How do you balance school and everything?

[davidthefat]

I am currently working on my APUSH project, which is due Wednesday. Which IMHO is ridiculous. Its worth 100 points and it was assigned today. I have no time except at night to do it. I woke up at 5:00 AM today for football morning lift, its almost 12 AM right now doing my project. AND on top of that I have an AP Physics test tomorrow, which I am screwed for. How do you people do it? I got football till 4:45 tomorrow, robot is at 6 to 9. Holy moly...

Especially during build season. I know there are valedictorian status people here; how do you do it? I am drinking green tea, I am holding up fine, but tomorrow is the worst. Oh and the SAT is in 12 days. Finals are also the same week. Oh man Junior year is HARD...

[EricH]

I don't sign on for more than I can handle. For example, my freshman and sophomore years of college, I participated in 3 activities plus school and Fantasy FIRST:
--Soccer
--Aero Design
--InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

As I began taking on more responsibilities in Aero and IVCF, I decided to drop soccer. I like playing it, but traveling to two away games per weekend (and it's an all-day drive) doesn't leave a whole lot of time for homework, not to mention practice schedule conflicts.

If you're really crunched, drop one activity for a little while. Just tell them that you need to focus on homework/projects for a week or so, and most people will be fine with your missing a meeting or two. Stay in touch, and show up after you've got the pile somewhat cleared. (i.e., you have breathing room)

If I were you, I'd talk to the robotics mentors and tell them that you need to miss the meeting tomorrow to work on a project. They should understand. Gives you three more hours to work on the project.

[sanddrag]

It's very, very difficult. During the years I spent on 968, I was going to college full time for Mechanical Engineering. And I managed to be in three honor societies while doing so. I'd often have classes that started at 8am too. Team 968 was near my university, which was about 35 miles from where I lived. During 2007, I also was heavily involved with Team 696. Team 696 would meet starting at 8am on Saturdays. Team 968 would meet until 10pm or midnight nearly every day, Friday nights being the latest.

During one season (can't remember which, 07 or 08) I had school, robotics, and work on Fridays. On Fridays I'd drive 35 miles to school for class from 8am until 11:30am. Then I'd drive 35 miles for work from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Then I'd drive 35 miles to 968 where I'd work on the robot until midnight or so, then I'd I'd drive 35 miles back home arriving at about 1:30 AM, eating fast food dinner on the way. It was an exhausting way to live.

There was a time I spent half the day driving all over southern California, a couple hundred miles in total, to pick up parts from various shops, sponsors, or suppliers. There was a time I drove hundreds of miles to exchange parts with our partner team located half way across the state, because shipping was too expensive or too slow. There was a time I went flying out of the shop in a mad dash, and then got stuck in an hour of traffic, and arrived at McMaster 3 minutes after closing and did not get my parts.

It takes a lot of dedication, energy, and focus. It's not for everyone. It's really a question of if you can devote every possible minute of your time to FRC, and put everything else on the side. I don't recommend it. Especially if your grades are slipping. It'll do you far more harm than it will do the team good.

Now, I'm a high school teacher, which is a heck of a job itself. I still have school work. But, instead of my own school work to do, I have 150 people's school work to do. Think about that for a minute. There is no option to not do it, and take a zero credit, like when you are a student. Well over a hundred people rely on me to do my job well each and every day. It's not easy.

Now here's the problem. FRC is engaging. In fact, highly engaging. This is my 10th season, and it's still highly engaging for me. I just can't sit back and say "I am not going to participate." It's too captivating. It's terribly difficult for me to teach a class in computer applications, when all I have on my mind is motors, gear ratios, and power calculations.

What helps you succeed with so many things to do is really optimizing your processes, and eliminating annoyances. Are the path's you walk the shortest distance. Can something in your daily routine be simplified, or made quicker?

I know a few very experienced and well respected machinists and fabricators. When I watch every one of them work, they 'walk' across the shop at about twice the speed of a normal walking pace. They know where every tool is exactly. They remove the part from the machine while the coolant is still dripping and while the machine is still moving (be careful). They waste no time, and their businesses prosper because of it.

