Dean's Congressional Assignment

With Congress, Team 812 is spreading the message of FIRST throughout the United States. In the beginning, we wrote letters and sent out regional invitations to our local legislatures. Although that was a great effort, it was even more wonderful when our local legislatures responded.

Before long, we found ourselves in the office of Lori Saldana [CA-76], talking to her about FIRST and our experience with engineering and robotics. Later, we found a letter in the mail from Susan Davis [CA-53], who pledged her support for our team. We even heard back from her and were informed that she was able to engage Nancy Pelosi [CA-8] to help us institute nationwide engineering education.

Together, they urged Congress to work with us to put the United States back in the forefront of innovation, especially at a time when we were falling farther and farther behind. Making Team 812 a part of the history of the United States, they had our accomplishments documented in the permanent Congressional Record. In May, a student from our team will be visiting Washington DC to speak to Congress about FIRST.