[Jim McGeehin]

There is always a balance between student and robot built parts. If one side goes to an extreme, then the students will not learn, or be able to explain why. And it shows, when a student is asked about their robot, and you receive blank stares for a second while an engineer takes over.

If students completely build the robot, then the partnership between the engineers and students is lost. The students might build something or do something unsafe. But if the engineers and mentors build too much of the robot, then the education and learning of the students is lost.

Neither side wins.

There's a balance to it all, when the engineers guide the students, and both cooperate to build a robot. There can be no better way then when both sides are in cooperation - the true spirit of FIRST.