I'm not sure why this was posted now but my kid is involved with this and it is a great org.
I was excited for him to get involved for many reasons but one of which I've been a pretty big fan of Dean Kamen (he co-founded First). However, over the past few years I've learned Dean is kind of a douche and the real star of First is (well, now was) Woody Flowers. He's a great example to all the kids and his philosophy of "graciousness professional" is no bullshit. It is a great way to roll out tech / STEM to kids.
I was involved in FRC all through highschool, and later volunteered with a team for several years. Woody truly was the star. I hadn't heard that he passed--I am saddened to learn of it now. As a volunteer in FIRST, the highest recognition you could hope for is the Woody Flowers Award. As a student I was incredibly fortunate to be around several (then-or-later) Woody Flowers Award winners as mentors.
As a longtime participant in this program, I'd say this take is pretty spot on.
Woodie wasn't just the star of FIRST; competitive robotics based STEM education was basically his brainchild, building out from his work on the MIT 2.007 course. He really was the true ethos of the organization.
Dean's a douche? I haven't experienced that having met him several times (even being to his house for a supplier thing when I worked at a company that gave FIRST a ton of stuff). But I guess I could see how folks might form that opinion since he's definitely no Woodie Flowers in terms of social skills. :)
I regret using that word. The few times I saw him speak he was either a) obviously drunk b) hyping up the military like no one's business or c) just kind of bragging about whatever. It was shocking. Then I saw Woody speak a few times and it was like magic.
When my kid first got into First I keep asking him about Dean (again, I was a fan) and he was like, "no one cares about him."
My dad worked at DeKa for a few years. There are a collection of things, such as compulsory gifts that employees need to work on in their personal time for Dean, that make me think “douche” is an acceptable descriptor. However, I helped start an FRC team over a decade ago and my family is still active in mentoring. It’s a great program with great results.
I was excited for him to get involved for many reasons but one of which I've been a pretty big fan of Dean Kamen (he co-founded First). However, over the past few years I've learned Dean is kind of a douche and the real star of First is (well, now was) Woody Flowers. He's a great example to all the kids and his philosophy of "graciousness professional" is no bullshit. It is a great way to roll out tech / STEM to kids.