Re: change the teen culture

["Mike Rush" <mike.rush@veriomail.com>]

Change the culture?  Have I got a suggestion for you!!!

There is a national non-profit organization I work with called FIRST.  It
has developed programs for middle and high school students to learn about
leadership, teamwork, science, math and technology all while having a very
good time.  FIRST stands for 'For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology'.

I have just returned from Orland, FL where the National Competitions are
held each year.  Through a partnership with Disney and many other major
corporations, the parking lot at Epcot is turned into the site of the most
impressive gathering of high school students I have ever seen.  This year
there were over 500 teams nationally, and 340 at Epcot.  This translates
into roughly 15,000 commited, involved kids doing something good for
themselves and thier communities!!  This is the perfect place to start the
change!!  There are also many regional competitions held throughout the
country which teams can attend if they are unable to go to FL.

I have been working with our team for the last four years and I have seen
how this project changes the lives of kids.  Go to the web site
www.usfirst.org or www.chiefdelphi.org and see for yourself.  There are many
other team web sites and you can find links to them from the FIRST site as
well as search engines such as google.

I agree with Shahab Mesbah completely in that parenting is the best way to
change the culture.  But absent that we have got to do something!

If you are really serious about change, get up off the couch and change kids
lives.  Impress the need on the businesses in your community and form a
FIRST team.  Form several if you are really serious.  Shahab Mesbah, the
Technical Director of Meteor Light Labs who also responded to this message
would be a great place to start for support.  She is obviously concerned
about the teen culture and sees a need to help kids.  NASA has been a super
supporter of FIRST and gives grant monies to newly formed teams.

The support from the community is there.   Leverage It!!  Get the kids
involved with something that rewards them for thier hard work and effort
(and I don't mean $).  The rewards are in the building of the team, building
of the individual and the building of knowledge.

As Deam Kaman said at the last wrap party this weekend, "Ignorance is a
great weapon, but knowledge is a greater tool".  Kids need to know this!

Please email me if you have any questions.  I believe completely if you can
talk to some of the kids that have gone through this expierence you would be
at the head of the line creating teams and making FIRST grow.

Change the culture!  ---GO DO IT---


Mike Rush
Moscow, ID at Heart
Mesa, AZ in Reality
mike.rush@veriomail.com