Scholarships
MARS Member Awarded $40,000 FIRST Scholarship
2006 Team Captain Brian Wise standing next to Governor Bush in the MARS pit area at the Florida Regionals Competition. Brian received a $10,000 per year FIRST scholarship from the Florida Institute of Technology, where he'll be a freshman engineering student in the fall of 2006.
Scholarship Opportunities
Over 7.5 million in scholarship awards are available exclusively to FIRST students from some of the leading colleges and universities. Over 70 institutions currently provide 421 merit-based offerings, and the number has been growing yearly.
Providing FIRST Scholarship Awards in Science and Technology:
ASME
DeVry University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
ITT Technical Institute
Mercedes Benz
Northeastern University
Raytheon Company
Society of Women Engineers
University of Central Florida
WPI
Design Innovation
For a complete list of opportunities visit http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/scholsh.htm or look specifically for 2007 scholarships here: http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=512 .
Introduction to Careers and Educational Choices
Students involved with FIRST teams gain real-world engineering experience and the opportunity to explore various career options. Interacting with team mentors who are professionals working in various fields, students learn from the pros. Due to the nature of the competition, not only technical, but also non-technical mentors are involved with the team. An introduction to careers as varied as those working with finance, publicity, and graphic design often occurs as students are introduced to engineering. They learn first hand what is involved in a variety of jobs, and how to gain the education and technical proficiency needed to gain similar employment. Often companies who sponsor or provide mentors to a FIRST team will also offer summer internship opportunities or job opportunities for graduating students.
Education Trends and High School Robotics Teams
A recent article stresses the educational value of student involvement in robotics teams. Rhode Island is initiating a state wide program to have VEX Robotics Teams in all its high schools. Read more about the details and reasoning behind this here: http://www.roboticstrends.com/displayarticle972.html
