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Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi
This is one of the silliest posts I've read on here. Just because a student pursues something outside of STEM doesn't mean a mentor didn't inspire them. Also, you make it sounds like a student going into what they are passionate about is a bad thing. I'd rather have a kid go into what they love and learn from robotics that engineering isn't what they want rather than go in, try, fail, be miserable, and quit.
Not all of us go into engineering, but we recognize the role of STEM in society and earn a greater level of respect for it through this program.
Signed - a former captain, mentor, team founder, Econ/Prelaw major.  |
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrendanB
This is a very dangerous line especially for someone like me who didn't pursue a degree in STEM but was active on a team for three years and has helped run a team from the ground up for the past five years all primarily in the mechanical portions of the robot.
Every student can benefit from being in FIRST in more ways than just getting them into a STEM major. Even just being an outlet to gain confidence, make friends, and learn what team work is really about is more than enough reasons for me to stay involved with students. For some students just being there and showing an interest in them leaves more of an impact than sending them off to college for a degree in STEM.
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Missed the entire point of my post. I'm not saying that students who leave a team to pursue non-STEM careers are bad. I'm not saying that STEM is for everyone. I'm not saying that the only inspiration that can happen on a team is STEM related. I'm not saying that non-technical individuals can only help with awards.
What I'm saying is that FIRST teams are about more than just the robot. As mentors, it's not our job to try to railroad students into STEM careers or focus solely on the build aspects of the team. You need to take the time to get to know your students, recognize what their passions are and what they enjoy, and then spend your effort to try to tailor the program for each and every one of them.
The whole point of FIRST is that we have a culture where kids are bombarded with actors, athletes, and music stars. That's what they see, that's what they know about the adult world, and thus that's what many of them aspire to. A FIRST team has the ability to show them something else. We can show them professional engineers solving problems. We can show them a finance master running the books for an annual budget worth more than the cost of the first car they'll drive. We can show them a marketing genius that reveals a whole world of calculated branding that has been right in front of them their entire lives. And a whole lot more.
If a kid joins the team, great. If they want to work on the robot, great. But if they find it's not really what they want to do, help them do something else that they can be passionate about, and help them understand where that activity can lead them in the future. With everything a team can do and work on, it's so much more than just the robot.