First of all, thank you all for your replies because I have gotten a better idea of how teams in FIRST are able to organize themselves in a way that everyone understands that there is more that can be done than just making your robot look pretty.
Through your posts, I have also realized that it takes time and patience to be able to build this type of skill up. That it starts with a foundation, and gets stronger as the years go by.
And now, a couple replies I would like to add;
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Fultz
I think the key is to recruit some members (and a mentor if you can) who want to be involved in these types of activities and get them involved. Then, their activities and influence will spread to the rest of the team.
|
We team 4, are a fully student run team. We have lost our head mentor a couple years ago, and had a wrestling coach as a mentor last year. This year, we found ourselves in a mentorless position once again, but luckily were able to have a history teacher volunteer. For two years and counting we will have to again reteach what FIRST is about (which isn't a bad thing, but is hard to readjust every year). Our mentors contribute as much as they can, but with no prior experience there is not much that we can be assisted with. we have formed a team veteran-rookie "high gear-low gear" system; where the veteran members teach and help new recruits everything we know (since we have had previous education with the machines, and are able to run all the machines in the shop)
Many of us were on team 22 years ago, a Championship Chairman's award team and we have been used to and accustomed to doing all of the community outreach, mentoring, events, etc. It's something that's attached and inspired our minds and have attempted to bring to our school on a newer FRC team.
Thats where this thread has come in.
I simply wanted to get a better understanding how you've set your boundaries and platform for your team and its members for years to come.
Its such a great feat to be able to balance the robot and everything else, and to actually "get" what FIRST is about.
I've fully enjoyed and looked over every response, and it would be great to have more teams reply as well.