How do I help my area move to districts?

[Brandon Holley]

Wow, what a thread.

Collin's points about mediation are spot on - this is a serious issue that shouldn't be swept under the rug. It's not about a single document, or event, or volunteer, its a serious cancer inside the FIRST culture of a region. If you haven't been a 20 something up and comer in FIRST, you have to understand that seeing the other perspective is going to be very difficult for you. If you haven't had the responsibility of running an event to ensure 60 teams have an amazing time, you have to understand that seeing the other perspective is going to be very difficult for you.

As a 28 year old, now running a team for almost a decade, event chairing official FRC events, I really empathize with the frustrations I'm hearing from the low-mid aged college students in FRC. I've been disrespected, ignored and singled-out. I've also overreacted, lost my cool and missed the point. I get it. I've been there. My team is filled with college-aged mentors with a sprinkle of upper 20 somethings, I understand the frustrations on both sides of this discussion right now.

As an early 20s FRC mentor and volunteer, FIRST regional committee and volunteerism felt a lot like an Old Boys Club. You needed to know someone, or you weren't going to be involved how you wanted to. It sucked, plain and simple.

Were my expectations probably overly ambitious? Yeah, most certainly. But this is FIRST - you have a massive base of extremely talented young people thats growing every year who are being programmed to change cultures and break through barriers. Can we seriously expect them to just take a back seat until someone deems them 'ready'? (Subsequently I think thats why reading that in a document, even if it was only distributed once is what set off this storm.)

I liken it to a performance review at any employer. If you're a young employee, your growth and career path is a topic that is extremely important. Managers need to ensure their employees have a clear understanding of what it will take to reach the next level. Where employees get disgruntled is when they don't have that visibility and there is infrequent communication about where they stand. This is is what I am hearing when I read the posts from the many college-aged volunteers/mentors in this thread. They basically don't see the path - whether it exists or not isn't the problem to focus on, its that these eager-to-help people don't see it.


Honestly, the best thing to happen to New England on a volunteerism front was Districts. The issue was forced and the floodgates were opened. The barriers were broken. We no longer could rely on Dave Goric to Head Ref every event, or Kate Pilotte/Jacob Komar to FTA every event. These are awesome key volunteers, but we needed to diversify and holes were filled.

The hard part is you have to make a leap at some point. You can inch the cliff closer and closer by training keys for years ahead of time, but at some point in time - the region will need to jump. You may not see exactly where the key volunteers will be coming from, but the point is if there is never a hole to fill, or even visibility through consistent communication, the potential key volunteers will never materialize.

I'm super proud of New England, and its why I'm bragging about it now. We have an awesome mix of veterans who KNOW THEIR SH*T, and a spectacular group of eager 20-somethings - each group is getting a chance to shine- and its awesome to watch.

-Brando

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

The hard part is you have to make a leap at some point. You can inch the cliff closer and closer by training keys for years ahead of time, but at some point in time - the region will need to jump. You may not see exactly where the key volunteers will be coming from, but the point is if there is never a hole to fill, or even visibility through consistent communication, the potential key volunteers will never materialize.

This.
Change is always scary, even if it's something that other people have done successfully, because no people or groups of people are the same, so no solution is 100% universal. Sometimes though you just gotta grit your teeth and jump in. Make the decision. Commit.

I don't know how far along Minnesota is, but considering they've been talking about this for years, I assume they're not at square one. I could see the biggest reasonable roadblock would be money. How do we fund all the startup costs. Not sure how to help you there.

[E3 Robotics Ctr]

Originally Posted by Dibit1010

Sometimes districts are annoying. It's one more step to get to St. Louis

I thought the same thing, that was until Indiana jumped on board with Districts. And I have to say I enjoy them much more.
1. It helps those teams with lower funds attend more than one tournament.
2. It allows the Progression of Districts, District Champs, then Worlds.

I liked that it that it could cut down on the huge influx of teams attending Worlds. (I think it was 25%+ FRC teams attend world, with 600 teams spots and 200 of those got in because of a wait list..... I mean really? You are not filling all of the FRC spots and still you expand FRC but not JrFLL, FLL, or FTC numbers at all?)

Sorry back on track now.

