Your Last Year of FIRST!!!

[monster1018]

This is to all seniors who are obviously in their final year of FIRST robotics. I definitely would like to stay apart of FIRST but im not sure on what just yet. Do i help another team, volunteer for an event, etc? I think I may be leaning towards helping another team, and in that case probably helping 1646 since it will be close to my future college, what do you seniors out there think?

[Gaiice]

I feel the same way, but I can't stay involved with the teams I have been with for the past four years because I'm going to college in another state. I plan on mentoring a team near my college as well and eventually I want to start my own team. I was going to start a team this year, but instead I just joined a rookie team.

[GaryVoshol]

There are several threads about college student involvement in FIRST. The main thing to remember - your education comes first.

[fluffy]

The college I'm going to(Purdue) mentors 3 local teams and hosts the Boilermaker regional. I think FIRST will still consume my life...

[monster1018]

yeah I'm going to Purdue as well that's why i like BMR so much because its right there and i can still be involved

[AdamHeard]

I gave it a quarter to see what school was like before I tried to mentor. Once I saw I would be able to handle going to class, getting my work done and mentoring without slacking in my grades, I decided to help. However, if my workload picks up, mentoring will be the first thing to go.

[bigbeezy]

Well i'm going to Florida State and from what i've heard there arn't any local teams up there. when talking to a friend of mine who already goes there, no one has even heard of FIRST... I guess that means i need to educate them on FIRST and I would love to start a team up there. It prolly won't happen my first year since i will be busy adjusting and concentrating on school work but some day i hope to, and i know that if i need anything i can count on my team to help.

[David Hoff]

Originally Posted by fluffy

The college I'm going to(Purdue) mentors 3 local teams and hosts the Boilermaker regional. I think FIRST will still consume my life...

Originally Posted by monster1018

yeah I'm going to Purdue as well that's why i like BMR so much because its right there and i can still be involved

I am a current member of PurdueFIRST Programs and a current 1646 mentor. Last year, my freshmen year at Purdue, I did not want to mentor an FRC team because I wanted to figure this whole college thing out before I committed to work with a team. Instead I decided to work with the Regional Development sub team within PurdueFIRST and helped out at our FLL competition and FRC competition along with other PurdueFIRST activities.

So if you want to stay apart of FIRST but not necessarily mentor a team then there are several things you can do within PurdueFIRST like Regional Development, Industrial Relations, Public Relations, FLL, VEX, and Information Technology. Also, in case you weren't aware, PurdueFIRST is an actual class at Purdue that you receive 2 credits a semester for which is awesome. However since you do receive a grade for your work you will have responsibilities and or certain task you need to accomplish. If you have any questions about PurdueFIRST feel free to let me or any of our other members know.

[Ryan Dognaux]

I'll just echo some of the things David has said. Purdue FIRST Programs is a very unique way to stay involved with FIRST in college and actually get class credit for doing it. I also helped out with the Boilermaker Regional instead of mentoring my first year. During my sophomore year I helped out 1646 some and this year I am the team director. As my years have gone on, my involvement has increased because I wanted it to. Your level of involvement is just dependent upon what you want to do - it's entirely up to you. Though as David said, if you plan to commit to something, you will be expected to follow through with it.

And we're always looking for more help with the three Purdue FIRST teams. Check out www.purduefirst.org for more information about the organization itself.

[hipsterjr]

I don't wanna grow up I hope we make to Atlanta, so I can go out with a bang.

[Vexkingof716]

I hope to continue being involved in first. I'm going to find a team near by my school next year, and try to mentor when i get a chance. During breaks from school i hope to come home and work with my team 716.

[Cappeh]

I'm still a junior, so I can't speak for everyone, but... I know that lots of team members enjoy seeing the people that graduated the year before come back to visit. Even if you're going to college four, five, even six or seven hours away, it means a lot to a team to see people come back and help out when they're home. <3

[Scott Carpman]

I'll try and help out during one of the breaks and head to the CT regional if 1155 continues to attend. As for college team mentoring...I'm not sure if I want to mentor one of the RPI teams or do Formula SAE.

[DarkFlame145]

I am VERY sad that this is my last year. I love FIRST, i love my team. My best friends are on 145 and i live 30 mins away from the team. I really wanted to go to Nationals this year, but it didn't happen. The town my college is in has no team, but once i start looking for a job I must have a FIRST team in the area I wanna mentor and help out a team to repay FIRST for everything the program has done for me. It has helped me learn how to weld which i love doing. I have also made many great friends. I have already been told that I might be hearing for them to help with things over the phone if I can.

[Uberbots]

FIRST is definitely the best part of high school... i have so many good memories and learning experiences from team 1124. however, the sad reality is that the real world is not like FIRST, and at some point you have to really break away to pursue other things in life.

For our high school years, the FIRST competition is definitely a great experience, but the problem is that it is a competition. The robots built on these teams only serve the purpose of competing with other robots (or picking up buckets in some cases), and dont really serve any direct practical purpose in the real world.

Beyond high school, i don't really plan to return to FIRST robotics to serve as a mentor or anything for at least 4 years. This is because i want to teach and inspire younger engineers, not relive my high school years. I realize that this is only a personal case, but its what im going to do.

I am going to miss, though, the ability to demonstrate the robot to the little kids in our town... i always liked the synchronized "whoaaaa!" whenever the robot started moving and doing its thing. THAT was really cool, probably a better experience than actually competing and winning with the robot.


...yeah this post probably sounds cynical and demeaning, but i don't intend for it to sound that way.
...and furthermore whatever i said probably isnt going to happen, knowing me (=.