Team 88 Graciously Accepts!
"FIRST's Vision is to positively transform culture by inspiring young people, their schools, and communities to appreciate science and technology."
F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen as a way to allow high school students to become interested in fields of science and technology. By creating a game each year, F.I.R.S.T. encourages students to challenge themselves and work along side real engineers to build a robot that will be able to play the game at competitions where teams show off their "gracious professionalism" and interact with students from all around the country and the world. In 1996 the head coach, Elizabeth Calef, heard about F.I.R.S.T. and with an already established partnership with Johnson & Johnson companies, TJ2 hopped onto the bandwagon.
Each year, in September, TJ2 starts recruiting student members from Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School. The 80-90 students who initially sign up must go through a rigorous process to make it onto the final traveling team at the end of the year. That rigorous process includes raising $650 from sponsors, commiting 30 hours to the team, and keeping grades up.
In early January, TJ2 receives, along with more than a thousand teams across the world, a game challenge. Then for 6 intense weeks, the team strives to create a robot that can play the game as best as possible. Once the robot is shipped off, all that is left for the members is to anticipate and prepare for the competitions ahead.