Giving Compass' Take:

• Don Bossi explains how robotics competitions engage students in STEM and help to build a diverse workforce. 

• How can competitions work with high school curricula to expand the reach of STEM engagement? 

• Learn where there are gaps in STEM education. 

Here’s an elevator pitch we’ve heard—FIRST is bridging the STEM skills gap to create the only sport where every kid can go pro. Can you elaborate on that?

We are very much about putting inspiration in front of education. Robotics competitions have the same thrills and excitement every other sport has. We give kids a challenging problem they want to accomplish, and along the way they realize, ‘gee, I actually have to use the math and science I’ve been learning to figure this out.’ Once the spark is lit, they start to take harder classes, and they are more interested in STEM as a career. The chances a high school athlete is going to become a pro athlete are one in a million. But we can say there are jobs out there for every kid who is developing skill sets from our programs.

What makes robotics competitions the ideal launching pad for creating future innovators, technology leaders, and creative problem-solvers?

It’s not that we think that robotics is the be all and end all. It’s a platform that has this ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe we did that!’ type of impact on kids. And that’s what sets them down the path of thinking, ‘Maybe I have skills I never knew I had!’

You focus on creating a culture of diversity and inclusion. Why is a diverse workforce the best workforce?

A diverse population is the customer set for almost every company. And I believe to build the products that serve that more diverse customer set, you need diverse input into the design and engineering process. There’s also a social imperative. If high-paying jobs and the ability to start companies are limited to a small subset of the population, that creates a tremendous opportunity gap and achievement gap.

Read the full interview with Don Bossi about robotics competitions by Kelli Anderson at EdSurge.