What is the role for team alumni?

[Mike Schroeder]

What is the role for team alumni?

I am starting to wonder that myself

[DaveO'B365]

i'm an alumnus, and i get to do cool stuff, i get respect from current students (at least the ones who know what's best for them ) and i get to go places with the team. they hooked my up with a hotel, and a crew position at annapolis, i get to fix old robots (i love lil' moe ) it's a lot of fun i might add. plus, i still know what i'm doing, so they let me in on the new bot fixing too. it's cool chilling with some of my friends from the team, and i'm not tied down, cause i'm not a student. it's like the best of everything combined into one position.

[Bob A]

Our team is rather unusual, ...I think. EVERY alumni has an active position as an adviser in charge of one area of our team. This has been a GREAT help to me, (I'm the adviser), and to our team as well. I hope that next year we can continue with this 100% rate!

I guess that I should also point out that we're a second year team, and Lindy, our programming adviser, is our only alumni. He does a fantastic job! Thanks, Lindy!

[Alexander McGee]

well, some of our alumni help out in fundraising, and act as junior advisors to the team. Or, they show up to support our team at regional events. Primarilly, the join other teams closer to their colleges.

Thanks Mark!

[PMGRACER]

Our Alumni are always welcome home! Just because they graduate, does not mean they are no longer part of the Team!! This year 2 of our Alum are now mentors(when not bogged down with studies) Several of our kids have gone out and either successfully started teams or are trying to. 857 is our sister team. Several students went up to MTU and joined Anthony's mission to get Tech involved in FIRST. Another student went off to CMU to try to start a team, and is still trying. And one of our drivers from last year is starting a team at U of M. We always have a gathering of Alumni at Christmas and at the Past/Present/Future Picnic in the summer. Kyle Hughes, our team leader and teacher extrodinaire, demands that the students go out after graduation and return the investment the community put into them. We are very proud of the accomplishments our Alumni have achieved. This Team's focus is their success as responsible, civil adults who believe they can make a positive difference in this world. They are the reason we all do FIRST.

[The Lucas]

Since U of Del has most of the winter off (long winter semester i dont plan on attending) I helped in the build phase as an Electrical Mentor. It has been a strange experience but rewarding experience. I am used working on everything that needs to be done on the electrical team. Now my mentor tells me I cant touch anything, the students (almost all rookies) have to do it all. After I got used to yielding to the student, I rather enjoyed seeing them work. After a regional where they didnt need me at all, and in fact fixed other bots without my help, I am very proud of them. I now get to see the competition from somewhere other than my own pit. The leading electrical mentor is leaving this year so I plan to help fill his place next year.

[SpaceOsc]

Hahahaha i just thought my team was just full of jerks or something like that hahaha I'm the first ever Alumni to come back to the bagel byte 702, a rag tag team by all definitions but I'm dedicated to bring them to greatness... have bagel bytes as well know as the titans of the FIRST like truck town, Beatty, or kingman, moe ... haha y not Culver? hahahahaha

Anyways i came back for 2003 and i was constantly reminded of how limited i am and how i should back off cuz "its not my Robot its theres" so I'm like wut the heck im soo dedicated and know my stuff and been there and know wut to do but yet wut happen?

All alumni members how are fed up with there alumni First experience say " I "

Frankly it seem most of us that cant get first out of our skin were willing to do alot and do eve more just for a chance to have or roles in teams like we used to have them so i Propose FIRST allow all college teams of alumni.... team composed of networks of students from all over a generals areas cities counties, even states it been great.. since all members would be alumni and know alot about at lease some parts or a robotics team these team would be very organized strong united and very skillful ... it bring a new level of greatness to the FIRST legacy... maybe even start this as soon as new year .....

If you agree or don't or have thoughts plz share


-Oscar-

[Melancholy]

Going to a college still near my high school, I had planned on being an alumni on my old team. This didn't work though because of some disagreements between the students of what I should be doing. I still love my old team very very much, but I just don't quite fit there anymore. I would love to start a new team, or to help out one of the newer teams in my area, but I have no way of getting a ride anywhere. I'm volunteering for the SBPLI Regional (I'll be the pit announcer, thank you Christina!), but I still missed FIRST throughout the entire building period. Anyone have suggestions for me?

[SpaceOsc]

Going to a college still near my high school, I had planned on being an alumni on my old team. This didn't work though because of some disagreements between the students of what I should be doing. I still love my old team very very much, but I just don't quite fit there anymore. I would love to start a new team, or to help out one of the newer teams in my area, but I have no way of getting a ride anywhere. I'm volunteering for the SBPLI Regional (I'll be the pit announcer, thank you Christina!), but I still missed FIRST throughout the entire building period. Anyone have suggestions for me?

Well this is wut im talking about... cuz i know wut you mean and im sure a large amount of alumni eel this way... im not sure y it happens tho but you long for the days when you actually fit into the team and spent those nights till Wea' hours of the morning cutting out parts for your wonderful wonderful robot ... i miss it thats y college alumni teams would be so great we get it and i dont think we would exclude ourself like the high school teams are doing student runned and operated... but i dont know if FIRST would allow something like this tho ummmm

Comments?


