Let me start off by saying I think it's really important to step back your freshman year. College is a completely new experience and don't count out everything it has to offer until you've given it a good hard look. You might find a particular group or club that takes your interest, other than FIRST
My Freshman year was one of the best years of my life, and I didn't work in a shop all build season. Didn't scour over the rules. Didn't check CD every five minutes. I did something different, and had a blast.
This sophomore year has been a completely different story. I got in contact with the local FIRST team and started going to their weekly meetings in the fall. It was a lot of fun just getting acquainted with a new team that had such a different student group than my old team had. After doing some (minimal) training and (trying) to get sponsors, the build season rolled around.
This is the only part I regret. I only missed one meeting. The whole 6 weeks. The team met 4 days a week, and I was there every time. Luckily my grades didn't drop, I managed to hold a 3.5, but a lot of the stuff I enjoyed freshman year seemed to drift away. Simply put, I was too involved, and while the robot might have been ever so slightly better because of it, I was not.
I was also a member of the regional planning committee for the Davis regional. If this sounds like the straw that breaks the camels back, it surprisingly was not. I had a great time tele-conferencing in once a month, and then helping the event run smoothly last week. I was the regionals media contact, and was interviewed by at least 10 different news outlets. It was a blast! The low time commitment up to the date of the regional was great for my schedule, and I was still able to play an important role for the event.
After this year's competition has ended, I have a new focus, a goal you could say. I only want to come in once a week during build season next year. My goal is to transfer I as much of my experience to these kids as possible in the next 9 months, so they'll be on autopilot during the build season, with the skills required to get the job done. Its gonna be tough, but in some ways I view these 9 months as my new build season, building up the next generation of engineers... [/cheesy]