Sad Day for Seniors
 

On the way home from nationals it hit me.....I am now past my name of being a "student" in FIRST. After we lost our last match i moved from that classifcation to mentor. I am really excited that i will be able to mentor other people next year, but its just hard to think for as long as i am involved with FIRST i will never be able to be a operator or human player. That makes me sad cause i love controlling the robot and working on it and now i have to take step back and watch teh students do it and its just hard i guess and i guess iw ill get use to it.

Next year i will be joining a new team 1083 with George, Nathan, and Andrew and i am reawlly excited to be with this team they have a great future ahead, but then i am becomign a alumni of 710 and that has hit me the hardest. I have been with the team since it was a rookie 2001 and i am one of the orginal members and its just sad that i will be moving on from that team. I have my roots in that team and its just going to be hard to move on and i mean i will only be three hours away from them in college but i dont know i am just going to miss it..


Sorry guys i just had to let that off my chest cause it hit me hard on the drive home today

What are other seniors planning to do now since they are moving on.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Luckily, Michigan Technological University sponsors a FIRST team so I'll be helping them out next year. :)

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Ya ryan i feel you on this one. Sadly I don't know if Penn has a robotics team so my future in FIRST is still up in the air, but i really will miss being totally immersed in designing, building, and driving our robot. :(

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

It hit me after we lost in the semi's.............

To think that we have invented up to 4 years of our highschool carreer, sacraficing a lot of social interactivity (and a lot of times grades too) and some of us would even say our lives. To have it all come to an end suddenly, all I can say is that I feel lost. With no other team near me I don't know what I will do. FIRST has changed my life in so many ways that I have become dependant on it like many of us fellow FIRSTers have on caffine.

My advice to people who are in the same situation as me. If you can't join a team, either wait for one to come by you, start one, or move to be by one. Also deffinately volunteer every chance you get. You will get a whole new experiance in FIRST and appreciate it even more.

Good luck to everybody graduating this year as we travel out to change the world by spreading the word of FIRST.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Penn is suposed to be mentoring our team, although we havent actually seen them yet,lol.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I've been dreading this day ever since my senior year began. We're amazingly lucky to have had this opportunity, as most teenagers in the world never even hear of FIRST. I also admit robotics has taken over my life, practically every week I'm out doing something for our team. Sometimes it makes me want to apply to a college close to home just so that I can stay with 341- anyone else feel this?

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

dont get down on yourself - think of a lego league student bemoaning that now thats over for him and now he has to move on to highschool and FIRST

when you get into college you will have opportunities for engineering contests and intercollegiate engineering design competitions that make FIRST look like childs play, seriously.

If you pursue a career in engineering and science then what you did on a FIRST team in HS is only the beginning - the best is yet to come

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Yes, it is sad being a senior and leaving a team. I know I am not a senior yet, but it is inevitable that it will happen, and time will fly by, and 5 competitions later I will realize that I, too, will have to go. (2 off-season [YEAH IRI!!] and 3 in 2005). But remember Dean Kamen's speech. You can start teams in colleges. Plus, you can always "teach" kids how to drive. Sure, you can't do it at official competitions, but during off-season competitions (IRI maybe, Ford Sweet Repeat for sure) there are "mentors only" competitions as well as girls-only competitions. You can still have fun driving or operating as an advisor, just not officially.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

in college you get to design, build and drive 'other things'

http://www.rit.edu/~930www/

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Ryan frankly my last season from 2003 with 312 hit real hard (losing in the division finals by literally less than an inch), but afterwards I have found it has only gotten better....I brought the experience over to Tampa (first team EVER in the 10th largest school district in the country) starting team 1369 (with lots of help, RogerR), and plan to bring more teams to Tampa. Being a mentor is quite a different experience, and it is just another phase of life. Don't look at it as the end of such a great experience, but rather as another great experience you are about to be a part of. Good Luck @ UCF I know you will have a great time with 1083 (what a great group). Wish some ppl would come to USF to help, but I'll work around that ;)

P.S. Seniors don't forget about FIRST College Connect...it is a very simple effective tool http://www.firstcollegeconnect.com/

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Well. I am almost depressed. The school I am going to doesn't have a robotics team that it sponsors, eventhough some current ex-FIRST students have tried to get them to start one. I guess I will just have to try anyway!

