As FIRST Robotics students, we are known to not only participate in Robot Design, Build and Programming but also in other aspects of the team such as Media, Business and Strategy. This summer, The Green Machine assembled its own Advocacy Team and traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the first National Advocacy Conference organized by Team 27 RUSH. We were given the opportunity to talk to our Congressmen and Senators, introduce them to the FIRST program and discuss education issues that would help grow STEM and FIRST.
Our D.C. advocacy trip started with a two-day conference with 17 teams from all around the U.S. Well-informed speakers like James Burger, who represents FIRST in Washington as an official lobbyist with Thompson Coburn; Whitney Silverman, Federal and State Legislative Counsel at the Bernstein Strategy Group; Benjamin Grove, legislative assistant with Thompson Coburn, and Megan Wolfe, Advocacy Manager and registered lobbyist with ASCD, taught us how to speak with the people at Capitol Hill. They also introduced us to issues with acts like ESEA, IDEA and eRate and how we would present these to the Members of Congress. As a returning team, we made sure that other teams could use our experience in preparing for the meetings. America’s future engineers and STEM professionals were ready to take the stage at the nation’s capital.
The next morning, each team headed off to meet with their Congress members. Representing Minnesota, Team 1816 and Team 2502 met with Senators Klobuchar and Franken and Congressmen Kline, Paulsen and Ellison. Our Representatives and their staff were very receptive towards what we had to show and tell them about and displayed immediate interest in the FIRST program. Our aim going into these meetings was to build a relationship with these people so that with their support STEM would grow and FIRST would reach even greater heights. At the end of it all, it was a very educative experience for all of us and left us excited for what is to come for FIRST and all the teams.
Throughout the advocacy conference, it was great to see more than 150 students fully participating in the activities and running from one building to another proudly representing their state. Team 1816 would like to thank Steve Hyer and Team 27 RUSH for organizing the first annual National Advocacy Conference and we hope to be back again next year!