#GetAnywhere: Celebrating National STEM Day

Each year, National STEM Day is celebrated in the U.S. on November 8 to promote STEM education and careers for young people. According to the World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report (2013), 44% of workers’ core skills are expected to change in the next five years. At FIRST^®, we design our engaging mentor-based programs to help students realize STEM skills are critical for any career, even those not traditionally considered STEM.

FIRST – with the help of our sponsors, donors, volunteers, and other supporters – empowers students to build the STEM skills and real-world skills they need to become productive global citizens. With the skills honed through FIRST, our alumni can build futures tailored to their unique talents and interests and #GetAnywhere.

Meet several FIRST alumni and learn more about how they used FIRST-learned skills to succeed in their chosen careers:

Ellen Willcock

Senior Production Engineer, Dow 

“My FIRST experience laid the groundwork for my personal resiliency. Attempting to build a robot in six weeks as a freshman in high school seemed impossible, but as I started to get into FIRST, impossible transformed into inspiration. The confidence I developed by seeing what a team could accomplish, what I could learn, and my capabilities propelled me into my college life and career. Now I know that with a great team, the right questions, and a little bit of daring, anything is possible.”

Dr. Melissa Smith

Staff UX Research Lead, Google Workspace

“I use skills I learned through FIRST every day. For example, working backward from deadlines and planning out work in stages, being able to summarize complex design thinking into quickly digestible briefs, coordinating with various sized teams and working with people who all bring different skills to the team. These are all things I learned early in life through FIRST and apply every day.”

Shrey Majmudar

Associate, McKinsey & Company

“Participating in all FIRST programs had an indelible impact on my life. FIRST provided me with a robust foundation I have relied on throughout my career across the private and public sectors, most recently serving on The White House’s National Security Council staff. FIRST has enabled me to explore my interests and strengths at an early age. FIRST has changed my career and my life.”

Kelsey Draus

Materials Test Engineer, Molex

“Joining a FIRST team exposed me to a broad spectrum of engineering and STEM disciplines. Participating in the program and working alongside engineering mentors ignited my passion for creative problem solving. Today, I have a fulfilling career as a materials engineer, where I solve unique problems every day. FIRST provided me the tools and inspiration to make this journey possible.”

Jason Rudolph

SVP, Screens Producer, Aeon Point 

“My experiences in FIRST taught me to organize and lead a team of people across skillsets, under a tight timeframe, to achieve an end goal that would change from project to project. My career is almost the definition of STEAM. We are highly technical people that are producing art and entertainment for the masses across media outlets. We have to take a creative vision and translate that into technical execution in order to pull off events like the Super Bowl halftime show.”

Kelly Carlson

Senior Project Engineer, Hasbro Gaming and Avalon Hill 

“I can trace all of my career success back to my FIRST experience! Through FIRST, I learned what engineering really was by designing and building robots – but it was about so much more than the robots. In my role [as a Senior Project Engineer], I am reimagining the most classic board and card games in the world and am helping to create the next amazing game.”

While students figure out their tomorrows, FIRST helps them build their skills today. Learn more about how FIRST empowers students to “Get Anywhere.” If you are a FIRST alum, we want to learn about where you are now – share your story on social media with #GetAnywhere or send an email to marketing@firstinspires.org.