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Well, for me, I'm sending in my deposit for WPI tomorrow (or soon after), so I'll be on 190 next year. They were like my fan club this year anyways, they kept following me around everywhere, SBPLI, Drexl, hell, even when my team went out to dinner in Atlanta!

Going to wrap up the year with my team, hopefully set them up so they're not entirely screwed next year (things are looking like they may not be all that great at the moment, for several areas), and say goodbye in a month or two.

I have to say, it's been a fun three years on 810, but like everything, nothing last for ever, and it's time to move on. FIRST has definitely has had, and will continue to have, a huge impact on my life (in more than one way), and I'll continue with it as long as I can, but there are bigger and better things to do. Mars, anyone? :-p

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I feel ya. I'm going to the University of Delaware next year and while its just 25 minutes from MOE I dont think I could join another team when I am so attached to my own. Since I am relatively close to home (just an hour and half ride by train) I will be helping 433 out with some Chairmans Award stuff and I am sure I will annually return to Drexel for my most favorite regional, however it will definately be hard not being in that drivers station. My family and friends got a real good look at just how addicted to FIRST I am when I tried for quite some time, even up to less than a week before the champs, to find some way down to Atlanta to volunteer. They not suprisingly said no and for me to move on. It was a rude awakening. I know though I will have to still be involved one way or another, mentoring and volunteering most likely, just so long as I can still be a part of FIRST.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Yeaaaaa, that's right! :D

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I too have ended my three years of driving. My last match was a horrible one in the quarterfinals in which we lost, we were supposed to play the next one too but our "partners" wouldn't let us. They flipped, and our alliance lost. Not exactly how I wanted to end it. At least I was able to do some kick@$$ driving that made us finalists in Phoenix. I just wished LA could have ended just as well. Today I picked up and skimmed through an RC car magazine, something I haven't done for years. I guess I'll just have to get back into that, or something. Reading this thread made me even more sad. I don't really know what to do. I can accept the fact (although it's hard) that I can never drive anymore but I can't accept the fact that I'll be watching from the stands instead of from behind the glass. Our field coach is graduating too and going far away so maybe I can take his place.

Anyway, I've gone to designing a transmission for next year so at least some of me will be with the robot. If I can spend enough time, I'll build it. If not, I'll give the kids a full set of plans. The good part about this is that I can make some parts of the design go into "uncharted waters" so a lot of drive testing will be needed by the designer before anyone else can drive. :D

Anyway, I'm really bummed so is anyone up for building something even better to drive? My summer looks free.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I feels weird after getting back home, that this will be me last year officially with team 86. Luckily I'll make sure to join team 401 at Virginia Tech, and I'll always be ready to help out my old team.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Sad day for Seniors - but the great part is that there is someone waiting in the wings to fill the void you are creating when you leave.

Many of you have made awesome contributions to your teams (Jason, Adrienne and Collin, to name the three from Cyber Blue), but now it is time to make room for the others to take the leadership roles.

Good luck to all graduating Seniors - you are undoubtedly better people from your participation in FIRST.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

To all you FIRST seniors who are graduating:

Welcome to your freshman year of Mentorship!

My senior year of HS was my team's first year, and I didn't even realize at the end of our regional that I was no longer a team member. Being a mentor hasn't changed my role much in the team. I haven't been around much because I go to school 150 miles away from my team but when I come down I help out in whatever way I can, and cheering/doing recon for the team at events is just as fun as driving to me and a whole lot less stressful than pitwork. Being a mentor is a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

It is a tough day for seniors, I know how it feels and I tell you that it sucks. FIRST was the best part of High School, but im liking the whole transition from student to mentor. Its a new challenge...more responsibility, more leadership, and higher expectations. Now that HS is over, your FIRST career is just getting started (as some have said)

So im going to leave you with a rough quote (that im guessing how this went, but you should get the point of this) on starting a new team (if this applies to you) from my friend, Amanda Morrison (amanda dont butcher me for getting this wrong).

