PreRookies, Mentoring and the future of FIRST

[Wayne C.]

Prerookies- 7 months later

The prerookie idea has caught on here in NJ over the past 6 months. Since the original posting of this thread a number of teams have played as pre-rookies and now are registered in their own right as new rookies for the 2006 FIRST season.

These teams enter FIRST with the experience of dealing with robots, playing in a tournament and with friends on senior teams to mentor them through the first year.

My congratulations to the teams below and their mentors=

1807 Bristol-Myers Squibb & Allentown High School Allentown, NJ USA - mentored by teams 1089 and 25

1862 21st Century & Cliffside Park High School Cliffside Park, NJ USA - mentored by team 555

1881 Garrett Morgan Academy- BMW of North America/New Jeresy Community Development Corp. & National Society of Black Engineers - PTGI Chapter Paterson, NJ USA - who played at BE4 for the first time with their own robot refitted for the game from another comp- and mentored by Sabrina Varanelli of 1302

1882 Howell High School Farmingdale , NJ USA - winners of Duel on the Delaware!!!- mentored by 25

1923 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North Plainsboro, NJ USA - mentored by 25 (Big Mike and friends)

1929 Credit Suisse & Montclair Board of Education & Montclair Board of Education Montclair, NJ USA - the all girls Montclair 2 team mentored by 555

It is good to see new schools joining FIRST and even better to see multiple senior teams working with them.

I am sure all of these teams will be a force to be reckoned with in their rookie season next spring.

WC