The FIRST Organization was founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989. FIRST means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The organization is dedicated to spreading interest in math, science, and technology to high school students around the world.

FIRST Competitions
There are four different competition levels within FIRST, each designed for a different age of participants.

The main competition is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). FRC is designed for high school students. Each year, a game challenge is announced in early January and teams have six weeks to design and build a robot to play that game both with and against other teams.

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is also directed at high school students. FTC gives students a challenge to solve, much like FRC, but is more accessible to impoverished high schools. This helps spread FIRST to schools who might not otherwise have the means to compete.

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Junior FIRST LEGO League (JFLL) are programs for middle school and elementary school students. FLL and JFLL downsize the FIRST Robotics Competition to levels more appropriate for younger kids. The two leagues have similar elements to the high school competitions, but include aspects like team building that can help students immeasurably as they get older.

Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition
In 2009, at the FIRST World Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, Dean Kamen patented two phrases that make up the backbone of everything FIRST is about: Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition.

While on the field, six FIRST teams may be in competition with each other, but once the buzzer ends the match, Gracious Professionalism takes hold. Gracious Professionalism means helping other teams whenever they need it. It also means not being afraid to ask for help. Gracious Professionalism brings all of the teams of FIRST together in a global community.

Along much the same lines as Gracious Professionalism, Coopertition combines competition and cooperation. Coopertitious teams compete to their best abilities on the field, but once off, they become partners. Teams work to create the best experience for everyone in the league, from students on their own team to teams they have never met.

FIRST by the Numbers

• FIRST reaches 214,000 elementary, middle, and high school students globally.
• There are 1,809 teams in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
• FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen in 1989.
• Last year, 10% of MIT's incoming freshmen were FIRST alumni.
• 12 countries and all 50 states in the U.S. have FIRST teams.
• Over $12 million is available in FIRST scholarships.
• An average FIRST team has 25 members.

The Goal of FIRST

Dean Kamen's goal in founding FIRST was to promote science, math, and technology. FIRST does an excellent job of this. Hundreds of thousands of students have avenues to  fields that, without FIRST, they would have no way of receiving. FIRST also offers students great opportunities and skills for the rest of their lives. To find out more about FIRST visit http://www.usfirst.org/.