FRC Blogged - Something New – FIRST Dean’s List Changes

[Jon Jack]

It’s important that students being selected for FIRST Dean’s List be able to take full advantage of their selection. We want these students to be able to list their selection for this prestigious award on their college applications, and we want their selection to motivate them to even greater accomplishments with their teams through the following seasons.

This says it all. By the time a senior receives their Dean's List Award (March or April of their senior year), they're done with the college application process. By that point most of our kids have received their acceptance letters and are figuring out which school they want to go to. Effectively, the Dean's List isn't going to do much for them except give them recognition. On the other hand, the Dean's List could do a lot for a sophomore and junior who more than likely hasn't started the college application process.

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

Effectively, the Dean's List isn't going to do much for them except give them recognition.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

By recognizing Sophomores and Juniors, we give them another year or two to use that recognition and title to help affect FIRST in their community before they go off to college.

So, as a community lets change how we treat the Dean's List. Lets look at it not as a recognition award that we forget the next year. Lets look at the students who win it as the ones we'll turn to to help enhance the entire FIRST community over the next year!

I'm conflicted on the Junior/Sophomore change. I totally am on board in terms of helping the students get into colleges, but I have personally have trouble nominating a student I have only seen in their first two years of high school, during which students typically haven't reached the level of maturity I like to see in Dean's List Winners. Naturally, there are plenty of exceptions.

The quotes I selected above are representative of my primary complaint- FIRST very heavily emphasizes inspiration and recognition. To me, this change eliminates the chance to recognize both one generation of students (short term) and students who don't truly begin to shine until they are seniors for any of a number of reasons.

I also would hope that many of the same characteristics that define our Dean's List winners would show on their college applications as well, whether or not the students have the title to reinforce their claims. I know it doesn't always work that way, but that's my ideal world.

As a senior Dean's List finalist in 2010, I know first-hand that the award comes too late for some colleges. Others you can slip in it just before the deadline. I do not feel like I got burned. I am incredibly proud to be a Dean's List finalist, and am appreciative of the recognition, even though it did not help me get into any colleges.