TDT members with FIRST president, Jon Dudas

Team Duct Tape joined seven other FIRST teams at MOSI in Tampa on Oct. 25, to kick off the 3rd Annual Florida STEM Summit, hosted by the Career Technical Education Foundation (CTEF).

The highlight of the evening was meeting FIRSTpresident Jon

Astronaut Leland Melvin signed photos for students

Dudas and astronaut Leland Melvin, both of whom spent time with students and signed autographs – in the case of Jon Dudas, on everything from team shirts to team members  foreheads!

It was a great opportunity for teams to showcase their work and introduce FIRST to the business community.  For many in attendance, it was their first introduction to the FIRST STEM program.   They examined robots big and small, browsed through engineering notebooks, looked at CAD designs, watched team videos and heard first-hand from students, who sent a clear and powerful message that FIRST ROCKS!  And it also churns out some incredibly accomplished young engineers!