Inter-team relations and people brought together through FIRST

[dragonman]

Had a wonderful dinner after Kettering Districts with 2337, 1684, 1243, and the FTA and other field volunteers. One of the great things about FIRST is being able to meet so many great people and have inter-team bonding events and dinners. This year was new for me as it was my first year as an alumni and mentor both during build and at the competition. Being in this position was nice and though I do miss being a student I love being looked up to and helping students on their way to success while still being guided by my mentor.

[dragonman]

picture of dinner

[ehochstein]

I've met so many other teams and so many other mentors on twitter this year. I feel that twitter has really exploded this year with teams and mentors talking. Just being able to see other people talking and having short conversations about FIRST over the internet is amazing. Twitter has really created more inter-team relations and is bringing more and more teams together.

Also this year we started having mentor roundtables in my area of Minnesota where at least one mentor from a small area of teams would attend. Every Saturday of the build season we would discuss the ideas, creations and updates of our teams. Not only did it help us as mentors conceptualize what other robots would look like but it gave us more ideas to guide/mentor our students with. I think it helped all of us keep on track during the build season, we knew where other teams were around us so we could follow each other's lead.

I wish I had a picture of some of these meetings but I do not. I'll take one the next time we get together.