Attn: Present & Future College Students, Think carefully before you mentor

[JaneYoung]

I think everyone should keep talking.
There is a lot be learned, gained, explored.

There's nothing that has been set in stone for 100 years anywhere in any aspect of FIRST. It is still growing and developing in many areas. This is just one. It's all good.

And congratulations to everyone for being so committed to helping this growth. Also, I can't help but say this, congratulations to all of you young women who are seriously trying to figure out how to juggle your course load, your college transition, and FIRST. That's incredible.

I actually weigh in on the side of college first, help with the competitions and off season and come back strong in a few years but that is my conservative opinion only.
Jane

[kibbs425]

I agree with whats being said about being careful with getting involved with a team when you get to college. I just finished my second year at Northeastern and have been on the Nutrons for both years. To go to college and do FIRST is a huge time commitment. Keeping up with classes during the build is tough and requires a lot of scheduling to do it and keep up your grades.

I would just like to say though that being involved in FIRST may help your grades too. Joining the team you will work with other college students some of them will be upperclassmen or the same level as you. The upperclassmen have been where you are and know what its like. They can help you with your classes, homework, how the professors are and what they are like. Use them as a resource. If you have a problem with they homework assignment ask them. They have done it before and can usually assist with most of it.

I know that this past build I stayed after the meetings were finished to help with some physics homework and help them understand how it worked so they would be prepared for the quiz. When I was a freshmen I had some C++ projects that I needed to do and I had the programmer on the team help me debug the program when I couldn't find the problem.

If you join a team while your in college no one says you have to be the person that does everything and becomes over committed. If you just do what you can even if its only a little then its greatly appreciated. Be open minded when going in if its an established team. Its not always going to be like it was back in high school for you. Use the resources of the team to get the help in classes and the other experienced members will help you along the way.

I would say get involved even if its only on a small scale. Make sure you grades don't suffer and take that help and assistance the team can offer you. We've been where you are now and know what its like so if you ask I'm sure we can find an answer to most of your problems. So don't always think that if you stay away from the team it will be the best because it will allow you to spend more time on your school work but if you manage your time and use the assistance/experience of the upperclassmen on the team you will be able to excel in your classes as well and have some fun in FIRST.

[patrickrd]

A lot of excellent points in this thread. However, I hesitate to tell everyone not to try and start a team or be involved with a team in college. Had I not started a team as a Freshman in college, there is no way I would be where I am today. That experience taught me a lot at many different levels and provided me with even more opportunities later in college and into the working world.

However!
- Put learning first. Make sure you maintain an above average GPA and understand what you are learning and why you are learning it (the second part is equally important). If you are doing FIRST and it is getting in the way of your learning or your health (e.g. no sleep or too much stress), take a break.
- Make sure you're doing it for the right reason. I don't need to tell anyone here what the purpose of FIRST is, but it is easy to forget that you are a mentor. Every now and then I see a college-based team full of college students giddy about building a robot and having the best drive system, while the high school students are hardly involved at all. Remember: if there is not one or more high school students by your side and actively contributing, then you are not being a mentor. I have seen some great college student mentors, but it is rare. More often than not, it seems college students still act like they are in high school when they are involved with first. It took me some time to learn this myself and I was probably far too "hands on" during certain periods of time.
- If you are going to start a team, starting a team has to be your dream and you absolutely need to be convinced that it is what you want. Are you "eating, sleeping, dreaming with that one thing on your mind?" If not, then starting a team is probably not for you. If you do decide to start a team, remember, it is a TEAM. Concentrate on finding the right people to comprise your team, get them excited, and let the team take it's own shape. Remember, your only at college for four years, you're paying a lot to go there, and there is an awful lot college has to offer. It is a horrible mistake to be so caught up in FIRST that four years of college pass you by before you realize the world outside of FIRST. Nothing made me happier than to see the team I had started grow and flourish during my last two years at college, while I had reduced my involvement in the team to 3-4 hours per week.


In summary:
- Don't start a team, unless you are sure it's what you want to do, and you can keep an eye on yourself. If it's hurting classes or your college experience, it's time to stop and hand off the efforts to someone else. Remember, nobody will want to hire you if you have a bad GPA. If you maintain a GPA well above average, you will probably have no trouble finding a job. If on top of that you can have FIRST experience or other project experience, you will be in very good shape. A bad GPA and a lot of experience will absolutely not get you your dream job and will not get you into grad school.
- If you are going to be a mentor, same advice applies, but make sure you're being a mentor and not a high school student.

