannot, that some people have more money than others, and that not everything is perfectly equal. Students put their heart into robots, often being the most time consuming thing for the three months of build season and love it. I personally have been involved with FIRST for about 6 years and cannot describe the excitement related with each competition, event, and challenge.

In high school, I entered the world of FIRST Robotics, joining a FIRST Robotics Competition team and a FIRST Tech Challenge team. In joining those two teams, I didn't realize that then, I'd make the best decision I'd ever make in my entire life. FIRST not only gave me robotics experience, but it introduced me to a new home. It introduced me to a community that was welcoming and exciting. It gave me inspiration to keep going in life, and helped me learn my aptitudes. Going to robotics was my escape from the trauma and hardships of everyday life. My team members became my second family, and I spent my entire high school career with my robotics team. I had no clue what exactly I wanted to do when I went to college, and decided to give Computer Science a try. In a spin of events, I joined my team's electrical subteam, and found a love for electrical engineering, which inspired me to major in Computer Engineering when I went to college. FIRST also helped me with financing my college career, as I received a scholarship for my contributions to FIRST. I still love volunteering with FIRST so that the newer generations can have the same life-changing experience that I had as a student on a FIRST team, and a day to appreciate FIRST robotics would be so appreciated.

I've been a part of this robotics team for 3 years, and every moment of it has been immeasurably significant for my development as an engineer and as a person. Students around Virginia would benefit from the recognition of this exceptional organization as it would expand the outreach of the resources FIRST provides for enhancing robotics as a STEM extracurricular. It's worth considering that a large percentage of the students interested in STEM in undergraduate education cite a STEM extracurricular as their inspiration for pursuing their interests, and that the STEM professions that education can generate have a proven and profound impact on our community. My support for this bill reflects the notions of tens of thousands of students who have engaged with FIRST Robotics in Virginia since its founding, and the passing of this bill would surely prove invaluable for tens of thousands of Virginia students to come.

We are FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 1086 Blue Cheese from Henrico, VA. Over the past 21 years our team grew to 100+ members who work together to build and program a robot that weighs up to 120 pounds, design social media and publicity materials, and collaborate with local organizations to share STEM with our community. FIRST Robotics is a transformative program that has positively impacted thousands of lives. Young minds actively participate in hands-on STEM experiences, fostering invaluable skills for their future careers. A study conducted by Brandeis University reveals that young women engaging in such programs are over three times more likely to pursue courses in engineering and computer science. Over 90% of students on STEM+C competition teams report improvements in conflict resolution, problem-solving, and time management. Countless students across Virginia have no idea about these programs, preventing them from gaining the technical and soft skills necessary to be competitive in the Virginia job market. We understand that it is important for all students to receive the opportunity to grow, pursue leadership roles, gain technical skills, and have fun while learning. Awareness must be raised throughout Virginia to broaden the reach of STEM and Robotics among the youth. Many kids are very familiar with Little League Teams, but not many know about Robotics Teams in their area. HJ78 can raise lots of awareness and help countless kids throughout Virginia learn about this excellent program. Awareness of FIRST Robotics is pivotal in ensuring that this exceptional program can be more widely recognized for its profound positive influence on the younger generation.

FIRST has allowed me to be part of a robotics team and collaborate with people I would have never met and allowed me to gain some of the closest friends.

FIRST has impacted me a lot over my two years of participating. Ever since I joined FIRST, I have started to pursue a career in mechanical engineering and CAD design. FIRST has also taught me things like, cooperation, logical thinking, and public speaking. "Some days just don't have sprinkles." - Cade Pfeiffer(a fellow team member)

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I am the Executive Director for FIRST Chesapeake, the 501 c 3 Nonprofit that operates FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics programs in Virginia. I am also an alumnus of team 346 at L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County. FIRST works as a global community to prepare young people for a STEM future. It aims to ensure its programs have a lasting, positive impact on participants across all demographic groups. A rigorous multi-year longitudinal study, conducted by Brandeis University Center for Youth and Communities, provides strong evidence that participation in FIRST does just that. Even with just one year of FIRST participation, study participants are 2-3xs more likely to have gains in STEM outcomes than a comparison group of peers not participating in FIRST.

