I'm a FIRST Alum turned FIRST Mentor, fundraiser, organizer, and now FIRST LEGO League Affiliate Partner for Northeast Florida. I'm very lucky to have been a member of one of the oldest and most active FIRST Robotics Competition teams, Team 86 in Jacksonville, Florida, which turns 20 this year. When I was on that team, we were the only sustainable team in our region.

Here's the thing. With so many companies relocating to Jacksonville right now, we need engineering and manufacturing employees. FIRST is the organization that can help. When I was a mechanical engineering student, I started helping two FIRST LEGO League teams. We had fewer than twenty teams back then. If you fast forward four years to today, we have 170 FIRST teams. That's with major help from the University of North Florida, and because of them, more colleges and universities are getting involved. This year, Jacksonville University, is hosting a six-figure scholarship program for FIRST participants. With the help of people like you, we're working to ensure that every student in Northeast Florida has access to a FIRST team.