[JesseK]

It is the build season in which the students learn and have their thoughts teased, tortured, and challenged. FIRST is about the build season and since most of the building takes place after school and on weekends, I really would not want to deny any student that opportunity. It's by mere chance that grades are not checked until after the build season (quarterly report cards afaik) so all students are allowed to come in the build season.

For travel, however, to go with the team you must meet the same requirements as a college level student: C average or better in all classes. We mentor the students as college or better, we treat the students as college or better, so there is no reason to expect anything less. In my experience with the rare student that falls short, it is more a factor of laziness or mis-focus (on robotics instead of projects/homework), which we try to catch throughout the season. We also tutor students throughout the season if they appear to struggle with concepts (note, we do not much help them fight the struggle with laziness).

In the real world, regardless of your extraciricular activities, if you don't perform as expected on the job you have a high probability of not having your job much longer.