McKenzie Kil-A-Bytes

The FIRST Purpose

FIRST Vision and Mission

"To create a world where science and technology are celebrated... where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes" - FIRST Vision

FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs that build not only science and technology skills and interests, but also self-confidence, leadership, and life skills. - FIRST Mission

Interest in Science and Technology

FIRST was founded in 1989 by entrepreneurial engineer Dean Kamen. Kamen noted that the heroes of today involved movie stars and athletes, rather than scientists and intellectuals. FIRST uses the sports mindset of utilizing competition to foster an engaging environment that elevates excitement levels for science and technology as well as excitement levels for innovation and invention.

The impact FIRST has upon its students has become an increasingly noticeable trend. In fact, according to a study by an independent group, FIRST students compared to a comparison group are:

• More than 3 times as likely to major specifically in engineering.
• Roughly 10 times as likely to have had an apprenticeship, internship, or co-op job in their freshman year.
• Significantly more likely to expect to achieve a post graduate degree.
• More than twice as likely to expect to pursue a career in science and technology.
• Nearly 4 times as likely to expect to pursue a career specifically in engineering.

Gracious Professionalism

FIRST is much more than simply building robots. It emphasizes service to the community and promoting science, mathematics, and engineering. In the spirit of gracious professionalism, teams reach out to younger individuals in their communities and mentor FIRST Lego League teams.

Gracious professionalism is part of the ethos of FIRST. It is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. Gracious professionalism encourages teams to help each other.

The FIRST Purpose and McKenzie Robotics

The McKenzie Robotics Team, while being a perennial award winning team, is far from just a competitive team. Many of its members go on to prestegious engineering schools around the area such as Purdue University, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and more; some of its members even return as mentors to help share the lesson they learned to new students going through the program.

Beyond just advancing its students, though, McKenzie Robotics is also devoted to the community it is in. The team has participated in numerous demonstrations around the area, including ones from the Indianapolis Museum of Art to local car dealerships. The team also helps mentor a couple local FLL teams, including schools in the township. McKenzie Robotics students also help serve as mentors for the team's annual VEX Summer Camp, a pre-engineering camp focused on middle-schoolers (and future FIRST students) by using the VEX kits and a student-designed game.

Site Map || Created by the McKenzie Kil-A-Bytes Web Team: Contact the webmaster