FIRST thing: Robotics in every school
— -- Days after more than 10,000 students gathered in Atlanta's Georgia Dome to compete in a robotics championship, Brian Toohey has one thing on his mind: how to make a robotics education accessible to every public high school.
Toohey, senior vice president for international affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is rallying support among members of Congress and Department of Education employees for legislation to help his cause. And with the publicity boost from the competition, sponsored by robotics education non-profit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), Toohey hopes it's enough to inspire Congress to fund a program that would allow inner-city schools access to the FIRST program.
"Our thought is, as we grow, an appropriate role for the government might be to provide funding to the inner-city minority schools so we don't leave those school systems behind," he says. FIRST now relies on corporate sponsors, but the program has had a tough time finding sponsors and mentors for low-income areas, Toohey says.
Toohey says he is crafting legislation that could secure $100 million over five years, a figure he describes as "modest." The money would go toward travel expenses, robot-building equipment and possibly a stipend to teachers who lead the program.
Toohey says he has been a volunteer with the FIRST Robotics Championship since 2000. He has been a mentor, a competition referee and an organizer, among other roles.
"We've seen (the program) work in thousands of schools across the country, and we know that the model works," he says.
This year's FIRST Robotics Competition Championship took place April 16-18 and honored the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. Participating high-schoolers were challenged to design a robot that could throw balls and compete in a basketball-style game on a low-friction floor. The winning team was an alliance of "The HOT Team" from Huron Valley Schools in Milford, Mich.; "Wildstang" of Rolling Meadows High School and Wheeling High School in Schaumburg, Ill.; and "Spartan Robotics" of Mountain View High School in Mountain View, Calif.
