Newly Graduated FIRSTers

[MissRaptor]

As someone who has done FIRST for 5 years now the prospect of not being a student is.. distressing (I've been planning my funeral I'm fairly sure I won't make it through this coming build season not on a team) I'm not seeing a ton of teams within the distance I could be involved in not to mention I don't know how well I'll take to college life so time is a big factor. I know some teams have different standards on involvement after graduation and such. How do the rest of plan to cope? Mentoring? Volunteering? Ice cream and tears while watching multiple live streams?

(I'll be volunteering of course but besides that I don't know much else, I am in pain.)

[Christopher149]

Where do you plan to go to college?

How did I cope? I mentored freshman year of college (got a 4.0).

Funniest thing is I didn't turn 18 until ~stop build day, and you can't sign up on TIMS until you're 18.

How will you cope? Volunteering and stream-obsessing doesn't sound too bad.

[MissRaptor]

I'll be attending MNSU Mankato! I will do my best to volunteer for the regionals MN holds but it's going to be tricky, hopefully I can drive myself by then. I'll be mentoring as soon as it's reasonably possible.

*shakes fist at FIRST* how can you get people so addicted and expect them to survive after graduation

[April_robo]

I plan on mentoring 4819 as much as I can during college

[DampRobot]

I'm considering mentoring teams (including 100, my old team), but also realize that I can contribute to FRC in ways other than mentoring.

Also, I realize that college will be much, much harder for me than high school, so I'll probably be spending most of my time studying instead of thinking about FRC.

[MissRaptor]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

I'm considering mentoring teams (including 100, my old team), but also realize that I can contribute to FRC in ways other than mentoring.

Also, I realize that college will be much, much harder for me than high school, so I'll probably be spending most of my time studying instead of thinking about FRC.

I wish I could at least part time mentor a team, who knows maybe something will happen...

also....

you can.... think about things besides FRC? is that a thing?

[EricH]

After spending 5 years on a high school team, I went to college in a place where there was no team within the state at the time. (South Dakota--I believe they've added a team or two since.)

I volunteered at events, if I could get to them (particularly over spring break...). And I stayed active on CD. I'm now back into FIRST, as a mentor (and a glutton for punishment, as I volunteered to both ref and inspect at two events...)


You'll survive.

Oh! Almost forgot--Find out if your college has any engineering competition teams that allow freshmen to join. You won't miss FIRST nearly as much once you get into all-school-year design competitions .

[Ginger Power]

Team 3747 Chaotech is located in Mankato and is only a short drive away from MNSU Mankato. I'm sure they would be more than happy to have a mentor (even if you could only be there for a limited amount of time) with your experience. I'm attending NDSU and hope to help out 4818 Taurus Robotics which isn't far from the campus. If you don't want to fully commit as a mentor you can always help out Knightkrawler during your breaks!

[safiq10]

Well I will take this opportunity to congratulate all the member who graduated high school. Also if anyone happens to be going to school at Baylor University here in Waco. The Devastators would love to have you in as a student mentor for a few hours on a weekend or whenever. (PS you most likely will get food!)

[cpeister]

Originally Posted by EricH

Oh! Almost forgot--Find out if your college has any engineering competition teams that allow freshmen to join. You won't miss FIRST nearly as much once you get into all-school-year design competitions .

This. Formula SAE, Baja SAE, EcoCar, etc are all great programs. I think they are the logical next step after doing FIRST in high school.

[julianpowell]

Originally Posted by cpeister

This. Formula SAE, Baja SAE, EcoCar, etc are all great programs. I think they are the logical next step after doing FIRST in high school.

This is so true. I joined my school's Formula SAE team this year, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. After a couple quarters I'm just as hooked on Formula as I was on FIRST.

In a sense these college-level competitions are the 'next level'. My involvement has given me so many opportunities and experiences that would not have been possible if I had stayed with FIRST.

[pmangels17]

Also, college is a nice time to explore things outside of FIRST. I'm auditioning for the Notre Dame Marching Band, and also hoping to have time for some other cool stuff, so for me it's a nice break from FRC. I may volunteer at an event somewhere along the lines, but only time will tell.

[GaryVoshol]

Check out this thread:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=47004

[S.P.A.M.er]

The thought of being without FIRST scared me. So after 10 years of coming up through the different programs I've decided to give back in more ways than one. I'll be mentoring three teams (I'm just asking for stress) as well as being an ambassador for Orlando and South Florida Regionals. Luckily I only have classes three days a week in spring with the majority of them being military science classes.

Teams I'll be associated with: 4901 Garnet Squadron (Columbia, SC), 2152 S*M*A*S*H (Volusia County, FL) and 1369 Minotaur (Tampa, FL) as well as all FTC teams associated with Minotaur.

[Nick1912]

Where I'm going to school there are no FIRST team within 45 minutes of my campus. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not yet because I do want to mentor, but I want to maintain a high GPA more, and be the least stressed as possible. Being so far away from any FIRST teams will kind of push off any temptation to mentor for my freshman year. I know I will mentor when I graduate from school, but until then I think there are plenty of other things to do. For my robotics fix, some of my friends who graduated before me and attending the same college as me have already begun forming a VEX U team for this upcoming season so I'm sure that I'll have plenty of time taken up by that this year.

Maybe in my later years of college I will approach the local high schools and try to build up a FRC/FTC program here, but until then I think I will be plenty happy and busy between school, VEX U, and who knows what else.