How do I help my area move to districts?

[cadandcookies]

I've been thinking about how I want to respond to this thread since it popped up yesterday. I have about a million things I want to say, some of which I've been meaning to say since I first saw the document around this time last year, some of which are in response to things people have been saying in this thread. I'm going to try to get through all of them, but first, I feel like it's necessary to highlight a couple of posts which have been somewhat lost or ignored in this thread; specifically from the only other two GOFIRST people who are familiar with exactly how this document was presented to us and our immediate reactions to it:
Those people are Ryan and Prath. I can confirm that they're both who they say they are and that Ryan's version of events is pretty much how things went down from our view. I don't think either of them covered exactly how we responded, which was that we got together and wrote up some feedback from the document (some of it positive, some of it critical). We sent that to the presenter and related parties, and then we moved on. According to Jon, the document was discarded after that, which is unfortunate, because even though it has some issues it still fills a very important role of setting clear expectations (even if it has some issues).

Please re-read their posts before continuing if you plan on continuing to talk about the document, regardless of whether you read the rest of my post.

Now, strap yourself in, because I'm going to try to respond to every post in this thread that I feel a need to (ie, someone else hasn't responded with almost exactly what I would say).

One thing I would also like to highlight is Jon's post:

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Would it help move the discussion onto more productive grounds if people knew this doc was killed over a year ago, and only distributed once? Seriously, everything about the doc is litterally

This document is around a year old at this point. People change, opinions change. I don't see it as hugely valuable to dig into this document and level accusations against MN FIRST or the RPC here. Without these people, many of the FIRST alumni here in MN would not be FIRST alumni, including myself.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

As to maturity, that is also judged by how a volunteer presents themselves outside of FIRST events as well as when volunteering. While social media seems to be a benign entity, it is not and it is public. When a volunteer expecting a better role, complains in public, degrades staff or committee decisions and purports to know "the real reason" behind certain activities, that is never a secret. Volunteer coordinators need to know that they have the best person in each position because we are putting students at risk if we don't.

I completely agree with you on a lot of this-- it's important for trust to exist between the volunteer and the volunteer coordinator, and part of that is definitely how someone handles themselves at and outside of events. That being said, I think there has been a tendency to over-react in the past to things that don't really warrant any sort of reaction at all-- I remember getting a call last year about a tweet I made about being assigned at Champs before I was assigned at regionals. Not "Wow, the RPC is so incompetent for not assigning me," but just a "Huh, that's interesting (about being assigned to champs first)" Honestly through the entire thing I was just sort of shell shocked, because it felt like a huge reaction to something totally innocuous. I don't feel like that's a unique situation here in Minnesota. ilovepineapples highlighted some stories from volunteers here, and unfortunately I can say that I recognize many of those stories.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

While many posters, presenting themselves as knowledgeable students in Minnesota, are arguing that the Minnesota committee is preventing a move to districts, you are not in position to know what the committee is doing. You have no knowledge of what it takes to move to districts, the restrictions placed on the committee by FIRST, the state and local jurisdictions, the financial needs or the on the demands for volunteers, including local committees. If you think that the committee is doing a bad job, I would point to the explosive growth in Minnesota, now at 208 teams. I would point to four regional events serving well over 50 teams at each event. I would point to the high standards for volunteers, especially judging staff and inspections. I would point to the expectation that more events are needed and the work they are doing to assist Iowa and Wisconsin. I would point specifically to the great LRI and inspection staff I observe at MN events. I would point to the preparation of rookie teams that allow them to have a great first experience. I think that Minnesota is doing a spectacular job for FIRST and I hold them up as an example for others to emulate.
It is rare to find someone who is still in college or recently entering the workforce to be able to handle the stress and demands of any Key Volunteer position. It is actually hard to find that in someone who has been around for years.

Speaking for myself and not GOFIRST or anyone else, my disagreements with the current establishment in Minnesota are not born out of disrespect for the incredible things they've done for our program or from a desire to "climb the ladder" and usurp the existing order. I think think there's a misconception that some of the alumni posting here (probably including me) think that we know it all, that we have THE ONE TRUE SOLUTION, that we don't understand the complexities of of running a team or an event. In part, this is true. I don't know what goes on in RPC meetings, and I don't know everything that goes into districts or regionals. If you feel that I've misrepresented my knowledge of these things, I apologize. The closest I've come to organizing an FRC event is being part of the planning committee for one of 2220's week zero events, which is on a different scale entirely from a double regional, but was certainly enough to impress on me an appreciation for how difficult it is to run an event. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm very aware of what I don't know, and have expressed (publicly and privately) a willingness to learn and grow. Returning to the point I was trying to get at though, I think that the perspective I have is a much more common situation that someone explicitly trying to climb the ladder. I firmly believe that if you treat alumni like the adults we are, and assume that we want to help, we can and will deliver. My belief is vindicated by stories from Michigan, New England, Ontario, and California, among other places.