Originally Posted by Karthik

In Ontario the large majority of key volunteers (FTA, LRI, Head Ref) are either a college students or have recently entered the workforce. These folks are some of the best volunteers I have ever encountered in all of FRC. I was just at the UMass-Dartmouth district event where I was blown away by the energy and skill displayed by the young volunteers working the event. In addition, I'm responsible for recruiting our key volunteers for VEX Worlds. 39 of our 73 key volunteers (MC/Announcers, Field Techs, Head Refs) are FRC alums in university or have recently entered the workforce. FRC alumni are a passionate and dedicated group who can most easily relate to the pressures that students go through in this program; I have a hard time seeing why anyone wouldn't want to channel the energy and talent these young people bring and use it to sustain and grow their local events.

Originally Posted by paunatime

This is 100% ridiculous.. Alumni in college are some of the most hardworking and understanding of the FIRST program.
"Rare " are not college students that hold roles such as:
over 6 FTA's in Michigan
over 20 Robot Inspectors in CA
over 3 regional committee members in Southern California
over 20 senior mentors being college aged
over 20 referees
More things like MC's, Game announcers, ect are also widely filled by college students. These numbers are just specific to the location I mentioned, these positions for college students are present nearly everywhere (except Minnesota). College students do well in this situation since they are the MOST passionate, understand the teams, and know the program. Alumni give back by volunteering since a lot do not have the time or resources to mentor.

I'm 2 years out of high school, I have filled nearly every key volunteer role you can imagine.
So many of my colleagues in FIRST CA that hold key roles are young college students, and that's because our state as a whole realizes that this generation is preparing to take over FIRST and we are utilizing them as volunteers that have experience inside teams.
The problem is that a lot of people play the "older age" card as a "maturity" card. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I love that there are those people like Karthik and Pauline Tasci and countless others that have the passion that creates such great young leadership! At the same time I recognize that not everyone in college age/20's has that type of passion, dedication and maturity it takes to be in a Key Role or a leader within FIRST & it's events. I know several people that are still a Junior or Senior in high school that have the ability to be a Key Role person RIGHT NOW! while at the same time I know people older that do not have what it takes to be in those Key Role spots. I know there is always going to be the people that hold the idea of "you are too young to know/understand/be good for this role" I still see that as a shrinking group of people as the Leadership does become more of a younger generation.

Originally Posted by Tanis

I'm going to go ahead and answer the original question: How do I help my area move to districts?

First, a few disclaimers: I am from Minnesota. I am not on the RPC, though I was on it for a year and know all of the members. I am a key volunteer, and I graduated college relatively recently (that is, I'm not an old man shooing rascally kids off my lawn).

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think most college students would be good fits for many of these tasks. It's not because I think college students are immature or lazy, it's because of the time commitment many of these tasks require. College students should be focused first and foremost on college, and it becomes difficult to do that if you are trying to coordinate fundraising for 13 district events with executives from dozens to hundreds of companies. There is a reason that many have suggested that a 501(c)(3) is necessary: managing districts can easily be a full time job for a group of people.

Originally Posted by Tanis

That being said, these tasks can and should be divided amongst people. Regardless of who you are and where you come from, if one of these tasks sounds like something you would be good and and are interested in doing, talk to your RPC about how you can help out in that area.

Saying to your RPC "I want us to switch to districts" isn't likely to get you anywhere. Saying "I want us to switch to districts, I think I would be good at doing X, and here are a few ideas I already have on X" is much more likely to lead somewhere.

So much this response! Districts takes a LOT of work. It needs to be something that everyone works on together on and asks What can I do to help make this move to Districts happen, along with sitting all at the same table to give input and ideas.

When is comes down to it, remember what FIRST is really about, it is about those students and helping to inspire them, we are just the volunteers at this point helping to create that path for them to get to their goals easier.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by E3 Robotics Ctr

When is comes down to it, remember what FIRST is really about, it is about those students and helping to inspire them, we are just the volunteers at this point helping to create that path for them to get to their goals easier.

QFT.

[Drakxii]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

http://www.firstinspires.org/find-local-support

Originally Posted by Knufire

Attachment 20435
http://www.mnfirst.org/contact

Attachment 20436
http://www.firstinspires.org/find-local-support

Mark, I believe, is also the 2015 Woodie Flowers Award recipient.

So... No quick way to know at a glance where MN FIRST is on the path to districts?

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Drakxii

So... No quick way to know at a glance where MN FIRST is on the path to districts?

Sure there is. Reach out and contact the people involved. It's no more difficult than posting a message on Chief Delphi.

