Will the next year of competitions bring more girls into FIRST?

[Michelle 236]

This coming season it looks like every senior member of our team will be female. We also have a good number of underclassmen girls on the team. For most of the girls, our team is a year-round commitment, because aside from build season and competition season, we work on our off season competition, lego competitions and and other PR things, as well as the Chairman's Award. I'm not saything we do PR things just because we're girls, but that is how a lot of our female members choose to contribute to the team, and put in just as much work and effort as the boys. We do have girls who build and program too. A couple of years back a girl programmed all our autonomous modes by herself.

I think a good way to recruit girls is psycology based. You have to present it to them in a different way then boys. You're more likely to get a guy to join if you put up a flyer that says 'Hey wanna build stuff?', but with girls, sometimes it takes a little more convincing. What we do is show videos of the competitions, and slideshows of our season, as well as explain the FIRST experience and our team experience in a assembly for our school and at freshman orientation, and it seems like the girls respond to the people aspect of FIRST.

Also, I think it's really important that once the girls join the team, they are treated just like the guys. They should be given every learning opportunity that the boys are, but if they choose to work on aspects other than building, they should still be treated with respect and recognized as a vital team member.

Girls definately add to the dynamics of a team, and I agree that we need more girls in FIRST.

[Billfred]

If I remember correctly, we had four females on 1293 this year. They were (give or take a bit) as active as anyone else on the team.

They were outnumbered about five to one on the team, but they pulled their weight more than some of the guys. (And played a mean game of Halo, too.)

[Lisa Rodriguez]

On my team, we have about 8 girls. I was the only girl actively on the build team, however this was by choice, no girl was told not to do it. We also have 2-3 females on drive (including myself) and others on Animation, Programming, Fundraising and Spirit. We have commitees, and most of the girls were just as active or more so than the guys on our team. I was the Captain of my team this past year (choosen by students) and probably was the kid doing the most. Although there were many kids not very far behind me.
Girls are very hard to recruit, the new ones this year were all from either siblings previously on the team, or had a friend (happened to be male) and join with them because they thought the program sounded interesting. Older girls were previously brought in by siblings or friends talking about the program.
Our team has about 30-35 members, so we have a decent number of females, although, personally i would like some to become more active, it is their choice and they do a lot for the team already.
We are having enough issues with recruiting already, so we don't really target females, although if they do show intrest, we might pull a little harder for them to come.
Girls are treated just like guys on the team, there is no difference, although that took a little effort from my class to make it so, it was done. And now we kick guy's booty

[Spammy Badame]

first of all, i hate this computer, i just had a beautifully written post typed out and my computer just decided to go blank, but anyway, back to the topic....

This year, for the first year ever, S.P.A.M. has started a girl's camp, or so we call it. It's where they bring girls into the pit to where all the machinery is, and send them to work. Okay, not really. It's just where the girls can come into the pit and learn about all the tools and machinery without being bothered by any of the guys telling them that they don't know what they're doing and to leave. Now, when our meetings start up, the girls can tell all the guys that they don't know what they're doing and that they should leave it to the professionals. okay, well, i'm only half kidding about that, the girls on 180 aren't that mean.
Today was the first day of camp. 7 of us showed up, and we expect someone else tomarrow. Plus, we have another 4, i think, girls on our team. The pit was so quiet.... and clean! The only people there were the 7 of us, the coordinator of the camp, and an engineer. We made nuts from a drawing. We all learned about calipers, bansaws, mills, and lathes. Most of all, we got practice making things from a drawing, which is what we'll need to do for build season, and we learned how to use the machinery PROPERLY.
We started making screws, but we didn't have enough time, so we'll finish that tomarrow.
I really wish this would have been here my freshman year, because then i wouldn't have been pushed out of the pit because i didn't know what i was doing. but still, even tho i am going to be a junior, i'm still happy that i'm learning how to properly use all the machinery, and i'm also really glad that we've got more girls on the team.... Go RCU!!!

[Jay H 237]

Team 237 has about a dozen girls on the team and they are involved just as much as the guys. I know of 3 that machine, Liz, Nikki, and Aileen. I know of one that did wiring, Anet. We also have one that graduated and came back last year to help the electrical group, Sara (Smilt237). I know Shelby (ShelbyLeigh237) not only does a lot of fundraising but also helped build and assemble our practice field. Anet also helped with the field. Lea, Trina (Trinora), Tonya (Tonya237) and Julie (UnStumpable237) handled our PR. Julie was the one with the Rubik's Cube for those of you who know what I'm talking about.
One highly reconized member of the ChiefDelphi community was also a member of 237 a few years ago, the one and the only.......Jessica Boucher.