[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Erin Rapacki

Mentoring a rookie team was the best experience I ever had in FIRST; of course, it was cool that 1975 won Rookie Inspiration (I stood up, screamed, hugged the girls, and shook hands with all the judges while wearing my Boston Planning Committee attire), but what was cooler was that I WAS NOT WITH QUEEN AT THE REGIONAL TO HELP THEM!

I was there every meeting during build season, but the girls did it themselves during the regional with the help of ONLY two other college mentors.

I remember the first week when the girls asked me, wide eyed, "Are you here to help us build the robot???" Five weeks (not six, we lost a week) and some major personal credit card debt later QUEEN churned out a rather competitive robot and even more competitive girls. They loved it, they were inspired, they showed up to every meeting, they can fix the robot themselves, they've learned to ask questions, use tools correctly, and dream big.

In turn, QUEEN taught me that I can dream big, and helped me re-realize my passion for robotic products.

All I can say is that when a FIRST student leaves High School and becomes a college "mentor" the feeling of seeing high school students work on the robot should be reward in itself. Regional FIRST awards are nice, but if the high school students aren't supportive of winning it, if they aren't doing the work, then the team doesn't deserve to win it, and "how long the team has been in FIRST" doesn't matter.

NU-TRONS, you had a breakup and rebirth during the 2002 season, so consider yourself a FOUR year old team. Many of the members from 2001 and before are not involved anymore (except George Perna, but he's cool and he's one of the reasons 125 survived the 2003 season during the team's reorganization).

I posted this information because I am a Northeastern Student, and I'd like for the NU-TRONS to be successful in winning competitions and awards, but 125 needs rethink their goals and better align them with the ideals of FIRST before true inspiration and success settles in.

I go to Northeastern, I love it, and since 2004 the NU-TRONS has been heading in a positive direction with their goals. They just aren't all the way there yet and could use experienced High School students to apply to NU, step up as team leaders, and help them with Chairman's, awards, and building competitive robots. The NU-TRONS do have potential, but younger college mentors tend to confuse the real purpose of FIRST with "lets go build a cool robot!!"

Erin, honestly how can you come on here and directly insult OUR team. I started this thread to point out an interesting observation I have seen since I came to the NU-Trons. I am glad that 1975 was so successful, and that it makes you proud. The NU-Trons are proud for you, and all of the work you did for the Boston Regional. Which turned out to be awesome by the way.

However, the "flaws" in the NU-Trons that you pointed out, are exactly what makes this team unique, and what makes this team not another. Like you so gracefully pointed out, we had a breakup and rebirth in 02, and since then have struggled to keep a constant high school base. We have tried as hard as we could to gain a massive high school following, even if that means reaching out to 5 high schools to gain members. With more high schoolers comes the need for more mentors, so we not only reached out through Northeastern, but through Wentworth and Lesley. It is not easy for a tiny group of people to stretch that far and keep everyone involved, but this year...we did.

As for members changing, and shuffling, look at our base.....We are a college based team. Think about your team back home, or other teams based purely in high schools. The mentors are parents and engineers and are able to put time in year after year. In college however, people graduate, get jobs, and just need to keep up with classes. On top of all that, Northeastern has it twice as bad with co-op just because some mentors may simply not be able to attend a build season. However, thanks to George AND Don (our current mentor, who is an awesome awesome guy) we have been able to assemble a core team, and have grown dramatically this year.

As for your comment about being a 4 year team...i guess those 5 previous years just did not happen...And for us college mentors, I honestly want to know what you expect. WE ARE NOT SENIOR MENTORS with a mass of engineering experience, however we are the mentors of the team. We do our best, with the knowledge we have, to show these high school students what FIRST and engineering is all about. The claims you make are based off of what observations?? I recall you being at maybe 2 meetings during the build season. These high school students know just as much about robotics, engineering, and FIRST IDEALS as any other team in the FIRST organization.

For the chairman's awards that you speak of, this is a very amazing feat only the best of the best FIRST teams are recognized with. If you think I do not know the ideals of FIRST, maybe you can talk to team 11, where we won a chairman's award just last year.

This post you submitted was a direct hit at me and the other "younger" college mentors. When you come from a high school team, your goal is to particpate, learn, and become an excellent FIRST participant. For the few who have done this, transitioning from high school to a college mentor is no easy feat. At Northeastern, we are under constant pressure from the university to build a "cool robot", and every year, we manage to build a "cool robot". This year was a massive leap from previous years, where your participation may have been substantial. We were able to join together many parts and bring them into one family, the NU-Trons. From the high schoolers, who have learned more in a year, than they have their entire previous lives, to the college mentors, who have learned not only to reach out with their hands, but their hearts, to the university, which has learned, that an awesome robot comes 2nd to the education people receive in this program.

FIRST is about not just the high schoolers, however they are a massive part. Without the other parts, the high schoolers would just be high schoolers. What makes them educated FIRST particpants is the mentors, sponsors, and peers coming together around a ROBOT, to learn more than they could imagine......as a group. I hope that you seriously re-read your post, as it is not only critical of our work, but hurtful to those who put COUNTLESS hours into this program.

This thread started a simple observation, and I apologize to everyone, for this argument, but what I said, needed to be said...