Sustainability In FRC Teams

[gblake]

Originally Posted by eagle33199

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What first really needs at this point is a college program. Something that can accommodate the students schedule with a longer, less intense build season that doesn't require 40 hours per week of work. Something that lets them be hands-on with the robot, building and shaping it, while introducing more leadership and mentoring opportunities (possibly through workshops or camps designed for the other FIRST programs). Keep those kids involved with FIRST throughout college, and we'll start seeing a lot more of them coming back to help mentor teams after they graduate. And when they do, they'll bring the thousands of companies that don't already sponsor FIRST they work for with them. It's a win-win that helps with both of our biggest issues.

Switch from discussing a single program (FIRST) to discussing, STEM, Robotics, and Inspiration; and you find that there are many, many opportunities for college students (VRCC came to mind immediately for me).

While "we" continue to invest in FIRST because it supplies a large return on our investments, we should remember that FIRST is a subset of STEM and Robotics competitions. We make a mistake if we assume that it is the only game in town.

Regardless, your point about guiding each STEM/FIRST alumnus to invest in the next generations is still valid. Perhaps just not in full-blown FRC mentoring while they are in college. FRC can be a huge time sink.

Blake