Incorporating Alumni within FRC Teams

[TDav540]

Originally Posted by BMSOTM

As a college freshman mentor for two FRC teams (2791 in person and 1257 long-distance), I don't agree with this as a hard-and-fast rule. I finished my first semester at RPI with a 3.8 and am slated to get straight As this semester. My goal isn't to brag, it's to establish that many college freshmen can pull off the balance of being a mentor. I am one of three college freshmen mentoring 2791. To my knowledge, we are all doing fine in our classes, because we realize that school always comes first and that it's okay to take time off from FIRST.


I think the key advice here is to urge freshmen to seriously consider whether or not they have the time management skills to balance the work. Rising college students, I urge you to seriously consider your decision. I happen to have a lot of maturity when it comes to time management. It can be hard to pull back from FRC when you need to, but if you have any doubt in your ability to do so, do not mentor your freshman year.

Likewise, I finished off my first semester at Tech with a 3.8. However, this semester made me realize that I over-committed at Tech. I was doing Formula Electric, Club Roller Hockey, and mentoring 1648, in addition to trying to do well in class and finding a co-op. With that in mind, I have a few thoughts on it.

I agree with the fundamental idea of taking time off from FIRST; there are a lot of things out there that are awesome and new. Every student should explore things outside of FIRST before coming back to the program. FRC (and other robotics programs) aren't going anywhere, they'll still be here in four, five, six plus years. But I think the most important thing is learning how much you can do in college and still do everything well/at a high level. If FRC is part of figuring that out, then by all means, allow it to be so. FRC can be a passion

These fundamentals are always true:
1. School comes first, in every situation
2. Explore things other than FRC before deciding to mentor
3. Understand what you can and cannot do with your time