College & FIRST

[archiver]

Posted by Patrick Dingle at 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST


Coach on team #639, Red B^2, from Ithaca High School and Cornell University.



As I college student, I am wondering how FIRST affects the lives of other college students. How involved are you all in FIRST, and do you feel that your participation affects your grades, or education in general?

Patrick

[archiver]

Posted by Matt Leese at 2/10/2001 9:31 PM EST


Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Fiber Technologies & RIT.


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



FIRST affects a good portion of my life, I think. I
guess it doesn't hurt that I spend a good part of my
afternoons either working at the High School or doing
administrative tasks (I hate them as much as anybody
but somebodies got to do it). Do they affect my
grades? Of course. But I'm not too worried about it
-- nothing major has happened either way. I guess
FIRST has something to do with me being completely
exhausted at the moment (&$*$* making me get up at 7 am
on a Saturday). Then again the fact that this gives me
the opportunity to get to know the Engineering Dept
staff doesn't hurt too much. I guess it's particularly
intersting because the Engineering Dept decided to get
involved about two weeks ago. We had talked to them
before but they hadn't really responded too much. They
thought FIRST was a good idea but I believe the general
consensus for them was that we wouldn't pull it off and
I don't blame them. The fact that they're giving us
money now makes me mostly not care but I could've used
the help before. I guess it comes to planning for next
year. All I know is that starting and running a team
is quite an experience -- both good and bad.

Matt who thinks the above doesn't make a lick of sense....

[archiver]

Posted by Anton Abaya at 2/11/2001 1:58 AM EST


Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NONE AT THE MOMENT! .


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



: As I college student, I am wondering how FIRST affects the lives of other college students. How involved are you all in FIRST, and do you feel that your participation affects your grades, or education in general?

: Patrick

attendance and participation is only one thing, LEADING a team is another, let alone starting one from scratch. it's a painful and glorious experience and i am happy i did it.

As a college student, if you cannot get credits for it, I would suggest concentrating on school first...before FIRST. The project does bring good experience, but that experience wont be worth much if GPAs go down, etc.

On the other hand, I enjoy doing robotics because I open many doors for myself. My college isnt even an engineering school, but I did it anyway so that I can learn from the wonderful experience.

Yes, getting addicted (in my case, stuck) into doing FIRST is bad as it will affect school (or your sleep). I am currently typing this after not sleeping for 2 days straight (robot work) and college work piling up. Wish me luck..... It's one thing to just build a bot and help a very organized team; it's another thing to have to organize and lead it yourself.

Good luck in your efforts (our efforts).

-anton
rambots, #419

[archiver]

Posted by Joe Ross at 2/11/2001 2:07 AM EST


Engineer on team #330, Beach Bot, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA/JPL , J&F Machine, and Raytheon.


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



: As I college student, I am wondering how FIRST affects the lives of other college students. How involved are you all in FIRST, and do you feel that your participation affects your grades, or education in general?

I am very involved in FIRST, in fact I may be more involoved now then when I was a student. I think that this is because now I have to earn my way to the competitions.

I feel that FIRST has positively impacted my grades. My average GPA during the fall sememster is 3.4 and in the spring sememster it is 3.8. During the first month of the spring sememster I am spending 25+ hours per week doing FIRST. Once we ship, I have all that extra time to concentrate on my homework.

It is hard to juggle everything, but in my experience, FIRST and college is a very positive experience.

[archiver]

Posted by Kate T190 at 2/12/2001 12:42 PM EST


Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Mass Academy of Math and Science and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



Last year I made the mistake of putting FIRST before college and my grades really suffered. This year, I'm putting college before school so I can get my grades back up. I don't spend too much time in the lab anymore. It's more administrative-ish stuff for me this year. I'm also in charge of scouting this year, so that isn't really anything I need to be in the lab for.

Kate
T190 XO

[archiver]

Posted by ChrisH at 2/12/2001 2:50 PM EST


Engineer on team #330, Beach 'Bots, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA JPL, J & F Machine, Raytheon, et al.


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



: As I college student, I am wondering how FIRST affects the lives of other college students. How involved are you all in FIRST, and do you feel that your participation affects your grades, or education in general?