"Starting a new team is a huge responsibility and it takes a lot of time, even though Dean wants you to do it, don't sacrifice your education to start a team if you aren't up to it."

...or something close to that....but you get the point


I tell you that college is a busy place...I wish all graduating seniors best of luck in the future and I hope to see all of you participating in FIRST for years to come.

D.J.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I share my feelings with all of you. It is very hard to go from FIRST status student to FIRST status Mentor. Your so used to driving or shooting pt. balls and now you become the one to teach the driving and shooting pt. balls / bins for that matter. ---- I should know i'm still going through it all. and i've not been on a team since 2002. and been an alumni since then.

I was only apart of a FIRST team for about a year in a half and I played many roles for that team ( Captain, Back-Up Arm Pilot, Sponsorship Leader, Assistant Spokesperson, Assistant Mechanic and possibly one or two more roles ).

I realized I was going to be graduating when the coaches reminded me in may 2002 at PARC that I would have to select a new captain to take on my responsiblities. And theirs nothing harder then to select a successor to fill in and improve what you have done.

The good side to all of this is you can still be a Mentor of that team, you can Mentor other teams and spread what you have learned sorta like " Passing the camcorder around so that the next Chairmans Award Winner is selected ", your team will always welcome your presence anywhere they may be, they consider you the school and team alumni (which is automatically) and you could be considered their best MVP Player.

*starts rant here :\ )
Thats why it so imperitive that kids join during their freshman year that way they can have a full 4yrs of FIRST and not be barred by classroom achievements (e.g. must sustain a 75% grade average to remain on the team). Some schools choose to make this a curiculum others choose it to be an after school activity. This is a Organization that the only requirement needed to be met should be the talent that you contain and can share with fellow members and not have to worry about a grade average. Having a grade average can either strive students to work harder or scare them away knowing they can't sustain it.
*end rant here :\ )

For the FIRST Graduating class of 2004 - Congradulations in not only making your team the best to participate on, but by also proving to your teachers that though you may not do your HW in class you still manage to make time to do Deans HW. :-) (This may not make sense but oh well :) )

Who knows - maybe all of the alumnis and their corresponding schools will adopt a rookie and at least complete Deans easier assignment hehe!

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I understand all of you being sad. You feel team pride and pride in your fellow students. Some of you have mentored Lego League Teams and know what it's like to feel pride in what the people your mentoring create. I've not yet mentored a Lego team, however being a mentor of team 949 for the last two years, has been some of my proudest time I've spent.

I've been on quite a few teams in my profesional life and I'm very proud at some of the things those team have accomplished. However there is something I can't quite put my finger on in being a FIRST mentor.

The teams your about to be a part of, both professionaly as well as a college student, will do amazing things that help people. At least that is the hope of me for my students and the hope of your Mentors for your. This is why we Mentor.

It is my hope that all of you learn this as well.

-Jim Wright

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I know how all of you guys feel, i am not a Senior.. but this was my second year on the team and i learned so much from the Seniors this year bc i spent to years with them on the team.. our team was holding a little meeting in the hallway about the seniors and saying that this was their last competition/etc and the Pit Chief (who is a senior this year) had to give his job down and give it to another person for the team next year.. it was really sad for me because since i spent two years with them, i kind of grew very attached to them and i looked up to all of the guys like big brothers to me..luckily i think all of the seniors this year are considering mentoring next year so i can see them during another season and hang out with them next season..

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

NOOOOO FIRST! YOU CAN'T TAKE ME AWAY!!! *CRIES* NOOOOOOO!!!!

Well, now I'm really sad. Watching Woody, Shalen, and everyone leave our team has been hard to the nth degree. I'm dreading the day next year when I have to leave. I can't leave. Aw man, I think I'm going to go and cry latter tonight.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I'm rather curious as to where all of the seniors will be going/what they will be doing after high school- did anyone start a thread about this yet?










yes, i am admittedly too lazy to do a search. (senioritis.)

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Oh my gosh, I was just thinking the same thing! But I'm already hard at work getting things together to start up a team at Michigan State University. I've sent out my email to the Eng Dean and will hopefully soon be recieving one back ::fingers crossed:: FIRST is like Starbucks coffee, it's addicting and you just can't seem to get away from it...

