will.i.am Encouraging Students To Participate In FIRST®
After teaming up with famed inventor Dean Kamen to create a hour-long TV back to school special to help promote science, education and technology, Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is again working with not-for-profit organization FIRST, to encourage students to help make science cool.
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, officially launched its 2011/2012 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC®) season with an online Kickoff event unveiling this year’s game, BOWLED OVER!™
The FIRST Tech Challenge, a widely-accessible high-school robotics program that promotes project-based learning, was recently featured on the groundbreaking ABC-TV Special, “I.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll,” hosted by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.
Easily adapted to fit various venues, FTC is a highly scalable program that easily integrates into the classroom with measurable results.
FIRST teams learn to engage business, engineering and science professionals, and working together, become a focal point of the community.
“This year’s competition is all about persistence,” said will.i.am.
“Last year, I entered FTC as Rookie, and as a Rookie, I competed against the grand master, Dean Kamen, and we won”
“We won because we were persistent. That’s the mode. That’s the vibe. We’ve got to change America by making science the coolest thing on the planet.”
More than 21,000 high-school-aged students are expected to participate in this year’s competition.
The object of the game will be to design and build robots robust enough to push a bowling ball uphill, yet sophisticated enough to pick up racquetballs and place them into crates, and stack the crates to score points.
The final 30 seconds of the driver-controlled period is called the end game, where each Alliance, consisting of two opposing teams is challenged to push their bowling ball into their “home zones” to score additional bonus points.
For more information, log on to usfirst.org.
Peep a promote video below, featuring will.i.am, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg and many more.
