[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Who said they didn't like it? Or maybe they liked doing it because they connected with a mentor or another student there. Or because they were there because the alternative was being at home that was bad for them. If they were happy and learning something about engineering or about themselves I'd view this as a success. Could they have gotten more out of the program? Maybe. But maybe what they needed out of it was just social interaction.

This isn't a hypothetical situation, I've had multiple students over the years who were at robotics because it was either there or be at home alone while their parents worked. One that sticks out in my mind clearly had 0 interest in building robots. He thought they were cool, but he just wanted somewhere to interact with people. He'd help build or wire if we asked him to. But you could tell his heart just wasn't in it. But he was the first to every meeting and one of the last to leave every meeting. He WANTED to be there. But it wasn't the robot he was interested in. I don't feel like I failed him at all. I don't know where he ended up (I moved across the country the next year). But I at least hope he got something out of the program, and I know that being there made him happier. Definitely not a failure.

Frankly, I'm there to try to inspire the students, not babysit someone who just doesn't want to go home. If someone's on the team but has no interest in the robot, then I put in the effort to find out what interests them, then figure out what they can do with the team that both fulfills their interests and shows them potential career opportunities they may not have been aware of. As I said before, it's not all about the robot. There are a hundred things students can be doing with a team other than working on the robot, and they can lead to true inspiration and life-long career paths. It just takes more effort to make that a reality for ALL of the students on a team.