9th garde in the FRC?

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by Tom Ore

Sounds like a good time for students/alumni/mentors that have done FRC in 9th grade to give their opinions.

That's my que. . I've been involved with GUS since I was about 3, my father help start the team back in the day, and I use to go to every meeting I could with him. Everyone use to consider my to be a regular student on the team, even so much so that I found my way up on stage one year at nationals for a match back when it was down in Disney. ;]. So I really never understood when adults/mentors mentioned something about kids not being able to be on the team, everyone should be able to be on a FRC team! I can say it significantly impacted my life more than FLL. But I was on the FLL team at my middle school for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, and I'm now in 11th grade and go back to mentor them every year. So I guess what i'm getting at is I don't there should be a set age limit for FRC and FLL, I mean, it should have SOME it's limits, like during the competition, to keep it fair. But I don't believe your principal should set a grade level, where they have to do one or the other! Some kids are really ready for FRC at grade 7, and some still like FLL better at age 18, is all depends on the student. Honestly, I think you'll get kids more hooked on FIRST if you bring them to a FRC event. It just has a bigger impact in my mind than a little FLL competition did. Even just a FRC regional can change a students life forever, I know it changed my life the first time I saw everyone cheering for our team, and it changed my life again the first time I drove a match in a regional, and it change my life again when we won our first Chairman's award, and it changed my life again walking out in front of 1000's of people down in ATL the first year I went, all for the better. Your principal should give the students the choice, it may be a little more difficult this way, but in my mind, it will benefit the kids more, and give them more experiences they will hold onto their entire lives, which is what FIRST is, at least in my mind, founded for.


-Dave