[E3 Robotics Ctr]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Wow, what a thread.

Collin's points about mediation are spot on - this is a serious issue that shouldn't be swept under the rug. It's not about a single document, or event, or volunteer, its a serious cancer inside the FIRST culture of a region. If you haven't been a 20 something up and comer in FIRST, you have to understand that seeing the other perspective is going to be very difficult for you. If you haven't had the responsibility of running an event to ensure 60 teams have an amazing time, you have to understand that seeing the other perspective is going to be very difficult for you.

As a 28 year old, now running a team for almost a decade, event chairing official FRC events, I really empathize with the frustrations I'm hearing from the low-mid aged college students in FRC. I've been disrespected, ignored and singled-out. I've also overreacted, lost my cool and missed the point. I get it. I've been there. My team is filled with college-aged mentors with a sprinkle of upper 20 somethings, I understand the frustrations on both sides of this discussion right now.

As an early 20s FRC mentor and volunteer, FIRST regional committee and volunteerism felt a lot like an Old Boys Club. You needed to know someone, or you weren't going to be involved how you wanted to. It sucked, plain and simple.

Were my expectations probably overly ambitious? Yeah, most certainly. But this is FIRST - you have a massive base of extremely talented young people thats growing every year who are being programmed to change cultures and break through barriers. Can we seriously expect them to just take a back seat until someone deems them 'ready'? (Subsequently I think thats why reading that in a document, even if it was only distributed once is what set off this storm.)

I liken it to a performance review at any employer. If you're a young employee, your growth and career path is a topic that is extremely important. Managers need to ensure their employees have a clear understanding of what it will take to reach the next level. Where employees get disgruntled is when they don't have that visibility and there is infrequent communication about where they stand. This is is what I am hearing when I read the posts from the many college-aged volunteers/mentors in this thread. They basically don't see the path - whether it exists or not isn't the problem to focus on, its that these eager-to-help people don't see it.


Honestly, the best thing to happen to New England on a volunteerism front was Districts. The issue was forced and the floodgates were opened. The barriers were broken. We no longer could rely on Dave Goric to Head Ref every event, or Kate Pilotte/Jacob Komar to FTA every event. These are awesome key volunteers, but we needed to diversify and holes were filled.

The hard part is you have to make a leap at some point. You can inch the cliff closer and closer by training keys for years ahead of time, but at some point in time - the region will need to jump. You may not see exactly where the key volunteers will be coming from, but the point is if there is never a hole to fill, or even visibility through consistent communication, the potential key volunteers will never materialize.

I'm super proud of New England, and its why I'm bragging about it now. We have an awesome mix of veterans who KNOW THEIR SH*T, and a spectacular group of eager 20-somethings - each group is getting a chance to shine- and its awesome to watch.

-Brando

I can relate to this very much. Being in the program now for 16, going on 17 years. And being an assistant FLL coach starting in 8th grade. With still being one of the "young ones" in my 20's and even after running tournament for the past 6 years I still understand getting pushed aside due to age, unless people know my history within the program.

Can it be annoying or frustrating at sometimes, yes. Now I don't let those comments bother me and I just get on with what I am doing. I know that I have a lot to offer my community with my experience in FIRST now it is just making sure I use that in my most positive impact that I can.

I think the biggest thing that has helped me to start to break into the so called Old Boys Club, is to become part of committee and boards within the local FIRST community, this has helped to build connections for my self and others like me that are some of the younger generation.

And let me tell you I am blessed living in Indiana and growing up with Veterans, and knowing and seeing teams since 2000 like 234 Cyber Blue, 45 TechnoKats, 47 Chief Delphi, (Before they were a website), and 71 Team Hammond win on Einstein in 2001 live in person while I was still in FLL. I got to met the Andy Bakers, and Chris Fultz as well as countless other now veterans of the FIRST Robotics world when I was very young. While they may not remember me, they did have an impact on why I continue to do FIRST robotics today.

I will ALWAYS continue to learn from these people that came before me, when in passing, conversations I might have had with them, and even seeing how they handle situations at events when they arise.

So I urge my age group in college and in our 20's. Be more like a sponge, and soak up as much as you can from those veterans in your area that were cornerstones and pillars within the FIRST community. Those that have those core values instilled within everything they do. I know if we do that now, we will be able to create a better FIRST community for all, when we end up becoming the "Old Boys Club" and the generation below us starts to yell at us that "you don't understand us at all"