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Purpose, Vision, and Mission
Purpose, Vision, and Mission
These are more than words on a page; our organizational statements encapsulate our promise to build a thriving global robotics community and to remain at the very forefront of STEM education.
Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition
Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition
Gracious Professionalism is part of the ethos of FIRST. It's a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community.
Through Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain coexist. Participants compete intensely while treating each other with respect and empathy. There is no trash talking, nor disingenuous platitudes. Knowledge, competition, and empathy blend comfortably.
Coopertition fosters innovation by promoting unqualified kindness and respect in the face of intense competition.
At FIRST, Coopertition means teams help and cooperate with each other, even as they compete. It's about learning from teammates, teaching others, collaborating with mentors, managing, and being managed. Coopertition embodies the spirit of competing while assisting and enabling others whenever possible.
Who was Woodie Flowers?
Who was Woodie Flowers?
One of the founders of FIRST was a man by the name of Dr. Woodie Flowers. He developed the idea of robotics competitions at MIT. He coined the term Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition and he brought each of these ideas to create FIRST Robotics. Here is a little history of him and his class at MIT as well as the impact he had on Engineering Education.
Our Core Values
Our Core Values
The FIRST Core Values are fundamental to FIRST and unique to its programs. They emphasize friendly sportsmanship, respect for others’ contributions, teamwork, learning, and community involvement and are part of our commitment to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of unity.
Our community expresses the FIRST philosophies of Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® through the FIRST Core Values.
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