What to do now
 

OK so I've been on my team(836 wot wot) for 3 years and I'm graduating this year and has said as it sounds I'm gonna miss it, other than maybe coming and volunteering in regionals and so on, what other ways are there to stay involved with first, or is there other related programs that there are college teams for.

Re: What to do now
 

Depending on the engineering degree you are persuing, there are many college level engineering design contests / challenges / projects that you can be a part of.

In all honesty, the stuff you will get to work on in college will make FIRST robots looks like childs play!

Some of the projects Ive seen at RIT in the last few years:

Off-road Go-cart like design and race (international contest)

Autonomous aircraft design contest

Automomous submarine, project that monitors the water quality in lake Ontario

Micro aircraft used by forrest rangers

Micro jet turbine engines

as a matter of fact, FIRST is somewhat of a spin-off of the senior mechanical engineering design contest that Dr Flowers held in his class at MIT - they use to show the contest every year on PBS (seems like a long time ago).

Re: What to do now
 

Obligatory warning: School comes first. If you have to choose between doing homework and going to a build season meeting, do the homework. Don't skip classes unless you are fully aware of the consequences and have measures to reduce their impact.

You didn't mention where you're going to school, but look up the listing of teams (don't forget FVC and FLL) around where you'll be going and see if they're in need of some mentors. (You'll want to take transportation into consideration as well in this--I can drive to most teams in town blindfolded, but that's because I have a car. If I had to take the bus, I'd be functionally out of luck.)

Of course, it might be good (especially for your freshman year) to take a year off of a team and just volunteer at an event if one is within range. (Looking back, I might've been better served by doing so.) Look at VIMS on usfirst.org for a list of events, and try to make contact with a member of the committee behind that event. The latter part isn't really required, but it can't hurt.

Good luck!

Re: What to do now
 

PODCAST!

Well, I'm lucky there, but it won't hit you too much till around the regionals, then you'll loose your mind. Get a VEX kit and have fun. Oh, and post lots and lots on CD. :D

Re: What to do now
 

You could always just start a new team like Dean says. Yes, I realize that is for those who have free time.

Re: What to do now
 

Remember what FIRST is all about. You don't need to JUST help out on the team, at a regional or the Nationals. (Although I can say from experience it is a lot of fun) FIRST isn't just about building robots. Go out and help out and a homeless shelter, help out in your community and yes of course for the robots sake please try and find other teams to help out on or even be a mentor. I hate to sound old(because trust me i'm not), but when im mentoring these high school kids on the team in the workshop or anywhere, I get a great feeling of joy inside. So please do something that is FIRST like and of course, ALWAYS HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Re: What to do now
 

Or if your like me, living at home and going to college, you could schedule your classes kinda around your local robotics team. Which is not alway easy to do. Also I've got to learn to step back even more next year than what I did this year. Like instead of putting the kit transmission together myself, give all of the parts to one or more students, with the instructions, and make them put it together. I always learning from my mistakes. :)

Re: What to do now
 

Boyyyy is Billfred right on this one!

While the 5 year associates degree program may sound fairly glorious, I assure you its not quite the picnic that its made up to be!

My advice to you and every other high school student making the transition to college...volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.

The beauty of being a volunteer at an FRC event is that you get to see how that magic that just suddenly appears when you are a student, comes to life behind the scenes. Not to mention food...lots and lots of food! Good food! If nothing else...do it for the food.

If you do decide to go the team route in college...remember FIRST is a massive undertaking, make sure you plan your time out strongly and stick to the schedule. All it takes is for one or two miscues and your college experience becomes alot more expensive as a result of this wonderful program we call FIRST.

If you do it right...the experience of moving from student to mentor can be amazing. Just be smart about it.

-Andy Grady

Re: What to do now
 

Yes, I volunteered this year and it was a great experience! I suggest it to you and everyone. Its a lot different than building and competing with your robot, but it is still a lot of fun. There is a lot of work that goes into putting together the regionals I suggest that you help out with that. A lot of the time the dates for regionals fall on spring break for colleges. You can focus on school work for the year and then on your break volunteer at one or two local competitions.

Re: What to do now
 

This is what I'm going to do next year. I'm not going to like some other alumni and come back and try to take over the team. Like our class of 2005 was.(love you guys anyway) I hope to help the 2006-2007 robotics team learn.
Thats what FIRST is all about!!! Not control FREAKS !!!