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Unread 30-08-2010, 09:58
Brandon Holley's Avatar
Brandon Holley Brandon Holley is offline
Chase perfection. Catch excellence.
AKA: Let's bring CD back to the way it used to be
FRC #0125 (NU-TRONs, Team #11 Alumni (GO MORT))
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Boston, MA
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Re: Doing FIRST in College

All of the mentors on team 125 are college students, or very recent college grads. I've seen dozens upon dozens of college mentors go through our team. Some are able to succeed right away (very very rarely) while most flounder for almost the entirety of their careers on the team. Very few are able to stick with the team through all 5 years (Northeastern is a 5 year school), but the few that do become very proficient mentors.

FIRST is tough on college students. In my opinion, FIRST is not designed for college students to have a very active role in it. Just like how you grow a lot (physically and emotionally) through high school, you do the same through college. A high school senior on the team, who has participated for the last 4 years is almost identical in experience to a college freshman joining a team in the fall. Literally only a couple of months of summer separate these two. To think some magic transformation will occur over those months is slightly ignorant in my opinion.

The way our team operates, utilizing college mentors as pretty much the only mentor support, creates numerous obstacles we have to hurdle. At the end of the day, we are a successful FIRST team, that inspires our high school students and helps the community. However, it burns college students out left and right. Like I said above, some are able to get through the rough patches and develop into amazing mentors, but along the way there are many college mentors who burn themselves out.

I agree with everything JVN said, but I also understand how tough it is to let go of something you really care about. My recommendation is to take at least 1 year off from FIRST if you truly insist on being a college mentor. Give yourself time to develop as a person and gain some know-how. Looking back on when I joined my FIRST team as a college freshman, I realize I had people telling me the same thing and I didn't really listen. I wish I would have because I think it could have really helped me in the long run.

Good post JVN.

-Brando
__________________
MORT (Team 11) '01-'05 :
-2005 New Jersey Regional Chairman's Award Winners
-2013 MORT Hall of Fame Inductee

NUTRONs (Team 125) '05-???
2007 Boston Regional Winners
2008 & 2009 Boston Regional Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award
2010 Boston Regional Creativity Award
2011 Bayou Regional Finalists, Innovation in Control Award, Boston Regional Finalists, Industrial Design Award
2012 New York City Regional Winners, Boston Regional Finalists, IRI Mentor of the Year
2013 Orlando Regional Finalists, Industrial Design Award, Boston Regional Winners, Pine Tree Regional Finalists
2014 Rhode Island District Winners, Excellence in Engineering Award, Northeastern University District Winners, Industrial Design Award, Pine Tree District Chairman's Award, Pine Tree District Winners
2015 South Florida Regional Chairman's Award, NU District Winners, NEDCMP Industrial Design Award, Hopper Division Finalists, Hopper/Newton Gracious Professionalism Award
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