FIRST Global is the world’s response to urgent challenges that require a global solution. Today’s challenges do not stop in one community, one province, or one country. Global problems call for international efforts to develop innovations and the will to apply them. There is a needed role for every citizen in every country. FIRST Global is leading a movement to promote global collaboration and interdependence.
Below are FIRST Global’s Declaration of Interdependence and its accompanying Bill of Responsibilities. Together, these documents represent the foundational credo of FIRST Global: we are a community dedicated to the cooperative pursuit of a more peaceful world, achieved by innovating together to ensure the life, liberty, success, advancement, and happiness of all who share our planet.
We ask that all FIRST Global students, mentors, volunteers, and supporters read these documents and recommit themselves to the values they uphold. They are more than just words on paper; they are a visible commitment to interdependence and the responsibilities we all have to one another.
Watch the video below to see the next generation of STEM leaders commit themselves to these principles and the pursuit of Coopertition®, Gracious Professionalism®, and STEM education for a better world.
We the people of FIRST Global – the students, teachers, the mentors, the sponsors, and their supporters – declare that the time has come for the world to recognize our interdependence on one another, and accordingly invite our fellow human beings to join us in working together to improve life on our planet for ourselves and future generations.
FIRST Global believes that all people have special gifts that make them innovators. Planet Earth’s problems cannot be solved by one individual or one nation. But when we work together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish – and we can share the benefits of our new inventions with the world.
By sharing and celebrating our common understanding of science and technology, FIRST Global is devoted to cooperative pursuit of a more peaceful world by innovating together to ensure the life, liberty, success, advancement, achievement, and happiness of others.
To secure the pursuit of these goals, the people of FIRST Global now declare the following guiding principles:
Therefore, we proclaim this Declaration of Interdependence, and, with common understanding and appreciation of the urgent need for one another in the quest to improve the human condition today and in the future, formally recognize our dependence on each other – and invite others to join us.
In furtherance and support of the Declaration of Interdependence adopted by the people of FIRST Global – and appealing to our best natures and biggest dreams – we enthusiastically and confidently announce that with great power comes great responsibility. All of us have responsibilities: to ourselves, to each other, and to future generations. Accordingly, we mutually pledge to each other our inspiration, our empathy, and our understanding of the responsibilities set forth below.
Gracious Professionalism® (Profesionalismo Gracioso) es una forma de hacer las cosas que fomenta el trabajo de alta calidad, destaca el valor de los demás y respeta a las personas y a la comunidad. Con Gracious Professionalism®, la competencia feroz y el beneficio mutuo no son nociones separadas. Los profesionales amables aprenden y compiten furiosamente, pero se tratan unos a otros con respeto y amabilidad en el proceso. Evitan tratar a los demás como perdedores. No hay palabras duras, pero tampoco hay tópicos pegajosos y dulces. Más bien, el conocimiento, la competencia y la empatía se mezclan cómodamente. A largo plazo, el Gracious Professionalism® forma parte de la búsqueda de una vida con sentido. Uno puede contribuir a la sociedad y disfrutar de la satisfacción de saber que ha actuado con integridad y sensibilidad.
Coopertition® (competencia cooperativa) es una forma de mostrar una amabilidad y un respeto incondicionales frente a una competencia intensa. Los equipos pueden y deben ayudarse y cooperar entre sí incluso cuando compiten. Aprendemos de los compañeros de equipo y enseñamos a los compañeros de equipo. Aprendemos de los mentores. Gestionamos y somos gestionados. Competimos siempre, pero ayudamos y capacitamos a los demás cuando podemos.
Expresamos las filosofías de Gracious Professionalism® y Coopertition® a través de nuestros Valores Centrales: