FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Hello all,

We're making a push within our school to allow for FIRST Robotics Team members at our school (FTC & FRC) to be able to receive, and wear at graduation, a Red, White, and Blue Cord to represent FIRST.

However, I was interested in getting some kind of charm with the logo of FIRST that could possibly be attached to the cord; something like the charm on a graduation cap tassel.

Anyone have any ideas or leads on this?

Thanks.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

At our school, we had a steel chain. I think school school policy prohibits chains, so we kind of keep it on the dl until graduation.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

The first thing I would do is to check with another activity sponsor that traditionally (at least around here) grants a cord or sash to students such as Key Club, National Honor Society, or Model UN. When researching for our school divisions policy we learned that a club/activity can grant a sash/cord/medallion to a student to wear at graduation . Our student leadership decided they wanted to be a bit different than most clubs so they designed a medallion and created the criteria for earning the right to wear it at graduation.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Some schools use red, white, and blue cords to signify students going in the armed forces.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

How about making the participation pins that teams received at their first event into a charm?

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

I want to wear some #35 chain at graduation but I don't know how well that would go over with our schools administration...it'd be nice if we could have some sort of chords though!

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Red, white, and blue is commonly National French Honors Society (NFHS).

-Nick

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Our main school "allows" students to wear the pins from the games, and any medals they win over their four years during the ceremony. (Ironically any of our students graduating from the class of 2009 or 2010 had four medals which made quite a sound when walking)

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

I don't exactly remember how, but our lead teacher mentor was able to get the graduating seniors last year (including me) all green graduation cords (green for CircuitRunners of course). My point is if red, white, and blue aren't available (such as for NFHS as indicated above), you could try going for your team's colors instead.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Just an idea, at my school if you qualify for an honors diploma you walk with a stole? that says "honors"

What about getting ones with the FIRST logo on the right and maybe your team number or team name on the other?

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Maybe if it was made from plastic or some other light non-dangerous material?

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Just curious if anyone has anyone has been denied approval to wear cords to represent First by their school. This is the first year that our seniors have tried and because of other students putting up a protest, the principal told the robotics team that they could not be worn during the ceremony.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Yup, denied because then every other student wants a cord for football and volleyball and soccer and track and even Ap Art ......... like *sigh*

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

We were told the same. We gave our seniors FIRST cords anyway so that they could take pictures with them. Some wore them to graduation anyway, French honor society is the same colors so no one noticed

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

1058 kids sometimes wear the medals they won (or just one as representation).

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

To answer the original question--the FIRST Store has this exact item. It may be a little too pricey though.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Fusion 364's graduating seniors where both the official FIRST cord and any medals won during the season, our school is very supportive of our team.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

For 131, seniors receive two cords for graduation from Dave Kelso and accompanying mentors. Green and orange, to represent the team's colors. And though I only wore the cords at graduation, some of the seniors in the past also choose to wear the medals they've accumulated over the years they were on the team.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

This was such at my High School, so we couldn't wear them during the ceremony.

We were, however, allowed to wear them in pictures post ceremony. While some of the students on my team wore theirs, I opted not to out of respect for my friends joining the military.

Please check with your school before wearing your Red White and Blue chords in ANY scenario. Please don't upstage the fine young men and women dedicating (at least part of) their lives to their country.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Red white blue cords around my parts resident National French Honor Society. But more on topic, its unfortunate some places wouldn't let students wear the cords because of a slippery slope argument.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Slippery slope?

RW&B chords were already worn by students going into the armed forces. I happily wore no cords. I was proud of the friends that I had that that DID earn the right to wear them. Because at the end of the day, I was on a robotics team, and they're currently fighting for their country. What's more important?

I see no argument.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

At my school we just wore our medals and our "lettered" students got a cord with our team colors. It was a long process making sure that no other club or association at the school had an affiliation with the colors, well worth though.

But if you can't get away with the cords encourage the kids to wear any medals they have from their high school years.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

What he's referring to is the "If we let you guys have special cords, then everybody else is going to want some" argument.

It can be pretty effective, and make a lot of sense. The key counter is to state that the school sets the policy on cords, but a lot of people would like to wear honor cords that aren't necessarily covered, so can the school come up with a way to allow that without everybody being mad? (And of course, give more than one graduation season.)


Let's put it this way: If the school has that policy, and SOMEBODY doesn't fall in line, EVERYBODY hears about it, and then the school HEARS about it. Trust me. I've seen similar situations. (And the best thing for the school is to do exactly what they did: be open about that being the policy when asked. Doing otherwise means you HEAR about it that way, too.)

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

The slippery slope argument isn't that robotics teams wear RWB cords, it's letting them wear any cords. There isn't a universal meaning for graduation cords-- at my high school, for example, there was no group that had "claimed" RWB cords. Regardless of whether it's armed forces or NFHS, it's definitely not respectful or acceptable to those others to wear the same cords. That being said, I don't think it's ridiculous for a robotics team to award RWB cords, provided there isn't another group that already awards them. The key is to be aware of existing rules and other groups' traditions, and to be flexible. I really like the idea of team-colored cords, for example.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Maybe I wasn't clear enough? The High School I attended only awards cords for achieving honors and for joining the military.

