[GeeTwo]

We are always striving to more aggressively recruit minorities who are less likely to show up for the team based on "generic" recruiting. Looking at our Facebook photo, which is our Bayou Blue Banner team photo, I see that no fewer than 5 of the 36 students and receent alumni in the photo would self-describe as non-white, and several others for whom I really don't know. Slidell is listed as 73% white, 16% black, 8% hispanic, and 3% others categories, and northern Slidell (SHS' district) is more predominately white than southern Slidell, so we're pretty close to representative. Only eleven were female, but they included a team co-captain, the drive coach, the human player, and a candidate for the most impressive freshman ever on the team. I believe that our smaller 2016 team has a higher percentage of minorities, both in gender and race. It has even become a bit of a team joke that whenever someone expresses that he or she is a member of a gender, racial, or other minority that the response is one of surprise (oh, you're black? and even on a few occasions oh, you're a girl?) but not concern. Honestly, most of our students don't care what race someone is, and several of the mentors are hustling to keeping up.

This year, we have started having "build" and "business" functions at different time, to make it clear that every team member should have a function on both sides. This was an intentional move to limit the "natural" migration of girls to "business only" functions, and inhibition of boys in serving in business functions. One of the truths that many of the mentors did not learn until after we were out of college is that a scientist, engineer, or mathematician needs to also be a bit of a salesman to prosper. The good news is that you can succeed without having to sell garbage - but it is essential that you can sell the ideas you believe in. OBTW, this same salesmanship in something you believe in helps our students become STEM ambassadors in the world, and you can't cut it much finer than this: being STEM ambassadors is what FIRST is really all about.