[Pauline Tasci]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

OK,
It is rare to find someone who is still in college or recently entering the workforce to be able to handle the stress and demands of any Key Volunteer position. It is actually hard to find that in someone who has been around for years.

This is 100% ridiculous.. Alumni in college are some of the most hardworking and understanding of the FIRST program.
"Rare " are not college students that hold roles such as:
over 6 FTA's in Michigan
over 20 Robot Inspectors in CA
over 3 regional committee members in Southern California
over 20 senior mentors being college aged
over 20 referees
More things like MC's, Game announcers, ect are also widely filled by college students. These numbers are just specific to the location I mentioned, these positions for college students are present nearly everywhere (except Minnesota). College students do well in this situation since they are the MOST passionate, understand the teams, and know the program. Alumni give back by volunteering since a lot do not have the time or resources to mentor.

I'm 2 years out of high school, I have filled nearly every key volunteer role you can imagine.
So many of my colleagues in FIRST CA that hold key roles are young college students, and that's because our state as a whole realizes that this generation is preparing to take over FIRST and we are utilizing them as volunteers that have experience inside teams.
The problem is that a lot of people play the "older age" card as a "maturity" card. The two are not mutually exclusive.