Quote:
Originally Posted by Karthik
I'm not saying a hard cap on robotics hours is the answer (at least half of the 1114 students would blow past the 200 hours by week 4), but I think we need to remember that there's much more to a healthy lifestyle than just FIRST and school.
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Agreed. Though many of us categorize our time by "at Robotics" and "anywhere else", we need to keep in mind that there are a myriad of other situations calling our attention. I've learned that the hard way this past build season.
I managed to actually spend more hours with robotics this year despite having a job and an increased workload at school. It was effective; I was able to help both divisions of our team with countless projects, while still logging a ton of shop hours and fulfilling my specific responsibilities as a manager on our team (every so often). Furthermore, I maintained an A+ average in all my classes (which were all honors courses).
To do this, something had to give. Unfortunately, I sacrificed time with my family during those six weeks. I was off to school at 8am, off to work at 4PM, then back to school until 11, 12, sometimes 1am. There was even a stint this year where I spent 35-38 hours straight (can't quite remember, it's a bit of a blur) at the school with a few mentors and teammates. Inevitably however, my relationship with my family began to turn sour. I would come home after being gone for 12 hours, completely exhausted and often times frustrated, and my family was forced to deal with my foul state of mind. Even
my own mother came to me and asked whether I was using drugs or drinking, because she simply could not explain how I had changed so much. Of course I was doing neither, but nonetheless, it speaks to the drastic transformation I had gone through because of the stress.
My priorities weren't straight: robotics came before anything. Frankly, though I don't endorse the idea, I will admit that with a cap on my hours I would have probably helped my state of mind and being.
Be mindful of all the factors that a teen should worry about. School, family and friends require just as much attention as getting your competition robot assembled, the difference being that your teammates cannot fix/repair your relationships.