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Yes there is a thread about this in the chit-chat forum which would answer your question.

But getting back to what this thread is about...
Saturday of nationals was a sad day for me. I realized when my team got knocked out of the quarterfinals, that my senior year of FIRST and my driving carrear were both over. :( I will be going to WPI next year, however, so I will be able to work with a team for another four years.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Even though it was my first year this year I put as much time as anyone into the robot. Its not going to be as bad for me as for some since I am just moving 30 minutes away to attend NC State. I've already warned them that they would have to put up with me. Its hard to grasp the thought of being a mentor. I know that I looked up to our mentors and I dont feel that I could ever reach the greatness that I viewed them with. There will be one other team member headed over to NC State with me next year as well plus we already have one mentor there so it wont be that bad. I'm still spending a lot of time in the lab even though season is over.........what else am I going to do with my time?
I never imagined that anything could transform my life in the way FIRST has. The experience is something that is priceless, and you only get to live it as a student for at most two years here at our school (2 year statewide residential magnet school for Juniors and Seniors). Being my last season it makes me want to push harder and harder to get others to join and live the experience.
ok i've rambled enough...........
-Aaron

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I'm not a senior, but I'm close. I think it hit me while I was on a pizza run one day, I just said to myself: Wow. I have like a year til I'm out of school, and maybe even FIRST too.
It's really big, going from 12 years of structured schooling to college, the service, or a full time job...I don't know how I'm gonna manage >.<

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

It is truely a sad thing to say good bye to all the seniors on my team because over the past months they have really taken me under their wing and taught me so much. Seeing how I'm a junior now, I will probably be doing the same thing to a rookie next year, and that too will be sad. I know I will miss all the seniors on my team because they truely have made my experience on MOE one of the best experiences of my life. :(

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I'm just in my Junior year right now, but just thinking that I only have one year left really pulls at my heartstrings. This is just a bit of extra incentive to kick-butt next year and make it to nats. If I end up going to a California school, such as CalTech, then I'll stay with mentoring my team, at least at any free moment of my time. If I'm somewhere else, then I'll definitely keep contact with my team and help them out all I can, but I will definitely either mentor an existing team or start a new one. If I'm at MIT, I would really like to join up with a team like 69. I guess the countdown begins until I'm in you guys' shoes. *sad*

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Alright guys and gals, here is a news break. FIRST isn't the only activity out there. I am a fellow senior, going to college. For those of us who are going to engineering colleges, I assure you that there will be plenty of opportunities to participate in activities similar to FIRST. They may not be as fun and exciting as FIRST. FIRST is a stepping stone to better, bigger, more important, and challenging tasks. Step out of the small world of FIRST where you build robots that play a game. Step into the world of college and beyond where you design and build anything, anything that this world is in need of. FIRST teaches the scientific/engineering processes, and the dynamics of working in a team. Your participation in FIRST has been preparation for the future. So now that your leaving it, remember it, learn from it, and look forward to a better future because you did it.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

There are alot of juniors on the team that I'm on and they'll be seniors next year, I want to cry. But hugs to every senior out there! XOXO

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I didn't really think of the this nationals as a sad day for me even with me being a senior. Everything that went with nationals this year gave me a nice closure in my high school chapter of FIRST. I have trained a wonderful person to become the leader of my team (86) next year. I have met some of the people on the team I'm joining next year (190). It just seems like its time for it to happen. Then again, I was never a driver so it isn't like I'm losing ever getting to do that again.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Okay, this is kind of hard to say, but I think I'm actually glad to be done. Does anyone else feel this way? I mean, I absolutly LOVE FIRST for everything that its done for me, and I made a lot of freinds that I can't stand leaving. But my experience with FIRST has been very mentally draining. I feel like I got something great, but it's time to move on.

It probably has to do with some team issues though. This entire year has felt like a completly different FIRST. A lot of politics have been going on in my team for the past few years, and the mentors I used to work with were no longer on the team this year. They had been with my team since I joined, and they were always there for our team. They weren't only there to help build a robot, but to give us a great gift. But they've already left. It's as if I've only been with my current team since January, so I guess its not that hard to say goodbye. I already had to deal with losing my old team. So I guess I feel like my last year was really 2003.

