During the week of June 24, 2019, one of our team members, Melissa Domen, participated in the 2019 6th Annual FIRST National Advocacy Conference (NAC) in Washington, DC. The purpose of the conference was to advocate to members of Congress and Senators about FIRST and the importance of STEM in education.
Before meeting with members of Congress and Senators on Capitol Hill, Melissa had the opportunity to learn about how government works, the importance of policy legislation, Capital Logistics, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She also learned how to advocate for FIRST and STEM in education. While learning about these new methods and concepts, teams participated in many team-building exercises and networked with many other FIRST Robotics teams.
Melissa had the opportunity to meet Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman along with her Chief of Staff and Press Secretary, Congressman Chris Smith’s Legislative Correspondent, and the Legislative Assistant for Education for Senator Cory A. Booker. During her meetings, she talked about the mission of FIRST, the importance of STEM, and the Redbird Robotics team’s successes we had this past season. All of the Congressmen and women were impressed by the successes of our team.
The 2020 7th Annual FIRST NAC will take place June 21 – 23, 2020 in Washington DC. Early registration ends April 1, 2020. For more information, go to firstnac.org .