[Tom Bottiglieri]

What doesn't matter: Whether a team is all boys/girls/californians/etc.
What does matter: The work environment and outlook on group participation that the mentors foster.

For example, we're not an all girls team, but most of the student work on the robot is done by girls. We don't treat them any differently from the guys. And I'd be willing to put a couple of our girls up against any of the "best" and "brightest" students in FRC.

So really I think "all-anything" teams, with the exception of all girls/boys schools, are counter productive. If a couple of college guys can run a team where female high schooler involvement drives the creation of the robot, anyone can. You need to put everyone on a level playing field. Sure some of the girls (and boys) may need a bit of a push from the mentors to get them to feel comfortable joining the conversation, but you can't treat your team members differently in group situations based on that.

It's not fair to let "all-this" or "all-that" labels lower expectations for a particular group. I've never once in my time in FRC witnessed someone change their expectations of a team in a positive way once they heard it was all girls/boys/student-built/etc. It sucks, but it's the truth. I mean what are the boys who are supposedly pushing them out of the way supposed to think when they see some girls get a special all girls team? It just drives the division.

Am I absurdly off the mark here?