Anyhow, this is a little bit of my story, and a little bit of advice. Probably not very helpful, but maybe at least an enjoyable read.

Now, I have about 350 pieces of paper to go through tonight, before the morning. I clearly have not yet optimized this process.

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

It's very, very difficult. During the years I spent on 968, I was going to college full time for Mechanical Engineering. And I managed to be in three honor societies while doing so. I'd often have classes that started at 8am too. Team 968 was near my university, which was about 35 miles from where I lived. During 2007, I also was heavily involved with Team 696. Team 696 would meet starting at 8am on Saturdays. Team 968 would meet until 10pm or midnight nearly every day, Friday nights being the latest.

During one season (can't remember which, 07 or 08) I had school, robotics, and work on Fridays. On Fridays I'd drive 35 miles to school for class from 8am until 11:30am. Then I'd drive 35 miles for work from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Then I'd drive 35 miles to 968 where I'd work on the robot until midnight or so, then I'd I'd drive 35 miles back home arriving at about 1:30 AM, eating fast food dinner on the way. It was an exhausting way to live.

There was a time I spent half the day driving all over southern California, a couple hundred miles in total, to pick up parts from various shops, sponsors, or suppliers. There was a time I drove hundreds of miles to exchange parts with our partner team located half way across the state, because shipping was too expensive or too slow. There was a time I went flying out of the shop in a mad dash, and then got stuck in an hour of traffic, and arrived at McMaster 3 minutes after closing and not get my parts.

It takes a lot of dedication, energy, and focus. It's not for everyone. It's really a question of if you can devote every possible minute of your time to FRC, and put everything else on the side. I don't recommend it. Especially if your grades are slipping. It'll do you far more harm than it will do the team good.

Now, I'm a high school teacher, which is a heck of a job itself. I still have school work. But, instead of my own school work to do, I have 150 people's school work to do. Think about that for a minute. There is no option to not do it, and take a zero credit, like when you are a student. Well over a hundred people rely on me to do my job well each and every day. It's not easy.

Now here's the problem. FRC is engaging. In fact, highly engaging. This is my 10th season, and it's still highly engaging for me. I just can't sit back and say "I am not going to participate." It's too captivating. It's terribly difficult for me to teach a class in computer applications, when all I have on my mind is motors, gear ratios, and power calculations.

What helps you succeed with so many things to do is really optimizing your processes, and eliminating annoyances. Are the path's you walk the shortest distance. Can something in your daily routine be simplified, or made quicker?

I know a few very experienced and well respected machinists and fabricators. When I watch every one of them work, they 'walk' across the shop at about twice the speed of a normal walking pace. They know where every tool is exactly. They remove the part from the machine while the coolant is still dripping and while the machine is still moving (be careful). They waste no time, and their businesses prosper because of it.

Anyhow, this is a little bit of my story, and a little bit of advice. I clearly have not reached the perfected state of process optimization, as I've spent far too long typing this post. But, we're all human right?

Oh yea, you must know how competitive my school is academically and in sports. Since I assume you teach a Clark. You know in middle school I was not eligible of even going to your school? That just shows, bad habits are hard to break. I had TERRIBLE habits if I could not keep a C average.

I think I might cut short or even skip out on tomorrow's meeting all together. I feel so eh. Last year I always came early, and went home the latest. I mean I love that place. I did track last year and robotics just fine. But I think its the AP classes that are just the tipping point for me

[sanddrag]

There's also something I forgot to mention. The point of a team is that not every single person has to be there every single day. Now I know, in small teams and tight schedules sometimes progress cannot move on without certain people. But do remember, it's likely things will be fine without you for short periods of time until you're able to return. At least, so long as you have a well-functioning team.

Keep your grades up. Robotics will do very little for you if you don't have the grades to back it. And yes, even those English and History grades.