Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

I think the rule is left ambiguous because it is rather obvious who should be driving the robot, and making a bunch of sub rules for each and every possible exception to the rule would make the Manual that much longer and cause that many more headaches.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

The problem with that is that what is obvious to one person isn't obvious to another. Ask any lawyer.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

This logic brings up my favorite joke of the season.

Lebron James went from HS to the NBA, therefore is he pre-college? If so, he's the best human player in the game :P .

Logic would seem to dictate the FIRST's intent for the rule is to either ensure that students are still in high school and not in college/post high school career when they are drivers, operators and human players. This gets murky for home school students because one could say that they are either perpetually in high school or never in high school. In this instance, if they do not have some sort of diploma or GED, it would seem that the most prudent scenario is for the student to cease being on the drive team when they reach the period of time they would have moved on to higher education (if you were born pre-September 1988 for example, you would cease to be a pre-college student in September 2006).

In any case, there's nothing stopping a "mentor" from participating in a way that resembles a student. FIRST was envisioned to make the youth of America(s) more interested in science and technology, no matter their specific age. And I'm sure any mentor will tell you that you never stop learning new things when you are involved in FIRST.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

Ok, here's a question people seem to be disregarding. Does the student in question even want to drive? If not, most of this thread has become rather irrelevent.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

Not necessarily.. For future cases what if future said person wants to drive?

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

This is something that FIRST HQ needs to answer. If a student is still enrolled in high school but is taking some college courses in Florida, he is considered "pre-college" by the state and still eligible for scholarships as a "high school student".

Pre-college can also be middle schoolers. We have 6th, 7th and 8th graders on our team. They are not in high school but still eligible to be on the drive team.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

In our case, based on the past, I'd definitely say this person wants to be on the drive team. I don't know if commitments to classes will get in the way of our competition, but other than that, I think it's definite that this student wants to drive.

And, Wendymom, how do you handle younger students on your team? We were recently talking about hand tools v. power tools, supervision, etc. with younger students because we've had a few approach us. Do you have anything written down or is it more of a common knowledge approach?

I'm really going to try to call FIRST tomorrow. In my "free time". :)

Trying to Help

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

Let me save you some time. Don't call FIRST about this question. They will not be able to answer it. Until the rules for the 2010 game are released in January, no one is going to provide any specific information regarding the game, the rules, the robot requirements, or any associated areas. Wait until the rules are released, and after reading and reviewing them, see if there is still an issue that needs clarification.

Whether Jeff Gordon went to college or not is irrelevant. He is not currently a student. Q.E.D.

-dave


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Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

I called FIRST.

I spoke with Andrea who said that if this student is not doing high school level curriculum, then she should be a mentor and not a team member. I thanked her for her time.

After speaking with her, it made me wonder about all those students mentioned in this thread who take college classes as a normal part of their high school careers. Obviously there's a difference here; she's 100% in college whereas most high schoolers are part-time when they're taking courses.

I wonder if this will end up being like the battery question from last year.

Trying to Help

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

After what Dave just stated, I'm SURE there will be clarification in next years manual. And if not, that's what the Q&A's are for. ;)

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

[
And, Wendymom, how do you handle younger students on your team? We were recently talking about hand tools v. power tools, supervision, etc. with younger students because we've had a few approach us. Do you have anything written down or is it more of a common knowledge approach?

The rule on Bacon is this: If you have an older sibling on the team you can be on the team starting in 6th grade. If you are in 8th grade and have one season of LEGO under your belt you may join the team. Everyone can use any tool ( power or hand) as long as they have passed a safety test on it and the shop manager is ok with it. My daughter started using the drill press when she was 12. They gave her a milk crate to stand on to reach it. Kinda freaked me out to be honest but she was fine and the shop guys made sure she knew what she was doing before they let her do it alone.

Re: Pre-college or high school aged?
 

The new FIRST website acknowledges the ages for FRC to be 14-18 and also says grades 9-12