-Oscar-

[SpaceOsc]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=19365

I posted a Poll Dedicated to this The Question What is the role for team alumni?

Add comments and vote

-Oscar-

[Team238-aholic]

Going to a college still near my high school, I had planned on being an alumni on my old team. This didn't work though because of some disagreements between the students of what I should be doing.

i feel this way as well...i mean there are students that want me to be there...and then i go and other ones just rolls their eyes at me...like "why is she here"

I just went to the BAE regional...and I was cheering on the team, a few of them cared...while the rest kinda just looked at me, and were like..."shes crazy, why is she cheering..." and were extremely rude and obnoxious towards me....these people also weren't cheering anyway, so when i told them to cheer, they were extremely rude and said mean things....

whatever.....i love the team, i love FIRST...i'm gonna keep supporting it....even if the team hates me

[camtunkpa]

I think the best thing the alumni can bring to the team is the real spirit of FIRST and gracious professionalism. just from the above post.....the new students don't have aclue and don't really care. I've noticed a big change in the spirit of FIRST because of students like the ones that aren't cheering and stuff. As alumni, whether I have any postition on the team or not, I instill in our students the real meaning of FIRST! I encourage all to do the same!

[The Lucas]

Originally posted by Team238-aholic
I just went to the BAE regional...and I was cheering on the team, a few of them cared...while the rest kinda just looked at me, and were like..."shes crazy, why is she cheering..." and were extremely rude and obnoxious towards me....these people also weren't cheering anyway, so when i told them to cheer, they were extremely rude and said mean things....

You have to train the rookies to cheer, most will not pick it up on their own. Make up a team cheer and have them do the cheer every time something goes right during the build phase. It works well if one person can start the cheer by shouting something. If a Miracle Workerz hear a team member yell our call (sounds kinda like "Oh-A-Oh-Oh") they naturally follow with our cheer ("Oh-A-Oh-Oh" clap-clap clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap-clap "GO MOE"!). Anyone can theoretically start the cheer but most people dont do the call correctly so the team feels more like laughing than cheering, so Vince does it a majority of the time. The trick is to scream the call at the top of your lungs while pronouncing it correctly. I have done it several times but I failed miserably my first time.

[soezgg]

I am alumni from 639. Still on the team except now I have POWER. Sweet, sweet power.

People know me, and most of the time dont listen to me, unless I yell, but I help out as much as possible and try to teach people new things.

[indieFan]

Originally posted by Melancholy
Going to a college still near my high school, I had planned on being an alumni on my old team. This didn't work though because of some disagreements between the students of what I should be doing. I still love my old team very very much, but I just don't quite fit there anymore. ...but I still missed FIRST throughout the entire building period. Anyone have suggestions for me?

I had to respond to this one. I am not an alumna of a FIRST team, but I got involved through one of my professors during the 2001 season. In the past year, I was moved from "Mentor" status to Asst. Coach of two teams, the one I was originally with and a new one that the prof's daughter is now on. At any rate, enough history.

This season has proven a great challenge to me. There was a huge influx of new students (the team has around 48 students), many of whom are learning how to deal with other people, as well as designing and building a machine. The real problem for me, however, was the ongoing conflict between myself and one student in particular. I was initially asked to head up the Drive System, as I did last year, but I quickly realized that if I stayed on it, nothing would get accomplished. Therefore, I bowed out of that system. (I was then asked to be on another subsystem, but a professional engineer came that day, and I again realized that I would hinder things if I stuck with that group.)

So, where did that leave me? It left me here: Team Historian, Photographer (non-digital by my choice), and general assistant to the high school coach and prof. I was not very happy with this because, like many of you, I wanted to get involved in designing and building the robot. After all, I am an engineering student at a university.

But, more and more, I am realizing that these jobs needed to be done. Whether it was to give the coaches some sanity or just document what the team has done, these jobs provided the team with a service that I can continue with next year, along with helping on a particular subsystem.

My point (and i think I have one ) is that there are MANY jobs that need to be done on a team. An alumna should be able to help out and get some sort of satisfaction from helping in an administrative position and acting as a resource for the team, as well as working on the design and building of the robot. Basically, DON'T THINK that the design and building of the robot is the ONLY thing worth being around for.

I gutted out this year and will continue with both teams next year (even if I have to sacrifice some school time). From this year, I can only hope that I have learned some lessons in dealing with others that I know I wouldn't have learned in a classroom. For next year, I hope that I can continue to learn and grow, both in engineering and in dealing with human interactions.

In the meantime, I will travel to the SoCal and National Competitions and cheer for a robot that I had no hand in designing or building, other than to get some of the raw materials.

Sorry for the long post, but I just had to put my two-cents in.

indieFan
email indieFan@yahoo.com