Anyway, putting up with all the politics and drama that have faced my team has really taken away my spirit. Maybe after a year off I'll feel like working with a team again. But until then, I guess I'll just be volunteering at competitions.

It's kind of weird reading all of these posts and not being able to relate. Does any one else feel that way?

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I don't want to leave at all. FIRST is the best thing I did during high school and I can't image what high school would have been like without it. FIRST teaches everyone a lot of life skills and I pity everyone who has never been involved in FIRST. I know for the seniors on 433, we did a heck of a lot to bring the teams reputation up in our school community and amoung other teams. So it's like we're just getting started and now we have to leave. But the real kick in the pants is that we had a rough first regional and finally got our act in time for the elimination rounds at our second regional and completly broke out in the quaterfinals, but we didnt make it to the finals so we couldn't go to nationals our last year. It was very dissapointing but there is nothing we can do about it now. But we have all have to pass on the tourch some time and that really is the important thing, to get other people involved.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I can see where Crop-Circles is coming from on that one. I graduated last year, and I also came from a team where we had some issues. It was nice to have a little bit of time off, but I still miss them dearly. I really wanted to come back and mentor, but I've lived in a few different places since then. It would be nice to mentor ANYWHERE, but I just don't have that opportunity right now. I guess all good things must come to an end. It's a little bit of a let down and a relief to be gone.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

It is indeed sad when you have to leave FIRST, but it must happen in all walks of life. Do air force generals get to fly F15s anymore? Does Gene Kranz direct Space Shuttle missions? People have to step aside, to give room for the new ones. It was so when almost all of us entered. We were trained and guided so that we could take over when the old legends graduated and/or were displaced in other ways.

When you leave, you can at least take pride in that your work will be immortal, in the hands of new students and future wizards, who all learned their craft from you. Those students will then pass that knowledge on, and your work will have inspired a small legion of people who are forever in debt to your service. That was the greatest part of FIRST to me, teaching and trying to inspire others.

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

Actually... Technically you are wrong... It wasn't until Dean graduated us that you are a mentor...

In anycase I know what you mean... I feel bad for the seniors because that is it... Its the end of the line as students... and everything will be different... sure you can join with other teams and mentor and all that but still its nothing like when you are a student... Gotta love the times when you got them... I will be a senior next year so I can look forward to atleast one more year... Its going to be an ugly sight after Nationals next year... I'll be a wreck... (but first... we must qualify!)

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

NO NO NO!! i want FIRST! :D hah.. im a dork.. *slaps myself* to all of the seniors this year, i wish you guys all of good luck with your future and hopefully you'll always have FIRST with you

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

As a junior, and already seeing 2 AWESOME classes of seniors leave, and about to have another offcially leave (we have banquets @ the end of the year, may) it really makes you think, what happens in life after FIRST. I don't WANT life AFTER FIRST, i want FIRST to be a lifelong thing. Its helped to see some of our alumni graduate and help other FIRST teams, it also gives me hope thta i can also do that! But really, its really gotta stink to sit there and be like, wow i can't drive the robot legally anymore....wow. I know its going to him me next year, and i know that its hit a lot of seniors on our team that they won't be able to have this experience as a high school student again.
But just wondering, is there a list somewhere of all the colleges that help with FIRST teams??

Re: Sad Day for Seniors
 

I know for a fact that a few of the members of the Bobcats (177) who were on the team in the 97-98 seasons, graduated, and are now working at the sponsor company of 177, UTC Fuel Cells-- so they are back on the team as mentors.

The last day of the championship back in 2002, in Florida, the whole team was heading for the party in Epcot, i stopped as i was exiting the stadium area, and looked back at what i was leaving.... i can still remember exactly how it looks now, and it gives me the chills.

But you are right, it is very different when you can't drive the robot, just make sure you enjoy the stick time while you've got it!! FIRST will be there when you're in college, but make sure you put school and your grades first, this is something i'm struggling with :)

Best of luck!

Tom