Non-Engineering Majors Who Loved FIRST

[tenfour]

Well here...

I was a FIRST student for 3 years and love all that it offers for the most part. As soon as I finished high school and went on to college, I took a variety of classes my freshman year. I took as Poli Sci class and now love that area. Engineering is looking less interesting and I have kind of realized that possibly the aspects of FIRST I loved were not related to engineering as much as all the other facets of it.

Anybody ever had similar experiences?

[gsensel]

I had a similar on, but I always knew that engineering wasn't for me. I had known for the longest time I wanted to be a doctor. Still that is mainly because I just loved the science aspect of it plus in my later years I got involved with the animation.

Still if you look around you can probably get a team worked out (if you have to start one) or hook up with a team in your area and enjoy that on the side of you political science studies plus all team don't need people to work on the robot but they need people in other positions. At most colleges and universities there are many engineering majors that would love to get on a team if they know about it or if they are informed about the great things FIRST has to offer.

[Jessica Boucher]

This is the best thread ever, in my personal opinion. And I'm thrilled that there are people out there who agree with me.

I headed my team for two years. When looking at colleges, I knew that I had zero engineering experience in my three years on the team, but I had gained solid management skills and entrepreneurial insight. With that, I went to Babson (an only-Business college). I am now a junior, focusing in corporate strategy.

I found a local team my freshman year, and in my talks with their manager, I found out that he was leaving and he wanted me to become their new manager (aka, deal with paperwork and administrative details). I was then not allowed to be on that team because I was told by the financiers of the team that "they didn't want a business student tainting the experience for these future engineers". That team no longer exists because they could not find the support.

I firmly believe that the recruitment of students by teams into FIRST is in mismatch with the incentives to become a lifer. Because of how the awards are setup, you not only need people to work on the robot, but teams are also recruiting artists, accountants, animators, presenters, fundraisers, anyone they can get their hands on. Yet, all of the scholarships (save one for an animator) are technology-based. I hope to personally change that in the future, but for now, we have to accept the fact that it is mismatched, use our skills to help out local teams, and hope it will get better.

I also believe that FIRST isn't just about breeding engineers. From the "Impact" part of the website, "FIRST inspires in young people, their schools, and communities, an appreciation of science and technology, and how mastering these skills can enrich the lives of all." The key word here for me is appreciation: we non-science focused people appreciate science and technology, and leave the program feeling less intimidated to working with them in the future to make our communities better for all young people.

Also in the 2003 Summary of Findings, "1 out of 2 FIRST students indicated the likelihood of pursuing science, engineering, and technology careers". Though that may look good against other non-profits in retention rates, I still believe that you can't just serve half the people all the way and call it mission accomplished. I have faith that it can be done, just not right now.

-Jessica B

[Mark Pierce]

Great Topic and great responses. Nice to see you posting again this season Jessica...

I think its often not noticed that the non-engineering skills get the short shrift in FIRST groups. Most times this is not intentional. I know of at least two of the students on my old team who did not pursue technical or engineering careers. I know that they have a much greater respect for engineering and fabrication than anyone not inolved in FIRST their age. How can not help make our society better?

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Mark Pierce

Great Topic and great responses. Nice to see you posting again this season Jessica...

Hee! I feel so loved.

I think/hope its just a matter of lack of manpower on FIRST's part than an actual desire to only serve science/technology students.

[J Flex 188]

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I could not help but agree more. Im a junior in high school this year, so im already looking at potential programs and majors for university. I know within myself that i do not have the aptitude to become an engineer. Naturally this doesnt mean im dumb or anything, but that i simply do not have that natural spark or 'gift' that allows me to perform on something that i like, but perform well on it.

I cant help but feel a bit slighted but some of the speaker's comments today about the importance of having engineers as a part of the skilled workforce. I cannot agree anymore with that statement, and I will always have the utmost respect for people who can come up with an abstract idea and push it into reality, but that does not mean FIRST doesnt also inspire marketers, film production people, and yes, even lawyears. The roundtable discussion was good indication of that, as they had the boston globe columnist come in and discuss how relavant gracious professionalism was in the workforce today.

There are a certain select few on this earth that possess everything to better people's lives, with a technical expertise and the interpersonal/marketing abilities to generate interest. That in my view is what FIRST could be to many people, much more than just engineers or scientists. Which is part of what the Chairman's program encourages everyone to do. FIRST has given me engineering experience where I likely would never have gotten any elsewhere and I am extremely thankful for that. But dont forget the non-engineers who help out too, whether it be the lawyers that draft safety laws in the factory workshops or the PR people who help make sure that a fantastic idea that could change people's lives is known! =)

[Aaron Lussier]

Good Thread.

