Dean's List Question

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Cassie, I didn't clarify anything. The outcome was muddled. The discussion was a good one with no real resolution. Students are different than mentors. Students work among their peers, have the capability of being known as leaders outside the team and in their school environment and community and, they have the opportunity to work side by side with their mentors, impressing the heck out of them as they develop and mature. It is not quite the same as the Woodie Flowers Award in my opinion. The award serves a similar purpose but the two don't completely dovetail.

Teams each handle award submissions differently, working with a process that works well for them. After this upcoming season is completed, perhaps you can bring your questions back up and see what the responses reveal.

Jane

I think this is all more thatn muddled. This award and its overall meaning is absolutely great and it's great to recognize those outstanding students and their efforts and leardership abilities. The one reason I think it is great to have the students nominate and write the award, with mentor supervision, is I simply feel it has more meaning. I'm not saying that the awards are written soley by the studnets, there was and is mentor supervision as well as input, an over abundance of input. I also feel that students should be chosen by their peers, and our kids really can feel out and see who those leaders are, for the reason of then there is a consenus on the two chosen individuals, instead of having just a few mentors pick out two individuals.

This could be batted back and forth for hours on what to do and what not to do. I'm just trying to get a.) a feel for how others approach this and b.) how everyone feels about the guidelines.

Once again, just my 2 cents. Thanks.

[EricH]

I think that unless and until FIRST comes out and says, the mentors must choose the students, that the teams should feel free to do the selection process how they like. If that's students choosing students and handing the essays to the mentor to turn in, that's one way to do it. If it's mentors choosing students, that's a way to do it. If it's a combination of the two, that's another way to do it. Just like building a robot, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by EricH

Just like building a robot, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Oh, my cats are not going to be happy about that one

I think the Dean's List award was one of the best additions last year. To the students who get it, this is an awesome award and just being nominated is a great honor. Every team should find two students and submit a nomination, right along with the Woodie Flower's award submission. People who work hard and excel deserve the recognition and honor.

[Rich Kressly]

Cass,

It will be up to the team how to decide to select and write. FIRST has provided a submission vehicle for both students and/or mentors to be involved if the team so chooses. The emphasis here is on recognizing exemplary individual students.

As for your question on how we feel about the criteria/process:
I can see pros and cons to this being mentor, student, or combination-driven. I'm glad FIRST has provided this flexibility. There are so many different ways FRC teams operate that this will provide the ability for almost any team to incorporate Dean's List Nominations into their "normal" business. To me the most important part is having nominations from as many teams as possible.

As for how our team did it last year:
Well it was very rushed as Al says, so there was no time for whole team voting, etc as we didn't even have whole team meeting scheduled. So we did a poll of mentors via email and I had the chance to speak with some of our student leaders to get approval for a course of action. I wrote the submissions and received some editing feedback from other mentors, as well as solicited contributions from other students and alum. I also consulted trusted friends leading other teams as to what they were doing and how they were handling it.

What will FRC1712 do this year?
As I am no longer the lead dog, so that won't be up to me, but I will offer my services to help get the entries completed after receiving consensus from current leadership (mentors and students) on how they want to proceed this year.

Juniors or Seniors?
Last year we placed the emphasis on the two most deserving students, regardless of grade level. It just so happened there was one Senior and one Junior. I'd like to see that emphasis stay the same on 1712.

Best wishes in your endeavors with Dean's List nominations Cass!

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

Cass,

It will be up to the team how to decide to select and write. FIRST has provided a submission vehicle for both students and/or mentors to be involved if the team so chooses. The emphasis here is on recognizing exemplary individual students.

As for your question on how we feel about the criteria/process:
I can see pros and cons to this being mentor, student, or combination-driven. I'm glad FIRST has provided this flexibility. There are so many different ways FRC teams operate that this will provide the ability for almost any team to incorporate Dean's List Nominations into their "normal" business. To me the most important part is having nominations from as many teams as possible.

As for how our team did it last year:
Well it was very rushed as Al says, so there was no time for whole team voting, etc as we didn't even have whole team meeting scheduled. So we did a poll of mentors via email and I had the chance to speak with some of our student leaders to get approval for a course of action. I wrote the submissions and received some editing feedback from other mentors, as well as solicited contributions from other students and alum. I also consulted trusted friends leading other teams as to what they were doing and how they were handling it.

What will FRC1712 do this year?
As I am no longer the lead dog, so that won't be up to me, but I will offer my services to help get the entries completed after receiving consensus from current leadership (mentors and students) on how they want to proceed this year.

Juniors or Seniors?
Last year we placed the emphasis on the two most deserving students, regardless of grade level. It just so happened there was one Senior and one Junior. I'd like to see that emphasis stay the same on 1712.

Best wishes in your endeavors with Dean's List nominations Cass!

Kres, thanks for your continued help and advice. I sincerly appreciate it! What 1712 did and what 103 did last year and what we are looking to do this year are pretty close to the same model. I will pass this onto the team. Thanks again.