OSMTech Needs Written Support!!

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Posted by colleen.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #246, a FIRST-aholic, from John D. O'Byrant High School/Boston Latin Academy and NSTAR/Boston University/UTC/Raytheon/MassPEP.

Posted on 7/11/2000 2:09 PM MST


In Reply to: OSMTech Needs Written Support!! posted by Becky Sherman on 7/11/2000 9:16 AM MST:



There are 2 reasons I agree with your sponsor's vision of FIRST:

1.) I spent 4 years on a team with high engineer involvement

2.) I've moved on to a team with barely any

From '96-99 I was a member of 126 - Nypro/Clinton High School. That team is very likely to have a highly supportive company and group of employees; the engineers, PR, marketing, and shop floor employees all get involved, as well as personal involvement from the CEO and president and other high ranking employees.. as well, several teachers from the high school are involved.. it is a great thing to work side by side with them..

and last year and in 2001, i was involved with the team at Boston U. We were sponsored by NSTAR but they only gave $$.. we have a few engineers involved, and although they were involved with some design, they mainly were just machinist since we had no machine tools at BU for our use.. mainly it was the kids (high school and college) running the show.. and it wasn't until then that i was left to realize how UNPREPARED i was.. i knew the stuff, sure, but i was having some trouble teaching that to the kids who really didn't know (in '99 their were 7 on the team, in '00 we had over 20.. and only 5 were returning) anything about what was going on..

that's when i realized that although it is/was really cool to work with engineers, i learned more when i was prepared and forced to work on my own.. the nights i did work like that back in high school came mostly when i was working with the teachers, or (of course) Jorge.. the controls leader of our team..

and those were the nights that made me want to be an engineer, when i was doing and learning, and making things work on my own and people were available if i needed help.. when i gave my speech at our awards banquet, it thanked many people, but at length thanked my teacher Paul Morrison for his support and guidance through it all..

in a nutshell, i agree with your sponsor.. kids should be prepared in the off-season (i've always taken part in 'mini-FIRST' programs in the fall and the like) and that their is still INSPIRATION without ENGINEERS.. their is no 'right' way to achieve the vision.. all our sponsors are sheerly financial and the inspiration to our high school kids comes from the college students from BU, BC, and Wentworth as well as their peers..

I don't think it is right though if your sponsor dropped you and/or you did not want them because they didn't want to offer engineering support (or space).. you're both looking for the same goal.. maybe they can give you the money, and you can interest engineers from another local company.. or you can discuss a possible 'phase-out' of the engineers and their support so it's not just one drastic move.. or you can be willing to try it out for a year and try to SHOW THEM how their support is needed... especially if it's clear that they are interested in staying involved in FIRST..

The vision of FIRST is to inspire kids to pursue technology careers... how each school, company, and person achieves that goal is up to them.. but we all want the same thing.. i would suggest you work WITH them to get a compromise and see each others' sides instead of working AGAINST them to have them see it your way...

STUDENTS CAN DO IT! There are plenty of student-run teams out there...