I don't know if it's me you're referring to with this statement, but if it is I'd really encourage you to actually read what I've been saying-- and know that my disagreements are based on both the knowledge I have now (flawed though it may be) and a deep respect for the teams and everyone involved. If you (or anyone else reading this) feels that I haven't been fair in my posts on districts here in MN, I'd love to hear it in public or in private. A lot of my energy goes into volunteering, mentoring, and running training events, but some small percentage of it still ends up in posts here, so if you think that can be redirected in a more efficient way let me know.

Originally Posted by gblake

I wrote that folks who feel they are in different camps need to flush the past, and start talking to each other (not sniping in forums).

This is a lot of what's been holding me up posting in this thread. I'm tired of talking circles around making changes. I wanted to hold up until I could actually contribute something that would move this topic forward in a constructive way. The amount of MN drama that's been on here recently has been unpleasant for just about everybody involved, but I think it's something necessary to actually healing the situation here in MN. I've seen stories posted that I recognize and from people that I didn't know were running into issues here as well. I think for a lot of people here (who have posted and who haven't) it's a breath of fresh air to realize that they aren't alone in feeling like something is wrong here.

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

I don't believe I'm one of those students who has said that the Minnesota Committee is preventing a move to districts. I know for sure that I'm not one of those students who believes the Minnesota Committee is doing a bad job, to the contrary, I believe they've done a great job as evidenced by some facts you reference.

I would, however, like to be in a position to know what the committee is doing. Their decisions affect my involvement with FIRST, and the involvement of everybody else in Minnesota.

You are mostly correct in stating that I have no knowledge "of what it takes to move to districts, the restrictions placed on the committee by FIRST, the state and local jurisdictions, the financial needs or the on the demands for volunteers, including local committees." I say mostly correct because I do have some knowledge, but not nearly enough. I think everyone in the state would benefit from having a broad knowledge of the situation that MN FIRST is dealing with. There is no reason, that I can see, that would make secrecy a requirement.

If the general population has a broad understanding of the situation, we will be more equipped to help. If we understand what is going wrong, we can become a part of the solutuon. If the general public understands the issues, we can provide accurate, and educated feedback with an understanding for how difficult some issues are.

The fact is, people don't understand how the transition to districts will work, nor the problems associated with such a transition. Once that problem is resolved, we can start making real change happen.

I can not agree more with this post. FRC here in Minnesota is absolutely filled to the brim with passionate people who want to be a part of making this program a success. Some of these people are capable of volunteering in key roles, some aren't. Some might work at companies that don't currently support FIRST in Minnesota, some might know where we can find space to store fields and host events. These aren't tasks that should be undertaken alone by the current RPC-- but in order for the broader MN FRC community to help, we need to know what the issues are-- Bryan Herbst's post was the closest I've ever seen to that.

Originally Posted by Tanis

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.

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.

Bryan, I completely agree-- there are tasks on here that college students are not a good fit for. There are also ones that we are absolutely a perfect fit for-- want help with funding? We have literally trained hundreds of students to track down funding for their teams and present in corporate environments. Volunteers? We've already covered that discussion. Field maintenance? Sounds like a great thing for students to do on weekends we aren't volunteering. Webcasting? I know of several alumni who have some very cool ideas on how to improve and run webcasts.

We're very much agreed that this work needs to be divided, but it needs to actually be communicated first, ideally through semi-official channels. I think Ryan hit the nail on the head when he said that the majority of teams probably don't know much about districts, much less what they can do to help.

Thank you for this post-- it is the clearest communication I've seen on what we need to do to go to districts here in MN.

Originally Posted by Knufire

This is extremely insightful, and gives a great picutre of all that is needed behind the scenes for this to happen. I think if information like this was publically communicated from the RPC to the interested parties, I think a lot of the current animosity would be resolved.

I know GOFIRST runs the Summer Robotics Summit event; a community roundtable about the tranisition to districts and all the issues therein would, in my opinon, also help foster communication between the various groups in the state. I know members of the RPC have hosted roundtables at GOFIRST seminars before. I'd even be willing to personally go up and particpate.

As someone who is part of planning the Summer Robotics Summit, after some of the previous discussion on here and elsewhere, I am 100% on board with this. I'm really hoping we can make it happen and start making progress at the least towards educating teams on districts.

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.

Brian, I've agreed with a lot of what you've said, but I just wanted to highlight this because it's really core to what I and I think a lot of others believe: I am here to help and inspire these students, and that can take many forms, from volunteering to mentoring. Ultimately that's where I think almost all of us are coming from, and it behooves everyone involved to remember that.


As a final remark, I'd like to reiterate what I've said before: for all I disagree with the people who are currently running FIRST in MN, they still have my absolute respect. I find it disappointing that people have been taking some cheap shots (subtle and not so much) at their character. But my respect does not mean constant deference. I like to say that liking someone, respecting someone, and being willing to disagree with them are completely separate things. Disagreement is not inherently disrespectful.

Well, I think I just beat my personal best for post length. I'm sorry if you don't like reading; apparently I just really like writing (that's almost a chairman's essay and a half of content).