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

[Rosiebotboss]

Ok Frank....you tell me that you read CD.

Did you take a poll, conduct a focus group, ask specific mentors or gather inputs from the FRC field regarding these changes? The internationals, Israel, Canada etc...have different systems as evidenced by Karthik and bardd.

You have my number.

[Blackphantom91]

I feel the way to fix this honestly for the seniors that are now currently in session is to wait to make this change till 2015 season, so all current seniors wouldn't be effected. Afterward you nominate your deans list candidate in the summer or before school is in session.

All though the award of sophomores and juniors is a smart go; just the timing was pretty wrong for those teams nominating seniors. We don't have canada tech here to do what they do.

[LeelandS]

I could appreciate when FIRST encouraged teams to nominate Sophomore and Junior students for the Dean's List award. Dean's List is a great honor and a great asset on a college application. So I understand why FIRST did what it did.

But Dean's List is largely about recognizing a student's contribution to the program. About recognizing a student who poured their soul into the program, to spread FIRST to the community and to generally further the goals of FIRST. This is an award that should be ageless. By limiting to ages, FIRST could be passing over some very deserving seniors.

Encouraging teams to nominate Sophomores and Juniors was a good effort, but forcing teams to do so just seems wrong to me...

That said, I really like the interview process! It'll probably put a bit of extra strain on the judging staff, but I think it'll be worth it. I really like this addition!

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Blackphantom91

I feel the way to fix this honestly for the seniors that are now currently in session is to wait to make this change till 2015 season, so all current seniors wouldn't be effected. Afterward you nominate your deans list candidate in the summer or before school is in session.

Doing this, though, just sucks the system into an endless cycle of waiting till next year to allow current seniors the chance at winning. Like if you allow 2014 seniors the chance, then you take away the chance for 2014 juniors. Then in 2015 you'd have to allow 2015 seniors but then you'd take away 2015 juniors. You see the endless cycle?

I think a better way they could have approached this would have been to implement the interview process and tell teams that it might be better to try and put up sophomores and juniors but keep it open for everyone; I, like many others, do believe that more students become who they are on teams when they are seniors.

[Alan Anderson]

I'm not happy with the fact that some of the most deserving team members are suddenly ineligible. The obvious fix is to push the "no Seniors" rule out another year. My suggestion to address the "endless cycle" problem dodar pointed out would be to permit teams to nominate three students this year instead of two (perhaps giving that privilege only to teams who nominated a senior last year).

As a Senior who has been dreaming of possibly winning this award since Freshman year: This sucks.

I'm not trying to sound selfish, because I'm sure there are other seniors who feel the same way. This award was a big goal of mine, and I'm really disappointed that neither I, nor any of the amazing seniors this year, will have the chance to be rewarded and recognized for our hard work.

[FrankJ]

I remember this going around at championships so it is not a new idea. Still I can see current seniors not liking it. The issue with having spit age range.. Juniors in the states & senior equivalent elsewhere would make judging it a lot more difficult since seniors will have one more year of accomplishment.

[avanboekel]

I really like the addition of the interview as it puts a face to the name of each of the candidates. However, I really don't like the idea of seniors not being able to win the award. IMO, this puts too much emphasis on it being an award to show to colleges, and not something that your team nominated you for after 3-4 years of hard work. It devalues the Dean's List Award.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

As a Senior who has been dreaming of possibly winning this award since Freshman year: This sucks.

I'm not trying to sound selfish, because I'm sure there are other seniors who feel the same way. This award was a big goal of mine, and I'm really disappointed that neither I, nor any of the amazing seniors this year, will have the chance to be rewarded and recognized for our hard work.

I'm in the same boat.

I think the Dean's List Award is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. On one hand, it recognizes technical and leadership skills, as well as recognizing contributions to teams/the FIRST program, and on the other hand, it seems like FIRST is really obsessed with getting Dean's List winners/finalists recognized by colleges. I don't see those two things as mutually exclusive necessarily, but there are some contradictions at the edge cases.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed with the decision. But I suppose some of us must lose out for FIRST to pursue its higher goals.

