Too late for 2004?

[KenWittlief]

The most important thing to keep in mind is the purpose of FIRST is to get HS students to pursue engineering and science careers.

For YOU this has been sucessful - you are a freshman in college now - an excellent example that FIRST works!

Im not sure if I can say this correctly without sounding condesending, so please dont be offended if this doesnt come out right

the two primary elements of a team are a sponsor company that has facilities, funding, and engineering personal who will dedicate their time and energy to the team

AND

a High School with an adminstraion, teachers, and resources that is also willing to devote time and energy to the program

as a college freshman you do not represent either of those essential entities - the most you can (honestly) do is be an advocate for FIRST, to try to find corporate sponsors and interested high schools, and convince them how great this program is, point them towards each other, and maybe even be part of the team as a mentor

but you cant form a team by yourself.

I have been involved in finding new sponsors for teams that lost theirs, and in forming new teams from scratch. It takes a lot of time and energy, it takes several people to pull it off

its not something you can do in your spare time alone in a couple weeks. It usually takes about 12 months to pull a team together from scratch - people need time to plan for these things, find personnel to participate, allocate funding and floor space...

By all means, if you know a HS that is interested, or you know of a company that wants to sponsor a team, do all you can to make it happen

but trying to pull a team together for this year would be extreemly taxing on you personally - if you are going to do this, you want to do it right

and you dont want to sacrifice your own education.

I am impressed by your dedication and enthusiasm for FIRST

and im worried about the amount of time your college studies will require - many college students dont make it through their freshman year sucessfully - dont let FIRST be a distraction from your primary objective at this point in your life.