Preparing for the Town Hall Meeting on the New Championships Format

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by EricDrost

"How do the two people behind you feel about you being up for round 2?"

Honestly, I would have been okay if the entire Q&A was just 30 minutes of Mike asking questions.

He's probably one of few people there who was articulate enough to ask questions everyone was thinking and receive occasionally dubious answers without having his calm severely damaged.

The whole exchange is simply baffling. This whole year has been baffling. There are people in FIRST who have put a lot more faith into the organization than I have and the last 5 months or so I have felt it evaporate from under me. What makes FIRST what it is? Students? Mentors? Volunteers? Staff? Those who we can reach out to? The board of directors?

I'm going to yell at the proverbial brick wall until I'm blue in the face: this is a partnership. If mentors do something that is not in the interest of students, the partnership can be damaged and disintegrate. If staff and volunteers cannot communicate information to students and mentors, that partnership can (and has in the past) turn hostile. It is paradoxical for the board to act in the best interests of FIRST over the interests of the community of FIRST, but that seems like the move they made here. If volunteers get overworked, they'll burn out. If staff get overstretched, they'll quit. If mentors feel like this program's moves do not align with what they hold to be true, they'll move on. If students don't have mentors, volunteers, or staff, what do they have left? A board that can give them a pat on the back?