Quote:
Originally Posted by bkahl
Here's what was off-putting to me.
As a college student, I am unbelievably lucky to live 2 blocks from an FRC team. However, not every student has that opportunity. Their only lasting connection to FIRST may be volunteering.
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I can attest to this. I go to college in Western Kentucky and there are 0 active FIRST teams anywhere in my area, much less a competition. By happenstance I will be in town for North Star this year and was very excited as this will be my only contribution to FIRST this year. After reading all of the volunteer positions my top request was to be a judge assistant. I did FRC all 4 years of high school and was the head captain of my team. I know the in's and out's of the awards given and figured this would be the perfect entry-level position. I eventually got assigned flags (MC assistant) which I am more than happy to do and completely understand that the judge assistant roll might have already been filled by someone who has done it in the past. However, it would be nice upfront to be told that first year volunteers/college students can only apply for certain positions. Advertising a role as "no prior volunteer experience needed" when you want someone with experience to do it seems misleading to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilovepineapples
Volunteer #1: I am a volunteer who has been trained in a key position and served as a diligent volunteer spending hundreds of dollars in hotel costs who is now told I can only run safety glasses and the practice field. Without anyone telling me what changed or why I can't serve in my key position.
Volunteer #2: I'm an alumni that can run and coordinate a district event when I'm at college but when I travel home I can only run safety glasses.
Volunteer #3: I'm a graduate from a FRC team in Minnesota who has volunteered as field reset for four years after graduating but still isn't given any other field position no matter how many times I ask.
Volunteer #4: I'm a volunteer who registered to help queue but I'm told there are not any positions available, followed by an email to coaches the next day requesting more queuers to volunteer.
Volunteer #5: I am a volunteer who has been a robot inspector since graduating high school 6 years ago. In Minnesota I have expressed interest in FTAing, CSAing and score keeping but have never been assigned. I then am offered spots as a FTA or CSA in other areas around the United States.
Volunteer #6: As a student, I was spoken to about my social media posts, as they were showing MN FIRST in a bad light and told to delete what I posted. Now I've only been offered spots as Field Reset.
This is a small sampling of volunteer stories from the Minnesota Regionals.
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Call me a drama queen but these are all deeply saddening. No one should ever feel demoted, degraded, or left out in an activity that is suppose to be for everyone. As a volunteer you are essentially giving a piece of yourself to FIRST. There are a million other things these people, especially college kids, could be doing on the weekends but they are choosing to donate their time and efforts (and in some cases money) to FRC. The fact that there are so many of these stories depicting negative volunteer experiences breaks my heart. I hope things change soon and/or they let the public know what we can do to help.