[Vikesrock]

I'm not really sure where to start here as I don't think I agree with a single word of this post.

I guess I'll start at the top and work my way down.

Originally Posted by Henry_222

I am a volunteer in the mentor sense. Team #125 and various other teams in the Boston area. I have also been involved since 7th grade lego league.
For this discussion, we can assume that I don't care at what time I get home.
I am lividly afraid that there are kids out there who go to the events and have nothing, and had nothing, to do with the robot. It is only a social event. Where is the inspiration and recognition in that?

Instead of retyping things I have already written I will refer you over to a recent post I made in another thread . I think this thread also provides some pretty good insight about how difficult it is to get people to come if they have no interest and what happens when people that think they have a vague interest come and experience FIRST.

Comparing a football game to FIRST is probably a little bit off, like you said FIRST isn't like anything else around.

In some ways comparing sports to FIRST is valid and in others it is not. In this case I think there is at least some validity in the comparison. Many high school sports programs are supported through advertisement by corporations at stadiums and arenas.

You are more or less proving my point.

A random post with a ridiculous suggestion from a poster with negative rep (yes I know they are just dots). Is this really what you want to associate your argument with? I would much rather have my grandma see me dance than have her see me play Halo. As far as I'm aware my dancing has not been rated "M for Mature".

The time for repairs is sanctioned in the game and rules itself. Extensions past that are not provided for in the rules. One 6 minute period is still 6 minutes even if the YMCA may be 7 minutes long.

First of all, until someone can tell me that they are absolutely sure that a timeout has been extended (with the team working on their robot during the "extension") I don't think this is an issue. Even if it were an issue there is an easy fix, make the robots be on the field and the teams off it right at the six minutes. Then the drive teams can get in on the dancing if they want! Yes this would potentially allow for more than 6 min. for strategizing during a timeout, but I don't think I have ever seen a team call a timeout to strategize.

Jane, I am just as excited as the next guy for robotic competitions. I really fear though that a lot of the students celebrating are doing so in the dark. I don't think that a majority of kids are actually gaining any insight to science and technology. As FIRST continues to grow, we cannot only be focused on the quantitative analysis, but the qualitative effect it has on each and every student.
5 students who gain an engineering education from FIRST is better than 100 who don't learn a thing.

The quantitative analysis says that FIRSTers are more likely to go to college and more likely to major in science or engineering than non-FIRSTers. The qualitative stories are all around you, Chief Delphi is full of them, I read them all the time and each one inspires and encourages me as well.

FIRST is about "gracious professionalism", behaving like your grandma is watching. That is not the same thing as being "professional" which means wearing a tie and usually not having much fun.

I think one of the most powerful things you can show a sponsor is kids excited to be working with robots. So how do you show them this? Kids usually don't look excited when they are actually working on the robots, many of them look downright concerned, especially at competitions. One of the best ways I can think of to show sponsors that kids are excited about robots is to show them that kids are excited at a robotics competition.

I had some teammates (I'm included here too) that danced along with a number of songs at our regional including the YMCA. I had personally seen these same students (again myself included) totally ignore the entire song at a school dance. So what was the difference between the dance and the FRC competition, we were excited.