Jim's Testimony
Here is a Testimony written By Jim Bench about his experience with FIRST.
From learning about design, to keeping an open, positive attitude about life in general; FIRST has helped me as an engineer and on a personal level in countless ways. I started on the Holland High school FIRST team in my sophomore year in 1996. I was fairly shy my first year, but by my senior year, I was a strong student leader. Through this program, I was encouraged to pursue my mechanical engineering degree, Haworth, the team 74 sponsor, even contributed to my education. In 2003 I graduated from Michigan Technological University with my mechanical engineering degree. After running into a former FIRST team member, Rick Slater, I was invited back to the team as a mentor. My first time back to the team, I looked around and only recognized only a couple of faces, and this was kickoff day! That day, Rick and I decided that we needed more bonding on the team. We created Rick and Jim’s Wild World of Engineering. We had some pre-season problem solving activities that would be fun, but more importantly would build the team. Even though there is an ever changing dynamic on the team, I feel that we are constantly growing. We have had a number of students graduate and go on to engineering school. In high school, I found FIRST to be a very entertaining and fun, challenging way to spend a cold Michigan winter. Today I still find it fun and challenging, but it is more important to me to know that we are having a positive impact on the future of our global economy.