[NickKerstens]

There's already been a significant amount of great conversation and well written points made in this thread, but I thought it would still be worth putting my and my team's two cents in.

One major change that our team faced this year was how most of our veteran members either graduated or left the team, leaving us with an abundance of rookie members that knew little to nothing about FRC, FIRST or even STEM for that matter.

Because of this, along with other factors influenced by the amount of team drama built up over the past few years, 4343 opted against creating leadership roles for each department of the team (finance, electrical, etc.) and instead only having two student-lead positions: Director and Assistant Director. The Assistant Director role is filled by two students rather than one, lightening the load on the Director and the Assistant Director.

These positions are filled through a written application including a resume, cover letter, and three references, with an unbiased third-party interview with applicants conducted later. Our director for the First Stronghold season is Male, and both of the co-assistant directors are Female. On 4343 we don't consider gender when the selecting the candidate, and we have had Females holding the top position in the past.

It's also worth noting that it's more common of the female members on our team to demonstrate and utilize leadership qualities, regardless of their experience or knowledge. When they want to get things done, they get things done!