The Vex Challenge Coming to a School Near You
by Bryce and Evan Woolley

At the end of last year, the Rhode Island Science & Technology Advisory Council announced its goal of bringing the FIRST Vex Challenge program to all of the 67 public high schools, charter schools, and career/technical centers in the state of Rhode Island. Governor Donald Carcieri has voiced enthusiastic support for the program, and the Science & Technology Advisory Council describes the Vex Challenge as a natural fit with their mission of promoting science education and preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow.

This statewide institutionalization of a FIRST educational robotics program is the first of its kind in the nation, and as such, is a great success for Dean Kamen’s vision of revitalizing the image of engineering in education and a success for anyone invested in the future of technology and progress in this nation.

All told, the Rhode Island program is estimated to cost the state $140,000. For a program of this magnitude and importance, such a price tag seems quite reasonable. A hundred thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket to most State budgets, especially for our home state of California (which ranks among the top 10 economies in the world by itself), but which does not have such a program for FIRST of its own yet — even though the second biggest industry in California is aerospace (the third being entertainment).