: Patrick

While it's been almost 20 years since I've been a college student and FIRST didn't exist when I was, I did participate in several design related competitions during my student years. Without question the most valuable experiences of my student years were those competitions. In my case I would say that they helped me get more out of school.

When you lose a race because of a torsion failure in your drive train, you pay a little more attention when they finally get around to teaching you how to figure out torsion stresses. In my case that was two years later.

Did my grades suffer? probably, certainly for the first couple of years when everything was all theory. But I really picked up when it came to the practical stuff and labs because by then I knew how to make things work, and my professors respected that.

My senior project was working on an SME Mini-Baja. There were few moments in my life more rewarding when our advisor finally took the wheel after the competition and drove the endurance course. When he got back he zoomed through the pits screaming "You all have A's". He told us later that it was the first time in twenty years or so of teaching that he had ever operated a senior project and not broken it!

Remember, 5 years after you get out of school most employers won't care what your grades were, they'll care what you can do. I focused on doing and have never regretted it. Of course I did have to make sure I didn't completely ignore grades, if they get too bad they kick you out and THAT can have long term consequences.

my $0.02

Chris Husmann, PE
Team 330 the Beach'Bots

[archiver]

Posted by Robby at 2/14/2001 10:45 PM EST


Other on team #108, The SigmaC@Ts, from AIFL and Motorola.


In Reply to: College & FIRST
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 2/10/2001 8:42 PM EST:



I've just hit college so I really can't say. I have had classes on days we've had our meetings so that's a big mess. And when I attend saturday meetings I'm half asleep cause I had just worked the graveyard shift for Kinko's. So I just basically advise the animation team and other animation teams over the web through FIRSTanimators. And do a bit of graphic design for the team (and FIRST as well, if you've seen my cards n stuff).

Now as for High School, I do have a lot to say about that. One of the things I did in highschool was not focus on my grades. The school bored the daylights out of me and the area the school was in didnt help either, espcially with teachers attitudes towards my work and ideas.

So FIRST became my life. Nothing else mattered. And believe me, I made it my life. I was so dedicated to the team, I even skipped out on a trip to Disney with my family to make a weekend meeting. I Dont even think a funeral or an immobilizing accident could have kept me away from that bot. I would eat my tacos and drink my 'Dew through the same straw, but darnit I was going to work on that robot!

Okay, back on track. Basically I built up this idea that grades don't matter. That if I showed the engineers how hard I had worked for them, I would get an internship and be set. 3 Years I worked my butt off for the team. My grades went to crap and I left High School with a 2.8 gpa. And when I applied for an internship, I was turned away because the requirement was a 3.0. I even went through heck with the I-Candy competition cause I thought I was going to get the software and not the school. I did eventually get it though, but the internship, well, things dont always work out the way you want.

This isn't to bash my team in any way. I understand why I didnt get the internship and there are a lot of great guys and gals on the engineering and student side. Oh, and everyone will still see me in Orlando, and hopefully the Midwest regional as well.

Now I still am here for my team, but not like I was in highschool. I dont have a need to do everything, and I am working on keeping my grades up more as opposed to blowing them away for FIRST. And this time I'm payin for school, so why am I gonna waste it? Keep your grades up, and work on a way to balance yer time. It's tough, but at one point ya need to say "Hey! I gotta unglue my hands from this bot!" That or somehow make a project in one of your classes have something to do with your team. Kill two birds with one stone.

My next goal is to work for FIRST. Hmm... perhaps be thier creative guy to go nuts with things like FIRST greeting cards and FIRST wall paper and FIRST cartoons and... oh wait, ramblin again... ::WINK::WINK::NUDGE::NUDGE::

-Robby O

[archiver]

Posted by Nate Smith at 2/16/2001 11:16 AM EST


Other on team #66, Frostbite, from Willow Run High School and GM Powertrain.


In Reply to: Re: College & FIRST - But what about before then???
Posted by Robby on 2/14/2001 10:45 PM EST:




: I Dont even think a funeral or an immobilizing accident could have kept me away from that bot.

How about this one...I was off school one day because I had an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out that morning.(2 weeks into build time, mind you)...that night, after taking my painkillers(you know the kind, the ones that tell you not to drive after taking them =), I drove across town to our sponsor for the meeting that night...

Nate