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Originally Posted by Maldridge422
As someone who’s only knowledge of Minnesota is through seasons one and two of Fargo, I’m a little hesitant to comment on this thread. However, there’s a student on my team who will be attending school in Minnesota next year and is afraid of losing touch with FIRST. I’ve repeated told this student that Minnesota is a great place for FIRST because the massive growth of FRC teams opens up countless mentoring and volunteering opportunities. After reading this thread and seeing how hard it is even for MN alumni to get involved, I’m a lot less optimistic about an out-of-state student’s opportunities. I’ll echo the sentiments in this thread that open communication and transparency would help a lot in making the transition to districts. While my own district still has a long way to go, open meetings held both in person and over the internet have been critical in our move to districts.
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If your student is coming to UMN, please tell them to reach out to GOFIRST! We frequently get requests for mentors from metro area teams and are always looking for more FIRST alumni at the U to help these teams out. We also host a variety of off-season events (SRS, MN Splash, and various other workshops) that we always need more help with. I'm an out of state student at the U and I have been extensively involved with the FIRST community, though I have been more involved with FLL & FTC because that has been easier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jman4747
The point is if in practice they are in fact denying positions to qualified persons or using social media unfairly than focus on that.
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Up until this year, GOFIRST has been informed of positions at the Minneapolis regionals that were not yet filled and asked for help. This year, the group never received that information, but an email was sent out to teams requesting volunteers for positions such as flag assistants, safety glasses attendants, and spare parts desk attendants (I received this information because I'm on an email list as a mentor for a local team). When GOFIRST has received these requests in the past, emails have been sent to our general membership and people with the availability have stepped up to volunteer. In January I asked if I should send an email to the membership during a planning committee meeting and was told to hold off because hep from the group probably wouldn't be needed. When it was realized that more volunteers were needed, I'm not sure why the students at UMN weren't asked for help.