Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbeezy
Our County has been very good with accepting FIRST. We, as well as a number of other teams in the county, have shown what FIRST is all about to our Superintendant of Schools and he has fallen in Love with FIRST. By 2010, I believe, EVERY high school in the county will have its own team. And, I’m not sure about a timeline, EVERY middle and elementary school will have a Lego League Team (most already do).
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That's absolutely amazing. Hopefully you can be model that every other region can then follow. I firmly stand by the FIRST vision of having it be available to every student across the country. Of course, one major impact of this is that fact that I was in 8 different schools growing up and NONE of them have FIRST today. We have alot of work to do. However, when the energy is placed on "evangalism" there are two problems I for see.
1) Media word of mouth will never be enough. Once someone has created a team, they are likely to be content with the work and people they have, thus not feeling the need to expand outward.
2) If the burden is placed on current teams, alot of them don't have the time, talent, or resources to provide mentorship or guidance towards the communities they live in so that those communities want more FIRST Teams.
Personally I would love to work for FIRST. Not IFI, but FIRST as their equivilant to a District Executive that the Boy Scouts have. Executives (in the Boy Scout sense) are responsible for maintaining the vitaltiy of their region in terms of quality programs and applicable numbers. Their districts are only a few small cities in size, so basically I would invision such a role as supporting Binghamton, Ithaca and Syracuse. We have a loooooong way to go before I see that happening.
Right now as I understand it, we only have Regional Executives like one for the entire NE and their main responsiblity is focused on Regionals. Thats a huge area of coverage AND we are missing the other side of the coin which is supporting those teams that already exist.
Here is another example of how I see FIRST as a Movement:
1) Our goal is to start a forest fire
2) We only have a box full of matches
3) Often we try to light full thick logs of wood
4) Then we wonder why it doesn't catch on.
If we REALLY want to get this off the ground, smaller scales and smaller regions are critical. I'm not say we should end things as they are now. Far from it. How ever there must be some middle ground so that new institutions can feed and grow into what exists today. What was VEX I see as a good beginning step, but lets face it, there is a massive difference between it and FIRST Robotics.
Personally, I think we need MORE off season completitions. Smaller, family friendly events that have easy access. Many identified prerookie teams are even able to have donated robots to compete. Now... just imagine how HUGE it could be if prerookie teams were allowed to invest say $2,500 into substidized old parts from IFI (like just a drive train) for offseason comps. Then we say, your allowed to use that drive train in the upcoming season since these are your basic buidling blocks. If you can't afford the $10,000 price tag for a full program it might be enough to get in the door and be hooked.
Think small, dream big, change the world. There is something to be said about a gradual growth process. Us FIRSTers are not good that "thinking small," but alot of people do and then we wonder why its so hard for them to catch our enthusism.
I also recommend people look into the work thats been done in Church Structures. Yeah I know, religion bad word. But if you think of them interms of communities it really makes sense. I think we need to understand some of this theory work if we as a body want to expand and grow. These Structures are built around size and resources. Like wise, these Structures have their own unique needs and orientations:
1) Family
So think of VEX as Family. Or, we really might not have a family struture. These are communities that are laylead lead, with only a few people of shared vaules. Having a robot in of itself is a major accomplishment. Right now I don't think they have a home. I should think on this and see if I can come up with some more applicable theory work.
2) Pastorial
I think this is where 75% of teams are at. The focus is around a "minister," which would be the teacher and a few key engineers. Great stuff, and its very personal. I'd say Chuck falls into this catagory. These are teams that enjoy qualifying round, but may not have the talent yet to always get picked.
3) Program
These are the teams who try for lots of different awards with in FIRST. Everyone can't do it all, and there is specialization by interest. There is likely even specialization within components on the robot. These are teams at regionals who frequently pick and get the most excitement in eliminations. They make it to Championships when ever possible.
There are also huge barriers to go from a Pastorial to Program structure, which I won't go into. I would say Division by Zero falls into this catagory. I also think a major source of frustration for me on Chuck, is this is the environment I thrive on and there is absolutely no interest in becoming a Program structured team.
4) Megas
These are the Legends. You recognize them, not just due to sheer size but also the tremendous amount of good work they're able to level. While usually lead by a few key visionaries, their success and energy is a major force of staying power. I'm talking your teams like Moe and X-Cats. You would be hard pressed not see them at Championships year after year. They always step up to the challange of winning Chairmens or making those elimnations.
Good stuff I hope, and its amazing the things you learn at a Leadership Training Camp.