I entered FIRST my Sophmore year in High School, and thought I wanted to do engineering for the rest of my life... I was wrong. My First semester at Wentworth Inistitute of Technology was pretty bad. I lost all motivation when I found out what engineering really entailed. I ended up failing math and finishing up the semester never to return.

I say this to make a point, you may think that what ever you think you want to do in high school is what your going to do for the rest of your life, guess what... It's not. I though about my expirence on 151 and realized I got more than just engineering knowledge out if it. I relaized that I had learned the skills to become a good leader, a better public, speaker, and lastly a much better videographer.

This is my focus during my off semester I am making a video about my team through out the competition season. Sorry I am jumping all over the place, I guess what I am trying to say is that, you may think you love something more than anything in the world and nothing else will do... you have 70-80 years of your life ahead of you, live it like you want to live it. Not sure if that makes any sense but whatever.

-Aaron

[Ryan Dognaux]

Yup.. this thread is for me too. I love robots, I love FIRST... but engineering??.. No. I can already tell that's just not something I want to be doing 10 years down the road. That's probably why I do graphics/animation/scouting on the team... and I enjoy it. I could have chosen that road of working on electronics or drive train my freshman year, but I went where my true interests lie. You just gotta go with what you feel because you don't want to end up 1/2 through college only to discover your true interests lie in a field totally different than your major Now, it does seem like that the non-engineer-bound people do get the shaft sometimes... but I guess that's more of a team issue.

So... at the moment I'm browsing colleges, finding out if they offer any computer graphics majors... and just doing what I wanna do. I know the world needs more engineers, but FIRST isn't all about engineers and robots... that's why it's so great.

To all those who are not interested in an engineering field - do not be ashamed, there are many Tell us your story.

[Wetzel]

This thread is me, as well.

I have always loved tinkering with things, my dad has always fixed things rather then replace them, and had me help him. So building the robot was a really cool thing for me. But I started up into higher math, it started to really kick my butt. I was looking for something else, and found emergancy medicne. I am currently an EMT and probally going to VCU to continue in medicine, probaly to be a ER nurse, but perhaps a PA or even a doctor (but 7 more years of school isnt that appealing to me).

I love FIRST, and the challange of figureing out the game and making the things work, but getting down into the 'real' enginnering of actual dimensions and measureing stresses, I start to get lost. I can picture the actions of the forces in my head and get a good idea, but can't follow when trying to calculate them.

So I found something else that is a challange, changes often, and I enjoy. FIRST still had a large impact on me, more then most people will ever realise from where I am now. I'm starting to ramble as it is late and I am tired so I will finnish this and goto bed.

I am a non-engineering major who still loves FIRST.

Wetzel

[Ryan Dognaux]

I'm glad that some universities offer scholarships that aren't just focused on engineering (through FIRST). It gives some of us a chance at financial aid...

[Amanda Morrison]

There aren't many of us out there who love both English and FIRST.

But I can definitely say that while that may be my area of study, FIRST still lets me learn a little bit about engineering in the meantime.

Maybe there aren't any famous English teaching/majoring FIRSTers yet... maybe we'll have to change that.

[Aaron Knight]

I'm a dual major Computer Science (programming, not really engineering IMHO) and History at Syracuse University myself. I just don't have the engineering mindset/whatever. I just like the program - it's fun!

[Clark Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

There aren't many of us out there who love both English and FIRST.

But I can definitely say that while that may be my area of study, FIRST still lets me learn a little bit about engineering in the meantime.

Maybe there aren't any famous English teaching/majoring FIRSTers yet... maybe we'll have to change that.

If i'm not mistaken I think Jason Morrella was an English teacher.

[Jeremy]

Yeah I love FIRST and every thing its is about but as far as a major I am a Computer Animation Major but now that I think about it FIRST works with Computer Animation

[Jessica Boucher]

Which scholarships are you talking about (besides the animation one for the art school and the teacher scholarship)?

Last time I checked (5 minutes ago), it was mostly science-technology based, and for specific schools for the most part. 5 million dollars or not, the scholarships are worthless unless they're filled. I don't know what the exact coorelation is, but maybe there should be some research on the normal costs of these schools, the average income of the towns that the students who are encouraged to apply come from, and what kind of a dent the scholarships actually do.