Losing focus on the purpose of FIRST.. someone bring me back

[archiver]

Posted by Elaine Anselm.

Engineer on team #191, X-Cats, from Jos Wilson High School and Xerox.

Posted on 4/28/2000 1:31 PM MST


In Reply to: Losing focus on the purpose of FIRST.. someone bring me back posted by colleen on 4/28/2000 10:23 AM MST:



Colleen - In reading your post I am reminded of a discussion I had with one of our team members back in 1996 who was on our team from 1992-1995. She had some of the same fears that you have expressed and I think the same can be said now as I said back then.

FIRST is changing, there is no doubt about it. When things grow they change. There have been people involved in this fun and awesome learning experience called FIRST who shared the vision about changing the face of education that Dean and Woodie so eloquently communicate since 1992. There were also people involved back then who wanted bragging rights about how good they were and didn’t care so much about a shared vision. Most of them are gone now because they were in it for the wrong reason, but there are others who have replaced them. I guess I don't think proportionally there are more, there are just more. From where I stand, I think that there are enough people in FIRST for the right reason that as things change, while it may be uncomfortable, they will be in the right direction. When I think about it, since 1992, many of the people that I have admired most are or were involved in FIRST.

For your first 4 years you were involved in an awesome team that was in it for the right reasons and happened to have that magic touch that allowed them to shine technically as well. Like Clinton/Nypro, my team (Xerox/Wilson X-Cats) has been in FIRST since 1992 and along with Clinton/Nypro and a few other teams we helped set the standards for FIRST. It was pretty humbling when along came a few new teams that raised that bar even higher. Did it change us? Not really. If you are in FIRST for the right reasons it should not matter. Sometime I think it would be nice for someone to recognize what you do (that is why I like the idea of Mike Martus' 'Dean's List' so much), but awards are short lived. From where I sit, there is some awesome cooperation happening among FIRST team, but because FIRST has gotten so big, people are not likely to see it if you don’t win an award. It's not bad or good, it's just the way it is. You said that '..the focus has moved off of doing this for the kids, educating them and making their future better and has reverted to making ourselves and our teams 'elitest' among the group'. The experience you described in your note with others helping you and your team sounded just the opposite to me.


One more thing, like I told the student back in 1996, while FIRST is changing, you are also changing. You are beginning to look at FIRST from the perspective of an adult. You are outside that awesome team family you called home for 4 years. They made FIRST values part of the day to day operations of your team. Those values and sense of team are something that your team worked very hard to develop and maintain. Those values are part of you and now you are not a member of that team any more (my guess is that you will always be part of the team however). Other teams don't have the same set of values, not because they are bad, maybe they did not have the time, or they're new, or maybe they didn’t realize what they were getting into when they started, or maybe they are just different. That is where you can help. I am sure it is going to be hard and frustrating, but it sounds like you are getting involved and sharing the values you've developed. I've never been a student on a FIRST team so I don't know what it feels like to make that transition, but it sounds like there are a lot of students out there who recently got their wings and are testing them out. This too will contribute to the change in FIRST as it grows even bigger. Try not to get discouraged.

Best wishes.

Elaine