The FIRST Robotics Program provides our students first hand, real world experience learning technical skills and soft-skills. Actually building a physical robot creates opportunities to design, fabricate, and test both hardware and software. Students get highly engaged when they are working as a team to build their own robot. This activity requires significant time providing genuine opportunities to solve unforeseen problems. Actually building a robot teaches soft-skills such as working as part of a team, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of design, and time management. Students learn how to present their ideas in a group discussion and learn how to accept ideas from others. I have been with FIRST Robotics for 16 years since my daughter asked me to support her team. I have witnessed a number of successful outcomes seeing our students build personal confidence along with technical skills. Our local businesses have hired a number of our students right out of high school since they recognize the skills built in the robotics team. Virginia needs skilled engineers to support the business community. I support the Virginia state recognition of the FIRST Program.

I am a coach for FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team 8592, an MIT graduate, an engineer with 30 years of experience, and the father of two girls. I can honestly say that, of the many great STEM activities my kids hav been involved in, FIRST is the one with the most practical applicability. This is because it is as close to real engineering as to make almost no difference. The students have to accomplish an extremely difficult task (build a working robot) in an extremely short time, and they rise to the occasion. They have to deal with budgets, negotiate with team members to navigate tradeoffs, speak with judges about their design, operate and repair the robot under intense pressure, and throughout, maintain the FIRST principles of "gracious professionalism" and "coopertition". And those are not just catch phrases, but ideals that the program is structured to promote and develop. I have many times watched kids grow in leaps and bounds over the course of a single season. Young men go from never having used a drill to being able to design and manufacture complex robot parts. Young women gain in confidence, presenting their viewpoint about the advisability of using a particular material for a given part. It is, frankly, even more astonishing than the construction of the robot itself. Indeed, we say, "We're building people, not robots," and it's true. If we wish to maintain this country's strong position as a leader in technology, we know that we need the next generation to choose to be engineers and scientists. FIRST is an absolutely top rate program for doing encouraging this. Any recognition or support we can put into it goes directly to building the confidence and skills of our youth.

First robotics has been a very empowering experience, allowing me to learn and develop my skills as a future engineer.

I find writing to be hard and tedious, but as a current participant in FIRST and someone whose passion for STEM has been enabled by FIRST, I whole heartily support this.

FIRST Robotics has allowed me to meet so many wonder people over the short time I've been involved. Everyone involved is there to help lift you up and become the best you whether that be to prepare you for a future STEM career or life in general. FIRST isn't just about making robots, it helps create well-rounded students that can on to do anything they want. For me FIRST has allowed me to learn so much and make so many great friends and given me some of the most memorable experiences in my life. My favorite FIRST experience is volunteering to help mentor and referee FLL teams both in the off-season and in-season. Because I love giving those kids an opportunity to become better and to learn that I wasn't allowed to do when I was their age. FIRST impacts so many communities and it is well deserving of the recognition of its own day.

FIRST robotics has truly left its mark on me. The phrase more than robots is tossed around FIRST a ton, but after being in the program, I can truly say how much it has changed my life

As a student under the FIRST Robotics program, I feel that it has impacted me in innumerable ways. It not only provides a community of like-minded, driven students, who strive to innovate and better themselves each day, but the very community that surrounds it is influenced by making STEM more accessible. Through this program, I am impacted because I have a community to surround myself with, but I myself get to make a difference in changing the future for the better.

When I first got into high school I had no little interest in pursuing stem or sciences, but after joining my schools FIRST Robotics team I have experienced a reinvigoration of interest in stem. Through the program I have learned how to operate many tools and become profession in 3D printing and a bit of a diletante in CAD and electrical wiring. Additionally FIRST has shown me how stem and history can intersect. Regardless of if I choose to pursue a career in history & politics or engineering the skill I have learned in FIRST robotics, such as 3D printing, soldering, and CAD design, have/will prove useful in other areas of my life.

The FIRST Program has not only opened my eyes to the world of robotics, but also has allowed me to create something with this team that supersedes anything that any other club or program could ever accomplish. Through the FIRST Program, I have even been able to meet people from across the world during our FIRST Champs in 2023, an event that I can still recall as if it happened yesterday. The community as a whole is super inviting and accepting, and what feels like the first time in my life, I have felt at home with those on our team.

I have been a part of many programs throughout my childhood, from being an active part of FIRST Robotics to being a boy scout. However, out of all of these programs, FIRST Robotics has had one of, if not the largest, impact on my life, allowing me to not only develop skills and interest in the field of STEM but also a deep understanding of leadership, outreach, communication, networking, and many more skills that will help me during my studies at college and in my future career for a lifetime.

FIRST Robotics is a hugely impactful organization that benefits both kids and adults in the field of STEM. It is a terrific organization that supports growth in our communities.