FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous

[Amanda M]

Okay, this idea has beenthrown around in the Rumor mill for a little bit now, so I decided to take initiative and post some guidelines for FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous.

Now these are only suggestions, but I really would like to see this thing take flight, so any comments and questions and suggestions, would be greatly appreciated:

FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous

Guidelines and Rules of Membership

The only requirement for membership is that you be a dedicated member of FIRST robotics, past or present, and that you have shown a great deal of dedication in the past, whether it be through membership of an FLL or FRC team, or Mentorship/Advisory of said teams.

What is FIRST – A – Holics Anonymous?

FIRST –A-Holics Anonymous (FA) is a service organization in which the members of FRC teams, whether they be past or present come together with one common interest: the promotion of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Members will complete service tasks such as volunteering, mentorship, and community outreach to promote the message of FIRST and to bring FIRST to people of all kinds.

How to become a Member of FA

All members must be nominated by no less than five people. These people, with their nominations, must also include descriptions of the acts that the nominee has committed in order to be deemed worthy of membership. All nominations will be examined under a Review Board, and pending a vote, access to the organization will be granted.

Once the nominee has become a member of FA, they are required to perform and document at least five service projects that include, but are not limited to: volunteering at FRC or FLL events, Mentorship of FRC or FLL teams, internships at businesses that promote engineering and/or technology, and volunteering at any other event that promotes engineering and/or technology.

Government

FIRST –A- Holics Anonymous is governed by a Chair and Co-chair. These two members are elected yearly, and are in charge of the Review Board and of the Event Catalogue, and of general happenings of the organization. The Review Board is The Secretary keeps an Event Catalogue that holds information
Chair and Co-Chair- Governors of the organization that maintain the order and composure of the FA organization. There are two national Chairs, and Regional Chairs that will represent at every regional competition.

Secretary- Officer in charge of keeping an Event Catalogue, which includes information concerning regional meetings, service projects completed by each member, and the final meeting of the year at the national competition.

Review Board- a group, including the Chairmen, that is comprised of a total of nine people, elected annually by the members of FA. They monitor the members of the organization, careful to check that they are within the guidelines at all times. Although they monitor events, they do not have the authority to remove any member from FA.


The members of FA that are not officers are entitled to a vote whenever a decision is to be made. All official meetings will follow Parliamentary Procedures, to ensure that every person has a voice.


okay... that's it. Now, lets get this off the ground. It should prove to be kind of neat... if I can get imput!

Thanks,

Amanda

[Stephanie]

really, this is just my humble opinion, and if you don't like it, please ignore it, i do not wish to cause discord.

i think it is really going against the spirit of gracious professionalism to be founding such elitist clubs as these. everyone here loves FIRST. isn't that enough?
isn't it enough that we go out into the community and help spread the love of robots and the related science and technology?
what good does it do anybody to create exclusive clubs, where people may only join if nominated. not only nominated, but once that is done, they *might* get in. it just depends on how the review board judges them. the review board cannot see a persons heart, nor can they hear a persons thoughts. and seeing as any given person can be hundreds of miles away from the said board, it would be impossible for them to witness the actions taken by that individual.

i do not see this as right. i do not see this as fun. i think that in the off season boredom many people have gotten the idea that it's okay to do things like this. a lot of us sought FIRST in an effort to find something outside of the cruel social ladder of high school, where we could learn without having to deal with the popular people's $@#$@#$@#$@#. don't drag it in here

on the other hand, i really do appreciate everyone's enthusiasm for the program. however, if you want to create smth like this, there may be a better way to do it.

again, please ignore this if you don't like it. i'm not trying to start a flame war. i just wanted to express my disappointment :/

[Mike Schroeder]

I agreee with stephanie, why must peopel be nominated, and if you must be nominated, who are the firt 5 poeple that get in for free, and on top of that, we are all in FIRST, we are al FIRST-a-holics, plus i am pretty sure there was already a "club" complete with a website and a president a couple of years back

[Amanda M]

Okay, thank you for your opinion. And personally, I agree. Whe I was writing the original guidelines, I was using the information discussed by other people. (in a post from the Rumor Mill).

I completely agree that you are right.

And, I will revise the guidelines to match your opinion.

[Amanda M]

FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous

Guidelines and Rules of Membership

The only requirement for membership is that you be a dedicated member of FIRST robotics, past or present, and that you have shown a great deal of dedication in the past, whether it be through membership of an FLL or FRC team, or Mentorship/Advisory of said teams.

