[PayneTrain]

They say old habits die hard, and I say passions never fade away. FIRST, for me, will definitely will never go away.

Don't tell my parents, but leaving 422 as a student was probably harder than leaving home for college. I still keep tabs on their doings and monitor some of the goings-on, and do some tele-mentoring with the outreach team because I see a lot of potential with them, and I try to put in work with the local team, 2614, whenever I have free time, but it's hard. I love this stuff too much to be sane. I still wear my shirts proudly, talk about them to random people who ask me about it, go to competitions, hang out on here, talk robotics with other alums, but trying to adjust to a guiding hand instead of an active force is very difficult. There has been a lot of silent facepalming off to the side where I can't jump in and shake down those in charge of design or whatever because it's not my place anymore. I critique and step in when needed. It's awkward in its best moments.

EDIT: I would also like to add that just because some students cycle out and cycle in, the best students recognize that the success and sustainability of the team is far more important than the sum of their contributions. My class did a lot of work that isn't going to pay dividends until a year or two from now, and this year's class did the same. The number we wore and the mission that drove us means so much more to us than the trophies we won (but finalists and Innovation in Control winners was pretty cool)