I Kept Quiet for far too long. This. Is. WAR!!!

[Josh Murphy]

Ok, I have read through this thread a couple times now and pondered on how and whether or not to respond, and I have chosen to add my opinion on the matter, and I'm still not sure if this is how I wanted it to come out but here it is.

Dan, I know how you feel, and I understand the method to your madness. Politics often play a role in many things, and people may not like the outcome, but sometimes you have to just deal with it, as there isn’t going to be a change. That’s how the real world works. In the end you have to ask yourself why do I volunteer? Why do I sacrifice my time? and I’m pretty sure you’ve done this. I’m pretty sure you continue to volunteer not only because you enjoy it, but because you want to inspire in any way you can, and you want to help make sure everything runs smoothly for the teams a the event. I’m pretty sure that there are many things you’d like to volunteer for, but volunteering in itself should be helping out wherever needed. It is also just that, volunteering, you don’t have to do it if you feel like you‘re being singled out for only specific jobs. I know FIRST is a volunteer driven organization and they need every one they can get to make sure events run as smooth as possible. I also wonder sometimes why(and I’m not calling out FiM for the record) the state of Michigan alone has four(well three now!) Woodie Flowers Award winners and not one of them is on the board of directors for FiM. I don’t know the logistics of the whole thing and if they were asked or not, but I do know of at least one that has expressed interest in helping out. I don't want to get involved in that. In the end you just have to ask yourself if it’s all worth it as I have done with the choice to continue mentoring, and that is the I in FIRST, inspiration. If all you want to do is inspire, then be the bigger person and just volunteer where they need you, and inspire all of us no matter how we are treated by FIRST or the event staff or whoever, to continue their support for the FIRST program and everything it stands for.
As for the FIRST is changing people, it is but it isn’t. You are now seeing it from a different standpoint. I am a few years removed from being a student, and when I made the choice to mentor, I had to take a step back, rethink how things were, and readjust, because you realize that the way you’re used to seeing things done are not necessarily the way you viewed them as a student. I do support students becoming mentors because they can bring back their experience and pass it on. I also feel and this is just my opinion, that students who become mentors will have a leg up on the mentors that were not students, once they grow into a mature mentor.

P.S. Dan I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear, but just keep doing what you do because volunteering is better than just giving up and not doing it at all, and in the end you’ll feel better because you helped INSPIRE people to never give up. GOOD LUCK!!!! Dan