Teams losing lots of seniors

[Shu Song]

It seems like a lot of teams are losing a lot seniors this year. Is it an anamoly that a team loses around a third of its members because seniors graduate, or is that a norm?

We are losing 11 seniors out of 25 students, 1022 is lose a third of its members, I heard that 771 is losing the majority of its members(someone check me on that I may be wrong), and there are plenty more.

What other teams are losing a substantial amount of seniors this year?

[lsmith243]

I wouldn't say we're losing a TON of seniors, but our two student team leads, about 5 subteam leads, and 3 more extremely intelligent and helpful guys are all leaving this year, which is a huge dent to our knowledge basis. We're trying to get them to "leave behind" all their knowledge on the things they've brought to our team, but they're leaving at the end of next week.

[Greg McCoy]

Originally Posted by Shu Song

Is it an anamoly that a team loses around a third of its members because seniors graduate, or is that a norm?

It seems like on average you should lose a quarter of your members as seniors, unless you scare lots of them away as underclassmen

Team 45 is only losing 3 seniors this year out of about 25 students.

[Kyle Love]

Originally Posted by Greg McCoy

It seems like on average you should lose a quarter of your members as seniors, unless you scare lots of them away as underclassmen

Team 45 is only losing 3 seniors this year out of about 25 students.

45 isn't just losing 3 seniors. We are losing 3 great and very productive seniors. Look at it this way. Half of our drive team is going to be gone for next year and our head electrical guy will be at Kettering. They were all vital members this year. It will be sad not having Greg, Austin and Steven around the shop next year. But hopefully they can continue on and help a college FIRST team like 461 or 1646. Great job guys' you will really be missed!

[Koko Ed]

We're losing seven seniors this year. Our driver, our coach, our operator, our human player, both of our spirit queens and one other girl. Pretty big loss but our returning students learned well from them and I am confident that they will eagerly take over their rles and excell at them and our leadership is able to handle such losses (as every FIRST team must. They can't stay forever).

[BandChick]

Well, if it makes you feel better, 1089 is only losing ONE senior, and we're almost positive he'll be back to help out.

[Alex Pelan]

We're losing one four-year member this year, and a couple of seniors who just joined this year. It may seem like seniors leaving may be a bad thing, but underclassmen should look at their open positions as an opportunity, not a loss for their team. Last year, we lost 16 seniors out of 25 or so students. The seniors were responsible for about 90% of what went on last year. But the returning members (there were only four or five of us, as other people left the team for other reasons) sustained, recruited people, and although we did have what could probably be called a "transition year," our team was not affected adversely, and we're poised to have a lot of experience next year. It'll turn out all right, trust me.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

We're losing seven seniors this year. Our driver, our coach, our operator, our human player, both of our spirit queens and one other girl. Pretty big loss but our returning students learned well from them and I am confident that they will eagerly take over their rles and excell at them and our leadership is able to handle such losses (as every FIRST team must. They can't stay forever).

sounds like our team ed, driver, operator 3/4 of last years hp's, pit boss, and our student of the year is also leaving. can't say who because they don't know them selves yet. I surely hope and believe Sparx will once again be a great team next year and i hope to see them at a competition.

[StephLee]

Our team had no seniors this year, so we aren't losing anyone. We were a rookie team, so the mentors tried to look for mostly underclassmen and juniors when they recruited people. They didn't want to lose anyone right after our first year. So we'll have 11 returning team members next year, and who knows how many recruits.

[tiffany34990]

s.p.a.m. is losing a lot of seniors..the most we've ever lost over the 8 years. the team will still be large and running of course. i'm one of those seniors leaving..i'm now offically an alumni it's kinda crazy..did my last work for s.p.a.m. this morning...


combat (21) is losing a lot of people too..good luck to them..who dat bat?? combat

[Brandon Holley]

Team 11 is losing 8, 4 year seniors...and 6, 3 year seniors....a pretty huge blow to the team losing their coach(es), human players, and driver as well as the 3 team captains, cheer master and about 4 other solid FIRST participants.....me being the driver, I am looking back on the past 4 years as amazing and hoping MORT can stay successful without its core.

[Bharat Nain]

I'm sorry for your loss of seniors, but just watch those quiet kids who sit in the corner doing nothing - suddenly rise up as leaders and change everything. Trust me I've seen it and it's simply wonderful to see people change(or see the side of people you've never seen).

But anyways, Team 25 is losing 5 seniors. 1 Animation head, 1 RINOS/Drive team, 1 who does nothing, 1 Pit crew head and 1 programmer(my programming buddy). However, all of them are not quitting completely. Mike Ciance is still going to be assisting with the animation, at least training a few members. Keith Chester is taken up the RINOS program national and is going to work hand in hand from WPI with Team 25 to make this program a success. A family aren't we? I feel our team has done a very good job at inspiring students not only to continue with engineering programs, but also to stay in FIRST and promote it heavily.

[petek]

From what I've seen this seems to go in cycles - some years there will be a big influx of freshmen who stick with it and other years there are just a few. Cybersonics has nine terrific seniors graduating this year, and probably two juniors will be back next year. We could look at this as a problem or an opportunity. It would be a problem if our graduating seniors had not shown the underclassmen the ropes, but they did. Maybe it's an opportunity - for next year's sophomores and juniors to take on more responsibility, making the team stronger for several more years.

One thing for sure - it will be a different team next year - these are the kids I joined the team with and one of them is my daughter.

[Freddy Schurr]

we are losing 4 seniors,me being one, but i decided that next year i will return to mentor the team. i would say that we taught our underclassmen everything that we needed to teach them to move on and be better for next year.

[Shu Song]

I guess that I perceived this problem has more severe than it actually was. Because when I first saw it, we are losing ALL of our drive team, everyone who has ever touched the robot controls is leaving. We are losing the all the student leaders, all but one of the subgroup leaders.

But now that I think of it, I know for sure that 4 of us will be back next year as mentors, so it's not too bad. Plus the fact that all I've heard from other teams is like "we are losing the bulk of our team", you never hear a team say that they aren't losing anyone.

Thanks for your responses.