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Originally Posted by magnasmific
Don’t let this become a hobby, do it for the right reasons.
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I wasn't going to post in this thread again, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to respond to this.
Almost any reason for a mentor or engineer to get involved with this program is the right reason. You say "Don't do this as a hobby" yet what a lot of people don't realize is that if this program wasn't fun and exciting (like a hobby) for the adults as well as the kids then it wouldn't exist. I believe the whole reason FIRST is as successful as it is is because the adults involved
do think of it as a hobby, with the added bonus that they get to do this great thing for all the kids in the program as well.
If all the adults who are now on FIRST teams were willing to put this much time and effort into making sure high schoolers get exposure to science and technology careers just for the sake of doing the right thing then Dean and Woodie wouldn't have had to dream up this competition in the first place. The fun, exciting, and challenging aspect of this program is what keeps the adults interested and involved just like the students.
If every machine in FIRST was completely student-built using whatever equipment students have available to them, this competition would not be nearly as exciting as it is now. Dean and Woodie knew this when they created FIRST, otherwise they would have just asked companies to pony up money and supplies instead of engineers and access to machine shops too.
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handing students fabricated parts and having them bold them together is not what this is all about
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What exactly gives you the right to make this statement? What if I said that letting students build the whole robot without any adult help (a fact which many teams actively brag about) is not what this program is about? The message that FIRST repeatedly sends us is that
anything which is done to expose high schoolers to science and technology is what this program is about. What we're really trying to accomplish is to get all the high school kids here to go to college, study these fields, and get jobs in these fields. How that gets done really isn't that important. Some teams let the kids build the whole robot without any adult oversight, some have lots of engineer help with design and fabrication. As long as the students on either style of team are inspired to pursue a career in science or technology then the mission has been accomplished.