[JamesCH95]

To not re-has what has been said already, I'll take a step in a different direction.

I would strongly suggest participating in an engineering challenge that's not FRC, or even FIRST related at all. There's a whole world out there with many more technologies and freedom than the relatively restrictive environment of FRC.

One of the best things I did was to unplug from FRC (mostly) for my 4 years of college. Instead I helped to found my college's Formula SAE team, a program that has endured for four years since my graduation, as the youngest founding member.

FSAE forced me to develop more serious professional skills. Defending design decisions, report writing, original experimental design, serious computer modeling, serious CAD work, more ambitious fundraising, and more difficult/multi-faceted/different design challenges. I also now have a passion for car racing, which has added a new facet to my life and brought me many new friends.

Another program will expand your horizons. A program geared for college students will further develop your professional skills in ways that FRC simply isn't designed to. After four years, if you decide to mentor an FRC team, there will be no other students on the team that you were a student with. This helps the new students view you as a mentor and not another student. The same goes for existing team mentors.