What is FIRST – A – Holics Anonymous?

FIRST –A-Holics Anonymous (FA) is a service organization in which the members of FRC teams, whether they be past or present come together with one common interest: the promotion of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Members will complete service tasks such as volunteering, mentorship, and community outreach to promote the message of FIRST and to bring FIRST to people of all kinds.

How to become a Member of FA

A form will soon be available, and all those who complete this form are eligible.

Government


Chair and Co-Chair- Governors of the organization that maintain the order and composure of the FA organization. There are two national Chairs, and Regional Chairs that will represent at every regional competition.

Secretary- Officer in charge of keeping an Event Catalogue, which includes information concerning regional meetings, service projects completed by each member, and the final meeting of the year at the national competition.



The members of FA that are not officers are entitled to a vote whenever a decision is to be made. All official meetings will follow Parliamentary Procedures, to ensure that every person has a voice.

[Krystine T.]

if there is already an organization like this does anyone have any information on it? i know it has been talked about in the past but has anyone ever organized anything? if so i would like to be involved in it

[Mike Schroeder]

while i try to appreciate everyones opinons in stuff, i am gonna give my own guidlines

FIRST off, get rid of politics, i hate politics, its the reason i have to pay taxes,


2nd, here is a nice user friendly set of requirments

1- join first in hs
2- graduate hs
3-get involved in first after hs

if you atleast pull off 2 and 3 then

YOU=FIRST-A-HOLIC, after talking to someone i came up with a nice definintion of a FIRST-A-HOLIC

someone outside a team (adult, mentor, college student) who are there to better serve FIRST, simple right

Now for my disclaimer, i would never doubt a hs students involvement in first, and just a little hint at my reason (its a program aimed at hs students)

but peopel like Ken Lueng, who (he may have to correct me on this,) went 6 for 7 weeks this year, serving as scorekeeper,
People Like "E-Rap" who are trying to start off season competitions
People like Ashlee Snodgrass who travel cross country to attend and volunteer at a regional
People like JVN, Sean Roberts
who travel to ref comptition, and one of which had to be banned from this website for his dedication
Peopel like Andy Baker and dare i say it Wayne Cokeley who help single teams advance
and People Like M.Krass who start programs to help every team get info.

These people are like legends in FIRST, people you want to be when you start college.

I do not wish to start troulbe, i just do not think there should be a set standard of rules to follow to achieve this title, or rank, one i hope to evnetually acheive

[Amanda Morrison]

While it might be cool to say, 'hey, I'm a FIRST-a-holic, I've done all this...', it's just as cool to say, 'hey, I'm a FIRST student, I've gone to these regionals'.

I've decided, in my own personal opinion, that there's no way you can say that this is a club and still make guidelines. You will be indirectly offending people who are trying to become more involved with FIRST and consider themselves as fully immersed in this as they can afford to be, and I don't necessarily mean in simply a monetary sense.

So here goes:
FIRST-a-holic (n.) - 1. A person who actively engages themselves in the ideals, activities, and happenings of the FIRST community. 2. A person well-known throughout the FIRST community for their skills, be that in mechanical, technical, scientific, mathematical, or public relations. 3. A person who thinks about FIRST outside of FIRST, associates random numbers with FIRST numbers, and uses Dr. Woodie Flowers and Dean Kamen as their role models, as well as other members of the FIRST community. 4. A person who uses their life lessons and skills learned within FIRST to bring enlightenment and success into their lives and the lives of others. 5. A person who uses the guidelines of Gracious Professionalism to enrich their lives and to make the world around them a better place, if only one person at a time.

And that, kids, is the best definition that I can give.

[JVN]

Guys,
Why do we have to define this at all?
What purpose does it serve?
So someone can say "I'm more dedicated to FIRST than you are" to someone else?

I liked the old days where "FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous" was just a joke... We're all FIRST-A-Holics in our own way.

Of all the things posted, I like Mike's and Amanda's "definitions" the best.

My Advice:
Just be careful where you go with this.

[Ken Leung]

Being a FIRST-a-holic is something you are proud of, its something you take pride in when ever you talk to people explaining what you've been doing in the 6 weeks you disappear from public eyes, and when you flew around the country going to different places meeting people from other states.

It is not some status, or honorary title you shoot for with a set of guide lines, trying to fulfill some artificial requirement so you can achieve the title when you get enough points for each category, and show the rest of the world you are someone worthy.

