F4 - Episode 7 (Regionals Vs. Districts)

[Sperkowsky]

Hey guys F4 is going to be back again Sunday 4/17 at 8:00PM Eastern Standard time with the biggest episode yet.

Regionals Vs. Districts

This weeks episode is a controversial one. Its a big discussion currently and we have some passionate students on. 2 that are pro regionals 2 that are pro districts.

Now lets introduce our co-hosts

To start off we have Grace Rosenvall from team 2122 Team Tators. Grace is the strategy lead on her team along with being on her team's mechanical sub team. Grace is from the great state of Idaho and was a co-host on episode 2.

Next we have Collin Cresta. Collin is the captain of his team 4954 Palindrome Robotics and also has skills in CAD, prototyping, and programming. Collin is from the forgotten state of Delaware and currently enjoys the district system. Collin is not new to F4 starting off on episode 4.

Lastly we have Jon Logrippo from team team 3309 the Friarbots. Jon is not only the Vice president of public relations on his team he is also a deans list finalist winning the award at the Los Angeles regional. Jon is from the state that does not seem in any rush to move to districts and that is California.

Overall this episode is going to be insane. The debates have already started on our slack chat and we actually have a wait list to be on this episode.... If that says anything.

A few new features/improvements

Chat Mod - This week our chat mod will be Mitchel Stokes from team 5817 Uni-Rex. He will be in the chat keeping things civil along with copying down your questions and concerns.

Chat screen - We have from the start spent the last ten minutes going over community questions. This week however your chat messages will be displayed on screen.

So, remember to watch the show! Put a reminder in your phone write it on your hand whatever it takes because trust me its going to be a good one.

F4 Channel -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVd...irbn0f71skmVIA

Apply to be an F4 Host and join our slack chat (Disclaimer: for students only) - http://goo.gl/forms/h9NIv1IqYl

Before I sign off I should mention this episode will be much more structured then our previous ones in order to keep things 100% civil and informative. All co-hosts have their own data and facts along with personal experience to back up their claims. We will sadly not be answering questions mid episode as we have done but, they will be copied down. If you want to 100% guarantee your question will be answered post it down below.

[scca229]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Hey guys F4 is going to be back again Sunday 4/10 at 8:00PM Eastern Standard time with the biggest episode yet.

Going to go out on a limb and guess you mean 4/17 for the date?

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by scca229

Going to go out on a limb and guess you mean 4/17 for the date?

Yes, Thank you.

[Akash Rastogi]

Looking forward to hearing from students about this.

When I was a student and districts were new in Michigan (and were coming to MAR), I felt that it would ruin the appeal and spectacle of what a regional is. As a mentor, I am usually more concerned with the return on investment and prefer districts.

Student perspective like this can help all of us improve both districts and regionals!

[indieFan]

Are any of the students on teams that have transitioned from Regionals to Districts (or vice-versa because of a move to a different state)?

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by indieFan

Are any of the students on teams that have transitioned from Regionals to Districts (or vice-versa because of a move to a different state)?

Nope sadly that would be cool.

3 out of 4 students are currently in the Regional system with only one currently competing with the district model.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk

[indieFan]

Perhaps a future episode could have mentors/volunteers who have made the transition to give alternate perspectives on things.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by indieFan

Perhaps a future episode could have mentors/volunteers who have made the transition to give alternate perspectives on things.

IIRC, the premise of this show is to have students on only, so I doubt this would be the show for that!

Perhaps a recommendation can be sent to FUN.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by indieFan

Are any of the students on teams that have transitioned from Regionals to Districts (or vice-versa because of a move to a different state)?

I went from regionals to districts and back to regionals again from my sophomore year of high school to now (freshman year of college).

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by indieFan

Perhaps a future episode could have mentors/volunteers who have made the transition to give alternate perspectives on things.

Yea as Akash said the big premise behind the show is student opinions. This sounds like a topic FUN might touch on though if you ask them.

[Mr V]

I understand the desire for it to be student opinions but that doesn't mean that you can't have students who have recently made the transition discuss the pros and cons. I think that would be a great show.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Mr V

I understand the desire for it to be student opinions but that doesn't mean that you can't have students who have recently made the transition discuss the pros and cons. I think that would be a great show.

The students on the show apply. Of the people who applied these are the people who want to come on the show this week. I would not object at all to having students who recently make the transition talk. We have one student who recently made the switch in our community but he couldn't make it this week due to dcmp. If we have enough students who recently switched from the regional model to district model we could maybe do a seperate episode on a later date.

[EricLeifermann]

I like the premise of this specific episode, and kudos to you for putting yourself out there with this type of show.

That being said, no student or mentor can truly be against districts without having been apart of the district system. The general arguments that come out is about the "quality" of the show put on at a regional VS district as well as "sponsors don't want to see their money go to things that get shown in a high school gym". The 1st one can potentially be seen as a true argument but until people have been in the district system their opinion is invalid. As for the 2nd argument all the district areas would probably give you many reasons why that is wrong.

There are more arguments that come out, but most of them aren't seen on the student end of the spectrum. The 2 above have the most potential to affect a students experience.

[itsjustjon]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I like the premise of this specific episode, and kudos to you for putting yourself out there with this type of show.

That being said, no student or mentor can truly be against districts without having been apart of the district system. The general arguments that come out is about the "quality" of the show put on at a regional VS district as well as "sponsors don't want to see their money go to things that get shown in a high school gym". The 1st one can potentially be seen as a true argument but until people have been in the district system their opinion is invalid. As for the 2nd argument all the district areas would probably give you many reasons why that is wrong.

There are more arguments that come out, but most of them aren't seen on the student end of the spectrum. The 2 above have the most potential to affect a students experience.

You've touched on several of my points that I will be making on the Sunday episode, and I totally understand what you mean.

As a student, the individual experience at a competition means a lot to my team and I. The production value displayed at our local regionals helps us get more members, sponsors, and mentors interested because it pushes the "after-school robotics club" motif into the zone of "professional and official varsity sports".

Yes, I haven't been to a district event in my FRC career, but I have been to six regionals, and those six regionals have heavily influenced the way I viewed robotics as a freshman member on 3309.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by itsjustjon

You've touched on several of my points that I will be making on the show tomorrow, and I totally understand what you mean.

As a student, the individual experience at a competition means a lot to my team and I. The production value displayed at our local regionals helps us get more members, sponsors, and mentors interested because it pushes the "after-school robotics club" motif into the zone of "professional and official varsity sports".

Yes, I haven't been to a district event in my FRC career, but I have been to six regionals, and those six regionals have heavily influenced the way I viewed robotics as a freshman member on 3309.

I felt the same way before New England made the switch. It didn't impact my experience at all. I enjoyed districts more because I was able to go to more events, and the change in production value ended up being a non-issue.