Freshman Positives

[Alekat]

Freshman, who needs em right? wrong! if you read enough forum pages your always going to fun into comments about know-it-all freshmen. But they're also good for other things as well. Here are the ones i can come up with off the top of my head:

The simple machines:
1.Shelf
2.support beam(warning: check the muscle on your freshman before applying too much weight)
3.Ramp(a little shaky but they get used to it)

The simple tasks:
1."fetch" (please be specific as to whether you meant drill bit or mill bit)
2."hold this for me"
3."get out of the way" (please be kind to our freshmen when using this one)

Please keep in mind this thread is all in clean fun, and try not to be rude to the freshmen(not sure if i set the best example). Keep in mind without Freshmen we couldn't have anyone else, whos gonna take over the robotics team!?
Feel free to post any quotes or incredible freshmen feats you have seen achieved! lol

Happy Robot Building!

[Tom Bottiglieri]

hahahah thats so great. It's really funny because it's true.

The simple tasks:
1."fetch" (please be specific as to whether you meant drill bit or mill bit)
2."hold this for me"
3."get out of the way" (please be kind to our freshmen when using this one)

That is so true...

[sirbleedsalot]

having them look for nonexistant parts is also fun ie: a metric cresent wrench
but seriously we need them if we want this organization to continue

[Redhead Jokes]

What about the freshman who know more than the seniors and are harder workers. Or the 8th grader who learns six machines in 3 weeks...yeh, we got 'em. Brains and hard work aren't necessarily about age or grade.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Redhead Jokes

What about the freshman who know more than the seniors and are harder workers. Or the 8th grader who learns six machines in 3 weeks...yeh, we got 'em. Brains and hard work aren't necessarily about age or grade.

I agree. When I hear of people making fun of freshmen, I tend to think more about lazy seniors then stupid freshmen.

[abeD]

Well as a freshman (I'm now a senior) the team leader/driver who was a senior at the time was in the same room as me in the hotels for both regionals and nats. Him and his senior friend developed what they liked to call "Freshman Privilege" in which they would do anything to torment us freshmen. I remember one such occurence was when i got locked out of my room and then only to have the door opened and have all this water dumped on me not the greatest of times..soo.. i treat most of the freshman ok because of my traumatic experiences but by no means do they get away with anything, and yes they still have to do the menial jobs but dont all freshman?

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by abeD

I remember one such occurence was when i got locked out of my room and then only to have the door opened and have all this water dumped on me

Awww ... that's horrible.

I know this thread was started in good fun and I'm glad to see it's stayed that way. I just wanted to throw this out there for the people who might take this thread a little more seiously than it was intended ...

When I was a freshman on 93, I wasn't treated lower than anyone else. True, I knew next to nothing when it came to electronics and mechanics, but that didn't mean I spent the year fetching aluminum magnets and metric crescent wrenches -- I spent the time learning from the people with more experience than me. I hope all the "lazy seniors" can teach the "stupid freshmen" a thing or two before their time on the team is up, rather than making the freshmen play 'fetch'.

Keep in mind without Freshmen we couldn't have anyone else, whos gonna take over the robotics team!?

Yep.

[dez250]

Keep in mind without Freshmen we couldn't have anyone else, whos gonna take over the robotics team!?

Yes I know this whole thread was started as fun but heres a little food for thought...
I know that freshman on my team are treated now as equals, all people on 250 are treated as equals and that is how we do things. I dont know how other teams do things but age and grade is no different then gender and race which has no effect to our team. Many of you should take a lil more time to think of what you post on here because these forums are read by many FIRST staff and what you say reflects upon your whole team.

P.S.~ werent we all freshman at a time and arent freshman the people who are taking over our teams as we graduate?

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by abeD

and yes they still have to do the menial jobs but dont all freshman?

No.

[Allison K]

Hmm. OUr yougest member is by far our most porductive. He's in seventh grade. And as for freshman, they make up more than half the team, and get treated the same as everyone else.

And well last year on 226 we seemed to have an abundance of freshman (many of whom were also in band, as I was, so I saw them every morning also) and my standard greeting was "Morning Freshman." It wasn't mean though, it was just their nickname. It did however backfire this year (I am now a college freshman) and when I saw some of last years freshman for the first time this year and said hello with my usuall greeting, as I had done for the past year, except the reply I got was "Who are you to be talking, FRESHMAN." OH Well. I still slip up and call them freshman sometimes. They roll their eyes at me.

We did joke about the freshman being well, lower, but when it came to design, building, the really important stuff everyone is pretty much equal. Another Senior, A freshman, and I went to get lunch for the team on saturday, and while at Arby's we forgot the ketchup. We stopped at the McDonald's on the way back and made the freshman go in and ask for ketchup. She went in and told them "I'm the freshman and the seniors made me come get ketchup," and they gave her not only ketchup but two free pies.

Allison

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by Allison K

OUr yougest member is by far our most porductive. He's in seventh grade. She went in and told them "I'm the freshman and the seniors made me come get ketchup," and they gave her not only ketchup but two free pies.

We have a hard-working 6th grader and 7th grader.

LOL about McDonalds!

[Crop-Circles]

When you guys talk about freshmen, do you mean 9th graders or first year members? Our team doesn't care at all about age. However, we usually do care about years on the team. I can't stand it when new people come in and act like they know everything. We treat productive freshmen the same way as everyone else. As for excesively ambitous new people, we have one rule:what happens in the hotel, stays in the hotel...

[Jeff Waegelin]

Last year, our two freshmen were by far some of the best workers we had. One of them was probably there more than I was In my mind, it's all about how much they want to learn and get involved. If a freshman (or any new member) wants to just stand around and do nothing, then he or she can spend the six weeks playing fetch and filing corners on the frame. If, on the other hand, they want to get involved, I'm happy to teach them. The freshman I mentioned above is now the electrical team leader, as well as the overall project manager because of her involvement last year.

So, the moral of the story is, don't just beat up on your freshmen. They can be a valuable asset if they're motivated and you help them get involved. Of course, there's nothing wrong with the occasional search for an adjustable Allen wrench

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Jeff Waegelin

Last year, our two freshmen were by far some of the best workers we had. One of them was probably there more than I was In my mind, it's all about how much they want to learn and get involved. If a freshman (or any new member) wants to just stand around and do nothing, then he or she can spend the six weeks playing fetch and filing corners on the frame. If, on the other hand, they want to get involved, I'm happy to teach them. The freshman I mentioned above is now the electrical team leader, as well as the overall project manager because of her involvement last year.

So, the moral of the story is, don't just beat up on your freshmen. They can be a valuable asset if they're motivated and you help them get involved. Of course, there's nothing wrong with the occasional search for an adjustable Allen wrench

As a freshman, I never spoke up that much, so I was pushed aside. Some kids leared motors, others building and pnumatics. I learned non of those skills. Instead, I focused my attention on scouting and stratagey, that's something I really liked. I had fun and now I'm catching up on my building skills. For us, we need more frosh. Next year, I'm counting only 2 seniors, 5 juniors, and NO SOPHMORES AND FRESHMAN. That's right, we're screwed over!

As for getting things that arn't there, I always send people out to go get some elbow grease and headlight fluid.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

we have one senior, 2 juniors, 17 sophomores, and 3 freshman.. yeah kinda weird isnt it. Oh yeah.. abbout my above post. Theres only 1 freshman on the team who deserves to play fetch. This is becuase he has broken hafl our parts and never stops talking about counter strike. I actually took one of the other freshman on as a "padawan", making him follow me everywhere and teaching him what different things are and how to use different machines.