Sustainability In FRC Teams

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I can't quite see this as a positive idea. The bigger picture goal is to spread the FIRST culture throughout society, and keeping college-age students closely tied to FIRST would likely end up making them more insulated from the rest of the world. If we want to transform that world, the professional engineering societies need them more than FIRST does.

The way I see it, sustainability shouldn't mean keeping individuals in FIRST longer. It should mean giving teams the ability to survive even when specific individuals leave. It should mean giving them the ability to survive even when they lose specific sources of funding. It should be about team continuity, not about personal lifetime commitment (though such commitment can be a large help in making the rest happen).

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing in college. Having FIRST actively involved on campus every year will create even more interaction with the professional societies. A college FIRST program would jump at the chance to work with all of the other engineering societies on campus to promote and celebrate eWeek, for example.

If we could get just 10% of current FIRST students to give 4 years of mentoring after college, teams wouldn't have a problem finding new mentors when old ones get burned out, move, or have to focus on other life commitments. One person, fresh out of college working some place that hasn't been exposed to FIRST can get that company involved in just a year or two. It would help provide a constant influx of new leadership, mentors, and companies.