[Melissa Nute]

After being on a team for 4 years in High School, I decided to explore some other things in college than just FIRST. I worked full time most of my college career, along with being involved in a sorority and other events. I kept up my FIRST involvement by volunteering at Off-Season & Regional events as to not lose touch with the competition but without a real responsibility outside of the competitions, as school was the most important thing to me.

Thanks to my focus on school, I was able to finish college in 3.5 years for my degree in Mechanical Engineering. I recently started at a large company that supports a FIRST robotics team in the area & will be looking at going back to a team to now mentor. I now feel I will be better fitted to mentor than I would have been in college as my obligations are different than they were in school since I don't have the worry of college work deadlines.

You don't have to be on a team to be involved. Volunteers are greatly needed at many of the competitions.