[Pault]

First, like everyone else, I loved the Interview part. It just makes sense.

But... I just don't like the no seniors part. At first I thought it makes sense, but between the international teams and the really exceptional seniors in FIRST I cannot agree with it. My ideal system would be that during the judging process a HUGE priority would placed on people who could use this for college applications. This gets rid of the international problem, and makes it so that if there is a senior who deserves it substantially more than everybody else he would still have a chance.

[Karthik]

One thing I didn't mention in my original post is that I really like the addition of the interviews. Logistical concerns aside, the interview process will help ensure the best candidates are chosen. Consider this wording from the 2013 description of the Dean's List Award:

Originally Posted by 2013 FIRST Admin Manual

...it is FIRST’s intention that they will continue on, post-award, as great leaders of FIRST’s ever growing student alumni and as advocates of FIRST.

If the award is looking to recognize people who will be advocates of FIRST well into the future, you want to choose students who have a demonstrated ability to sell the program. One of the best ways to judge this is to speak to the students directly to gauge not only their passion and dedication to FIRST, but their ability to evangelize the program. This will ensure that students who are much more than can be seen from a 4,000 character essay, get properly recognized.

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

As a Senior who has been dreaming of possibly winning this award since Freshman year: This sucks.

I'm not trying to sound selfish, because I'm sure there are other seniors who feel the same way. This award was a big goal of mine, and I'm really disappointed that neither I, nor any of the amazing seniors this year, will have the chance to be rewarded and recognized for our hard work.

By no means am I trying to sound harsh here, but as disappointing as it is for you to no longer be eligible for this award, it's not like you never had a chance. You were very eligible in your Junior year, with FIRST strongly urging all teams to nominate Juniors. See below.

Originally Posted by 2013 FIRST Admin Manual

Teams nominating students as FIRST Dean’s List Entrants/Nominees should note that colleges and universities are extremely interested in recruiting FIRST Dean’s List Award students and accordingly, FIRST strongly urges teams to nominate a student in his or her junior year as a FIRST Dean’s List Semi-Finalist.

Originally Posted by Karthik

By no means am I trying to sound harsh here, but as disappointing as it is for you to no longer be eligible for this award, it's not like you never had a chance. You were very eligible in your Junior year, with FIRST strongly urging all teams to nominate Juniors. See below.

I completely understand - and agree. My team just nominates seniors because they've impacted the team and community and represented the ideals of FIRST the most (what the award is supposed to celebrate).

[swethaly]

I understand why they're doing it, but it defeats the purpose of the award. In the words of Woodie Flowers, "You get what you celebrate", and the description of the Dean's List Award states that its goal is to recognize the exemplary students who best express the ideals of FIRST. In that scenario, the expressing FIRST ideals and being an exemplary student is celebrated, so that's what FIRST would get. However they've been turning the award into a coveted title for college applications. In this scenario, FIRST celebrates focusing more on individual efforts than being a role model for others, so FIRST will get a bunch of students who only want an award for their college applications.

This pretty much goes against everything I've been told by Dean, Woodie, and everyone else for the past decade since I've been involved in FIRST. I feel lied to.

[Samwaldo]

As a senior (and now Team Captain), my opinionated response is that the interview process is FANTASTIC but the sophomore/junior requirement is RIDICULOUS!!! I have worked very hard on my team since my freshmen year and have made huge impacts on both the engineering and non-engineering aspects of the team.

My team has generally honored seniors for their time and dedication by nominating 1-2 for Dean's List.

This was my year that I would be nominated, but I guess not anymore. I didn't want it for the college application. I wanted it as something to remember my dedication and the organization that changed me into a leader.

[LeelandS]

It seems the consensus is the interview process is flippin' awesome, but the restriction of nominating only juniors and sophomores is kind of a downer.

Maybe FIRST should have given a little heads up to this? Instead of dropping the bomb for the incoming season, let teams know a season ahead that the change would be coming; that way no seniors-to-be would be "cheated".

Obviously it's too late to do anything about it now, but that seems like it would have been a more solid course of action.