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Georgia Tech program
I am one of the leaders of the Georgia Tech mentors for teams in Georgia. We work directly with Wheeler High school just outside of Atlanta. We are able to provide funds as well as machine shop space to our team. Through the Mechanical engineering school as well as the student government association, we provide the high school with the registration fee as well as robot building costs.
Georgia Tech has also recently set up a team competition building with a common machine shop used by all the competition groups as well as individual space for each group. Our FIRST group was fortunate enough to receive some space as well as use of the machine shop. We are also able to set up part of the playing field for the six weeks as well.
There are many advantages to having college mentors. One is that we have seen it from the high school perspective not long ago and can give insight as to that. Many of the college mentors on our team have been around since 1999 so we have quite a bit of FIRST experience. The mentors also have experience from different teams which can help improve designs and ideas. As Matt mentioned, it does bridge the gap between engineers and high school students. THis makes a big difference in the smooth running of the team. In our case, we are also able to provide money and resources. We also run sessions in the Fall to teach students engineering principles and we able to bring in some professors to speak to the high schoolers.
For the college, it is a great opportunity to recruit students. More and more FIRSTers are deciding on colleges with involvement in FIRST in mind. High schoolers also get to interact with the college students and learn about college life. This program brings a lot of visibility for the college. The college students learn a lot from it as well. You learn a lot more when you are teaching someone else. All in all it is a plus for everyone.
If you have any questions about our program, or want help in getting that link with the college started, feel free to pop me an email or private message. Good luck!!!
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Anne Shade
Past Teams: 132, 408, 608, 832, 1002, and 2377
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