Just like the competition and its philosophy, being a FIRST-a-holic should not be about shooting for a title so you will be recognized for it. As Dean said in one of his speeches, after 20 years, it wouldn't matter what you won, or what trophies you got, and after 100 years, it wouldn't matter how much money you have in your bank account or how many cars you own. It only matters when you make a positive difference in the world, and tried to make it a better place.

Being a FIRST-a-holic is a celebration of knowing that you finally understand the ideals in FIRST, that you practice them, that you promote them, and that you teach them to fellow human beings. It is the mere thoughts before you go to bed, when you think about what you've accomplish in the past months, and are proud of what you did. Being a FIRST-a-holic should mean the pride in yourself because you know you did your best to make the most out of the time you spent doing FIRST, and made a positive differences in other people's lives, and most importantly, in your own life.

If you ever start a club for fellow FIRST-a-holics, it should be because you want to meet other people like you, and celebrate the ideas I mentioned. It should be because you want to connect the people out there and let them know they are not alone. It should be because you want to share your similar though unique experience. And most importantly, you should start a club for fellow FIRST-a-holics because you want to improve and expand your experience into something more fulfilling and more worthwhile, and more fun!

Guide lines, politics, by laws.... I say, blah's! to them. You should spend more time figuring out what's fun to do. Think of ways to make yourself and others more spirited in FIRST... Ways you can share your stories with lots of other people... Ways you can work together, so that through team work and group effort, you can do something you can't do by yourself.

It will be a shame if you spend 90% of time thinking about how to filter out others you don't want, or in the applicants' case, thinking about how to get nominated, and 10% of the time sitting around talking about how the system is supposed to work, and 0% of the time taking advantage of the sense of culture within fellow FIRST participant's mind.

I don't care about status, I don't care about what I got from the events, and I don't care about worrying if I will be accepted or not. I do FIRST because its fun and exciting, and I do FIRST because I believe in it.

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally posted by Ken L
Being a FIRST-a-holic is something you are proud of, its something you take pride in when ever you talk to people explaining what you've been doing in the 6 weeks you disappear from public eyes, and when you flew around the country going to different places meeting people from other states.

It is not some status, or honorary title you shoot for with a set of guide lines, trying to fulfill some artificial requirement so you can achieve the title when you get enough points for each category, and show the rest of the world you are someone worthy.

I don't care about status, I don't care about what I got from the events, and I don't care about worrying if I will be accepted or not. I do FIRST because its fun and exciting, and I do FIRST because I believe in it.

Thank you, Ken. I think you've cleared up a lot for CD.
Maybe now this won't be such a controversial issue.

[Jeff Waegelin]

I agree with Ken. Being a FIRST-a-holic is not a title or position; it's a state of mind. If you ever want to start a club, you have to keep that in mind. This shouldn't be something where people are competing for spots in the club. That's not what being a FIRST-a-holic is about.

[Erin Rapacki]

So if being a FIRST-a-holic is a state of mind... perhaps this shouldn't be a kind of 'club' but rather a support group?

You all have very good points about the situation... if I can think of a way to make it work but keep it true to it's purpose, I'll let you know. I definatley don't want to see it be an elitist club or have it start brawls between people. That's DEFINATELY NOT what its about.

keep thinking...


ByE

erin

[WakeZero]

Originally posted by Erin Rapacki
perhaps this shouldn't be a kind of 'club' but rather a support group?

What are you trying to say!? I'm not addicted to FIRST... no way... I can quit whenever I want to... honestly...

<Goes back to calculating how long until the 2004 season starts>

In all seriousness, I would define a FIRST-a holic as such:

Anyone involved in FIRST that gets excited about and upholds the ideals of FIRST as a whole, not just a particular team.

[George1902]

Originally posted by JVN
I liked the old days where "FIRST-A-Holics Anonymous" was just a joke... We're all FIRST-A-Holics in our own way.

Well said, John!

Making an official organization for "FIRST-a-holics" isn't a good idea at all. Listen, if you're still reading these forums and working with your team this late in the year, you're an addict in by book.

=-]

I am, however, all for having a group for college FIRSTers. High school FIRSTers and engineers are the norm. They don't really need their own group. College FIRSTers are a very small minority of all FIRST members and face unique challenges. It would be refreshing to have a group of people in a situation similar to my own with whom I can talk about the similar challenges we might have faced.

I'll gladly help organize such a group. I don't know how to make a web page. I can't offer any web space. But I can offer great enthusiasm and a firm belief in the ability of college students to make a positive difference in the FIRST community. Please keep in touch with me if this is the direction in which you choose to go.