The Ideals of FIRST have Changed...

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by ChrisCook

Teams that can afford more regionals, manpower and special interests, seem to always 'stamp-out' the other teams. Plus FIRST is not about the people, its about the robot and how well it does in competition, because no ones asks your team for advice, if your the last seed on a list; they ask the team first seed.
Teams with the most funding, mentors, and special interests do well and that’s how the program robotics programs continue. But for team like mine, the program is now nothing because we are losing our Head mechanic, head software and hardware, and team president.

Chris,
I can see your frustration with the loss of so much. I agree with the others here that the robot is not the all to end all. It is merely the vehicle to a much better place. When this competition loses a team we all suffer in some small way. Even the large teams lose significant team members and mentors it just doesn't show. I don't know what regionals you attended but I can tell you that teams that are doing OK look for and assist other teams that need help. I can count at least ten teams that I knew of who needed serious help in the competitions that I attended. Most of those teams accepted the help and did well, one refused until it was too late. That one team broke my heart because of the stubbornness of just one mentor. If I could get one message out to teams who need help it would be, "ASK!". There is an huge number of mentors and team members who are just waiting to be asked to help. Do you need mechanical help, software, driving or strategy tips? If you need electrical help ask me. If you can't find anyone for those other problems, ask me and I will help you find someone.
The biggest fallacy in FIRST is the belief we are just a bunch of different teams. We are ONE BIG TEAM with a lot of sub teams for the purpose of competition. When you need help, we are bound to assist when we can. When your event needs a volunteer, we are there. When the robot breaks, we will help put it back together. When you ask for advice you get it. (sift out the good stuff though)
Yes, there are things that aren't perfect in this organization but we get more right than almost any other institution. If we are getting more students into college, we win, if we get more students to lift their heads from the TV games and look outside their own homes, we win. If we get students to see the light, and their grades improve, they quit gangs, they find purpose, or they help someone else, we have won.

[Joe Lambie]

Chris,

I do not think many people will give you a lot of heat, just ideas. Being on both sides of the coin, a student on a well-funded team and now a mentor on a less then stellar-funded rural college team I hope I can provide a view from both sides. How one feels though is a matter of personal experience. Something that FIRST gave me was the idea of never giving up. The belief that no matter how hard something seems to be, that it only becomes impossible when you believe that it is impossible. I have a friend on a college team who receives only about 7000 a year to keep going on. And every year people make the sacrifice to keep coming back and they always build a competitive robot. Yes I agree, many teams that are larger and better funded have an advantage robot wise, but they also have a helping advantage. 9 times out of 10 it is those teams that are right there always willing to help. I know many of them from the Midwest, and anytime we needed help on 857, we could always find it.

In regards to giving up on chairman's, I would say do not give up to anyone. Chairman's is about everything you feel has changed. The teams that have won, both at the regional and national levels have almost always been very deserving of the honor. Now that is not to say there are disagreements, but I still respect those teams that receive the honor. Now if you feel as if you need to shift resources away from chairman's sometimes, everyone needs to make priorities, but never feel as if you need to give up on something like that. Like anything in life, you cannot win if you don't play.

If you really believe that the ideals of FIRST have changed, than maybe for you they have. For me, FIRST has changed in many ways, but the one area they have not is in the ideals and purpose of FIRST.

[Erin Rapacki]

"For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology"

Some teams are big,
some teams are small,
some have nothing,
some have it all.

Did your team members have a ball?

Whether rural or urban,
foreign or suburban,
one purpose of FIRST (I believe) does lie.

Simply put in the acronym; did your team members RECOGNIZE?

OK, I can't write poems. My point is that FIRST is about inspiring young people into careers into science and technology. Whether it be an urban wanna-be gangster who's inspired into attending a tech school and becoming a mechanic, to a confused suburban high school girl who's inspired into going into engineering school in a big city, or a wealthy have-it-all A+ student who only does robotics as a resume builder so they can go to an Ivy League school and study to become a doctor.

My opinion is that if your FIRST team is spinning off alumni who study/pursue careers in science and technology; don't worry about all the arbitrary stuff. A big well-funded team pushes to win Chairman's because its challenging. A smaller under-funded team pushes for more funding & support because its challenging. A team with a lot of experienced mentors push to build a better robot because its challenging. No matter how big or how small, a team should be pushing their limits, and thats all that matters too.

So if your team pushes your limits (in any way) and spins off alumni in science and technology related career paths, your team is fitting to the ideals of FIRST.