Remarks by John Thomas at the 2009-2010 First Lego Season Regional Qualifying Tournament
November 14, 2009 — Speech given by John Thomas (Senior Vice President) at the 2009-2010 First Lego League Smart Move Season Regional Qualifying Tournament held at the Smithsonian Institution's Ripley Center.
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It’s great being around so many smart… and enthusiastic young people…
Future leaders who are taking advantage of a tremendous opportunity, as they stretch themselves to gain new knowledge-intensive experiences…
I’m also especially glad to be here… at this FIRST Lego League competition in Washington, D.C…because we at Booz Allen Hamilton see our alliance with FIRST as a natural.
Why?
Our nation needs people excited by math and science …People who bring diverse multi-disciplinary skills to our most complex problems…
Yet, as the demand for students with strong math and science backgrounds increases… our supply is diminishing…
One reason for this trend is that… frankly many students lose interest in math because they can’t see how –- in real life –- they can actually use the stuff.
First Lego: A Solution Provider
The organizers of FIRST robotic competitions have, I believe, found an important therapy for the mathematics blues –- a fun… hands-on learning opportunity for young people…
FIRST programs create an experience that changes mindsets and empowers our young people to go way beyond what they might have seen themselves to be capable of…
As I praise FIRST… we also need to honor parents –- especially those… who in these tough economic times… carve out that extra time to go beyond guiding their children to empowering them to be entrepreneurial and creative in all aspects of their lives…
And when parents empower their children… it’s the teachers… some of whom are here today…that provide students with the opportunity
to gain skills that increase the likelihood of success in the fields and endeavors of their choosing…
Teachers… and other mentors, inside and outside these competitions, are often instrumental in making our children’s dreams come true.
Without teacher and mentor support… it’s much more difficult for young people to achieve their potential… or for that matter to even become aware of their own special talents.
My own life gives witness to how mentors can… and do… make a difference in young people’s lives.
From Farm Boy to Systems Integration Engineer
You see…I was raised to be a farmer.
Three generations of my family grew corn and wheat on a farm in the small South Michigan town called Olivet…
So my history programmed me to believe that work had a very physical aspect to it…and I had it in my mind that if I wasn’t sweating from exhausting physical labor, then I really wasn’t working.
Yet I moved from farming to working with science and technology teams to build solutions as a systems engineer…
Well…how did that happen?
First, a high school teacher, Mr. McClinche, took note of my math and science skills and he helped me realize that they could bring great value to jobs and vocations I had not yet heard of...or for that matter even dreamed of…
As I took tests, worked problems, and exceeded my own meager academic self-expectations, he pushed me – as our best teachers do – to learn still more…
In college… I initially majored in accounting…
But that didn’t quite fit me.
So, as many young men – and now increasing numbers of women – have done before and after me, I joined the military, as I tried to figure out what I wanted to be.
In the Air Force, I became an avionics technician…
And then just when I needed one… another mentor… entered my life.
Senior Master Sergeant Russell, just like my high school teacher, Mr. McClinche, saw a potential in me that I didn’t quite see…
He gave me a task…a challenge that in many ways is similar to how FIRST events challenge you competitors.
He offered – a young, novice technician – the opportunity to work on what we called hangar queens, broken aircraft that couldn’t fly.
But I could turn on their power… test and play with the avionics…and frankly… play with some very…very neat stuff.
Soon I realized that most of the problems I was looking at involved systems problems – not just isolated equipment problems…
Plus… there was a bonus… I got to work with engineers from the airplane manufacturer… the superstars of our avionics world…
In just six months, I gained a deeper understanding of complicated interfacing and functionality between the components of this aircraft system.
I got hooked big time on what I later learned was systems-engineering… a discipline that understands how all the parts come together as it envisions the big picture the system has to accomplish.
In Lego’s League’s competition, you get the chance to analyze a bag of parts… develop computer programs… and then link them up and make that picture real… for you.
That’s pretty much the equivalent of my being given hangar queens to study and understand how the parts make up the overall larger avionics system.
When you look back at your Lego League experience, I hope that you’ll reflect on the fact that part of the excitement came from not just focusing on the function of individual parts, but seeing how the sum of those parts come together to make the Robot operate.
In my world of engineering… that’s an exciting place to be…
Internships and Teamwork
Another good reason for Booz Allen’s sponsorship of FIRST competitions… is FIRST’s emphasis on teamwork…
At Booz Allen we’ve learned that through building diverse, multi-disciplinary, multi-experienced teams, that we gain a broader understanding of problems … and develop more relevant solutions for our clients…
Booz Allen also knows that young people can play important roles on our corporate teams.
Each year we hire about 400 interns… Many of whom make significant contributions…
As a matter of fact, there’s a recent, very concrete example of young minds playing a significant role in developing innovative solutions at Booz Allen.
This past summer… a client asked us to develop mobile communications prototypes for soldiers in Afghanistan…
We put together a team of eight interns… ranging in age from their late teens to mid-20s… People, we believed, not yet encumbered with notions of what is and isn’t possible…
So here is the situation in Afghanistan.
In the remote and mountainous terrain of that country, there’s little in the way of reliable wireless networks… or Internet connections of any kind…
Our interns built a mobile wireless network linking palm-size PDAs so that they could function in battlefield conditions across rough terrain.
The team also developed and tested applications that rode on those networks…including a voice communication package… an application to help soldiers find their way through unfamiliar caves… even a panic button that sends out a warning when a soldier is in danger…
And when a soldier is in the middle of battle, rifle in hand, she doesn’t have much time to type messages or for that matter talk into that PDA.
So they created a text-twittering application that with one click, sends out a simple messages such as “Need backup” …or “under fire”.
Luke Knepper, the team’s youngest member, was responsible for developing Battle Draw and Wiki maps, applications that make it possible for soldiers…in the midst of conflict… to quickly note and send critical information to each other across their network…
These maps and the other applications provide important tools that can save soldiers lives…
In short… our young team delivered…and delivered big time.
They proved – just as you contestants are proving today – that when smart, dedicated young people, possessing strong math and science skills, get a chance – they can and do exceptional things…
Going Forward – The World Needs You
While it may seem a long ways off… in the not too distant future today’s competitors will enter the workforce…
How you apply your skills and knowledge will play a significant role in the fate of our nation and the planet…
You know…technology got us to where we are … in both a positive and a negative sense… and only people knowledgeable in technology and capable of broad, multi-disciplinary thinking can overcome our shortfalls and upgrade standards of living worldwide.
Outside the labs, campuses, and corporate offices, there’s a need – and a tremendous opportunity – for people with strong math-science skills to gather and inspire multi-disciplinary teams to recognize and build solutions for many of society’s problems.
In working on these problems you’ll “walk the talk” and demonstrate the substance of what you bring to the game of life…
Preparing for and participating in this robotics competition has given competitors the chance to learn and gain a few new friends along the way.
As you move through life try to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way – especially those that test you – the ones where you say, “I’m interested, but I’m not sure if I can do that.”
It’s in doing things that you’re not sure you can do… that you’ll continue to grow from.
And as you move forward, whenever possible, sign up for programs and projects that require you to work on teams…
Individual superstars exist, but from pharmaceuticals to engineering and performing arts to even politics, team play is essential to success.
Finally as you go forward in your educations and careers – take the time to mentor others… Return what has been given to you.
Sharing your perspectives and experiences will benefit others, who want to follow in your footsteps… or perhaps, strike out on an entirely different path of their own…
Thank you for listening…
And now… on with the competition!!!
