This is the best thread ever, in my personal opinion.
And I'm thrilled that there are people out there who agree with me.
I headed my team for two years. When looking at colleges, I knew that I had zero engineering experience in my three years on the team, but I had gained solid management skills and entrepreneurial insight. With that, I went to Babson (an only-Business college). I am now a junior, focusing in corporate strategy.
I found a local team my freshman year, and in my talks with their manager, I found out that he was leaving and he wanted me to become their new manager (aka, deal with paperwork and administrative details). I was then not allowed to be on that team because I was told by the financiers of the team that "they didn't want a business student tainting the experience for these future engineers". That team no longer exists because they could not find the support.
I firmly believe that the recruitment of students by teams into FIRST is in mismatch with the incentives to become a lifer. Because of how the awards are setup, you not only need people to work on the robot, but teams are also recruiting artists, accountants, animators, presenters, fundraisers, anyone they can get their hands on. Yet, all of the scholarships (save one for an animator) are technology-based. I hope to personally change that in the future, but for now, we have to accept the fact that it is mismatched, use our skills to help out local teams, and hope it will get better.
I also believe that FIRST isn't just about breeding engineers. From the "Impact" part of the website,
"FIRST inspires in young people, their schools, and communities, an appreciation of science and technology, and how mastering these skills can enrich the lives of all." The key word here for me is appreciation: we non-science focused people appreciate science and technology, and leave the program feeling less intimidated to working with them in the future to make our communities better for all young people.
Also in the 2003 Summary of Findings,
"1 out of 2 FIRST students indicated the likelihood of pursuing science, engineering, and technology careers". Though that may look good against other non-profits in retention rates, I still believe that you can't just serve half the people all the way and call it mission accomplished. I have faith that it can be done, just not right now.
-Jessica B