No other organization wears cords during the ceremony. I chose to respect that.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Just because your school does it that way doesn't mean all schools do. The system of chords, stoles, etc. is (maybe unfortunately) not standardized across all schools and everyone has different viewpoints.

Before this thread gets out of hand I don't believe anyone that has posted or is reading this thread doesn't support the men and women who volunteer to join the military.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

And just for a little clarity on the slippery slope that was being referred to, I go farther up the thread (one after the revival post): http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=13

It should make a little more sense now.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

A bit more sense, yes.

But I think a caution for those interested in these cords is still valid. I guess my point got twisted and turned a bit? All I wanted to say was be careful and courteous. RW&B cords are popular (with even more organizations than I originally even knew about). Please respect those other organizations too.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Thanks for all of the input. Being an Ex-school board member, the school board should set the policy that the administration enforces. I am still doing investigation to see if such policy exists. I would doubt it. To create a policy, it would have to be read at 2 school board meetings and voted on by the board.

You have hit the nail on the head. If the robotics team is allowed to wear cords, then likewise, the underwater basket weaving team should also be allowed to wear them. The bottom line is that the Minnesota State High School League now recognizes robotics as a sport and the members can now letter.

As a second year team that was able to participate in the World Championships in St Louis, MO this year, only because community members insisted that Industrial Education be reinstated in the district after a decade of absence, and to everyone's amazement a very successful robotics program grew from it.

I guess that the decision was made to allow the cords to be worn before and after the ceremony so that pictures can be taken. It's amazing how something that would only be worn by 7 or 8 seniors out of a class of 115 kids could raise such a controversy.

By the way, the reason for the post was not only to see what other schools are doing, but to also raise awareness that if some day you would like to see cords as part of the official ceremony in your district, regardless of their color, is to start early in helping to develop policy that makes sense for your school district.

Cords or not, I believe that this is one of the finest programs that our school has ever undertaken. It has brought together students from every demographic, that probably would have never met otherwise, and has created friendships and bonds and has improved the personal lives of the students that were involved for a lifetime. Thanks to everyone that is involved for a great year, one that will not soon be forgotten.... Jer

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Same, FNHS' official cords are red white and blue, and are almost identical to the FIRST cords, with the medallion being the only notable distinction between the two. I agree with you fully; I don't mean to start a flame war but I'm not entirely sure how wearing a cord that represents the 1800+ hours I've spent on FIRST over the last six years equates to me disrespecting the military. As someone on the outside looking in (I was almost on the inside, one signature away from joining the Air Force) I know that the level of commitment, hard work, and patriotism required to thrive in the military setting is far beyond my imagination, but, especially considering that the red, white, and blue military cords are not a widespread standard, it seems unfair to imply that someone is disrespecting the military just because of the color of a piece of rope.

Considering the much smaller commitments other honor cords are given out for, (again, I'm not saying the FIRST commitment is remotely close to the scale of the military) it seems rather petty that schools would bar students from wearing their well-deserved FIRST cords. However, it might be possible to change their minds if we approached the issue in a more professional manner. I believe it would be to the benefit of the entire FIRST community if a professional, documented set of "standards for attaining a FIRST cord to wear in graduation" were drafted. Of course, it couldn't be branded as "FIRST Official" unless we got their blessing, but it could be helpful either way.

If anyone would be interested in working on making this a reality, PM me and I'll give you my personal email and we'll get a google doc set up. If people seem interested, I'll start another a̶r̶g̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ f̶l̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶ thread where people can offer suggestions for standards to be included in the document.

Oooh, didn't see your post until after I sent my own. Is it normal for an outside organization, like an honor society, to approach school/district administration with an already-documented set of standards for something like this? I'm sure it isn't a regular occurrence, but is this an acceptable approach? Would it be worth the effort to include that mentions that amendments agreed upon between board members and the FIRST team are entirely accepted and welcomed?

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

I can only wish for the day that FRC is no longer treated with the same importance as the pottery club at our school (actually I think pottery gets more importance :P )

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

Our school relented after some coaxing and allowed the team to set its own requirements for who could wear honor cords to graduation. For what its worth, you can find those same cords for around $5 a piece here. Those who have seen both tell me that they are pretty much identical.

Re: FIRST Graduation Cords
 

My point was that FIRST has ones with the little logo charms on it already:

But yeah, I didn't know the going rate for graduation cords and the charm is probably not worth $12.95. So, on to other suggestions...maybe 3D printing some could work?
Or if ksafin is willing to spend that much money, get a standard red, white & blue cord for $5 and a pair of FIRST earrings for the remaining $12.95 and hook the earrings on as charms--then when you're done, you'll have a bonus pair of FIRST earrings!
(Actually, the Lapel Pin or the Keychain would be much better deals, but you'd only get one charm)