Our society runs on technology, and each year yesterday’s science fiction becomes todays science fact. Only 30 years ago the thought of robots that could think for themselves, cars that don’t require a human driver, and the concept of a single wireless device able to trade stocks, check your email, and call a friend were only fictitious ideas destined for some other era. Those ideas are now a reality. Unfortunately, they’ve become a reality in a society that worships beauty over intelligence.

Many people believed that wasn’t right.

Dean Kamen took action.

Dean set a goal in 1989, “to transform our culture by creating a world where science andtechnology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes,” and created FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization based around two main ideas. The first is to have scientists and engineers be idolized the same way as movie stars, the second is to spread the idea of gracious professionalism. The idea of gracious professionalism is that “fierce competition” and “mutual gain” are not separate notions. It’s the idea that teams learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process.

FIRST has gone from 28 New Hampshire teams in 1992 to over 150,000 kids and the FIRST International Championship currently held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and continues to grow each year.

If you would like to learn more about FIRST, visit their website at http://www.usfirst.org/