[Jeff Waegelin]

I definitely agree that being a college FIRST mentor is an exercise in time management. My freshman year, I handled this pretty poorly, skipped classes, and ended up with my first C ever. That semester pretty took a big chunk out of my GPA, and I've spent every semester since trying to recover from it. That being said, the last 2 years, I've managed to get a 3.5 and a 3.8, while putting in a lot more time in FIRST than I did as a freshman. I basically sacrificed any vague resemblance of a social life, but, I did what I needed to so I could excel in school and mentor my team.

My biggest advice to anyone considering being a college mentor, though: don't expect it to be another 4 years of high school FIRST. I tried that for one year with my old high school team, and it was an unmitigated disaster. After switching to a team closer to school, I was able to start fresh, in a new role. I realized that it was no longer my job to do everything on the robot, but rather to pass on what I learned to the students. Realizing that I now had a team of high school students who looked up to me, respected me, and learned from me was one of the most rewarding feelings ever. It's a completely different experience, but one of great value, if you realize and accept that new role.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by patrickrd

... Put learning first. Make sure you maintain an above average GPA and understand what you are learning and why you are learning it (the second part is equally important). If you are doing FIRST and it is getting in the way of your learning or your health (e.g. no sleep or too much stress), take a break. ...
...

If you are going to start a team, starting a team has to be your dream and you absolutely need to be convinced that it is what you want. Are you "eating, sleeping, dreaming with that one thing on your mind?" If not, then starting a team is probably not for you. ...

There are two very different and confusing messages here (I think maybe you have not yet come to terms with your own college FIRST experience?).

Have people started taking the opportunity to attend college for granted? Is college nothing but grades 13-16 now?

My grandparents came to the US from Germany when they were 18, and I was the first person in my family to attend college and get a degree (ever, as far back as I can trace my family tree).

When you are in college your degree, your career, should be the thing you are living and breathing, not FIRST!

When you graduate and either work for a company, or start you own business, then you will have so many people available if you want to be a FIRST mentor. Most engineers dont sit on the phone calling airlines and bus companies to get the best rates for travel, the company travel coordinator takes care of those things. You dont have to connect with schools to set up the details of the company / school interaction, you have your companies public relations people do all that stuff. You dont have to run around like a headless chicken buying drill bits and bolts and wire - you req then from company stock.

This is the thing that most college students are not aware of - when you are an engineer you will have a corporate structure behind you and you can hand off or delegate so many things to other people to make your FIRST mentoring far more easy, and productive, without sacrificing your career.

I know we always feel that FIRST cannot get along without me - if I dont mentor or start a team, or lead a team this year then nobody else will. It takes a little bit of faith, FIRST can get along without you for 4 or 5 years, in fact FIRST will be better off if you give yourself the time you need to really get your career off on a solid foundation before you come back and be a mentor.

You can definitely still volunteer - There are many tasks in FIRST that need to be done that are not as glamorous as being a team founder or mentor, but they are just as important.

[patrickrd]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

There are two very different and confusing messages here (I think maybe you have not yet come to terms with your own college FIRST experience?).

Have people started taking the opportunity to attend college for granted? Is college nothing but grades 13-16 now?

My grandparents came to the US from Germany when they were 18, and I was the first person in my family to attend college and get a degree (ever, as far back as I can trace my family tree).

When you are in college your degree, your career, should be the thing you are living and breathing, not FIRST!

You're right, In a certain sense I have never fully come to terms with my college FIRST experience. I would be wrong to say that my experience was all positive in the long run. It was a great experience for me in a many, many ways and led to countless opportunities, and I am now at a great job working on a very cool project. But I also did go overboard at some points. I think the lesson learned for me was to draw a line to differentiate dreams and ambition from blind dreams and ambition. Whenever you are pursuing a dream or a goal, it is always critical to keep it real and keep a clear perspective on yourself and how your ambitions are affecting you and your future.

If you can't keep a good balance between your ambitions and the academic portion of your college education, then you need to have the foresight to see that you are headed down a bad path. But if you can keep a good balance, all the power to you.