FIRST Withdrawl

FIRST General Forum
1

I was just wondering how you all cope without FIRST.

For the college kids: What do you do instead of FIRST? It may not have sunk in yet but once the construction preiod is here and you have nothing to do for 6 weeks it’ll hit ya.

For the High School Kids/ Parents/Mentors/ Enigineers: How do you prepare for the upcoming season? What do you do to get through the days when you don’t have a competition or construction to look forward to?

2

What do you do instead of FIRST? It may not have sunk in yet but once the construction preiod is here and you have nothing to do for 6 weeks it’ll hit ya.

Don’t worry I have to build a macaroni bridge for my Engineering Design class. Hopefully if everything goes according to plans I will be getting to build even more interesting stuff. I can play with ultrasonics, build a bridge, build a Baja vehicle, mentor a robotics team, build a human powered vehicle, go to museums, work, and if I am not mistaken build an infrared remote.

3

there are many ways to continue your first experience in collge.

*mentor a team - probably the most rewarding for you, but remember you arn;t there to build the robot anymore you are there to inspire

*work at a regional - this wont fill your 6 weeks but it will let you continue your connection with FIRST

*get on the regional planning committee- much more work and it will carry you through the year

another way to fill the void is to get involved in another project…for example i am a leader on my schools DARPA grand challenge team and i have to devote many hours to that year round…there are many other project oriented things at school, FIRST is not the end…it is the beginning

4

Well… I get on CD.

It’s about the only way. I’m hoping to get together with my team soon though; my social life suffers without them. :wink:

5

I’ve been doing the whole college thing and working a lot, lately. Oh, and I started playing my cello again! <3

As far as FIRST goes, I’m planning on going to the Midwest Regional and maybe Nationals (we’ll see how my bank account looks then …) and, of course, checking CD. A lot. Too much, some might argue. :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I joined the team that already existed at my college (190), and last week a guy came to the meeting and took names down for people interested in the DARPA Grand Challenge, and honestly, if you ask me, that’s a heck of a lot cooler than FIRST (not to mention a heck of a lot harder). Of course, FIRST is something that you simply cannot replace, so no matter what, I’ll always be on a team or volunteer at a local regional, or both, unless I’m off doing my IQP or MQP (usually go to a foreign country for two months or so).

7

I live and breath FIRST even in the offseason. After Championships were over this year I was desperate to find a way to stay immersed in the world of FIRST. (Thats when I joined CD)
Here are some of the ways I do this:

  1. Go on CD nearly every day (and try really hard to restrain myself when I have homework to do. CD is very distracting when there is homework to be done :slight_smile: )
  2. Work on PR stuff for the team. Go to local businesses with other members of the team to try and raise money. Organize a few presentations that we are planning on doing. ex: Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, Chamber of Commerce expo. Help write new parent handbook.
  3. Attend offseason competitions with my team. They are oasises of sorts…super-fun breaks in the long stretch of time between the end of the season and the kickoff.
  4. Work on off-season projects with my team, such as converting our 03 bot into a small ball herder/collector.
  5. Teach rookie members of the team how to do stuff.
8
  1. Well, I prepare for the upcoming season by working on fundraising, getting members and getting their contact information, as well as keep a heads up track on everything we have/need to do.
  2. To survive the days there’s no competition or construction, I work on the finances and PR work, since, hehe, I’m leader of those areas with Miss Jenny. But when I don’t have any of that going on, I check for updates on the FIRST website, and also get on here for information. This season I’ll come on and post answers to questions if people need any help. I’ll get the guys to do the same for technical work. =D We’ll be busy, busy, busy! =) Especially on here.
9

hmmm…WPI darpa team huh? interesting…

10

Work and currently fundraise.

I currently work during the week (from 8am to 6pm) and have weekends off. My team usually fundraise on saturdays - and sundays are relaxing days.

At this point - Work is currently taking up most of my life. It’s hard being a mechanic! :smiley:

11

Oh believe me, this is a very addictive program. I remember when I graduated high school, I kind of knew that my days on a team were nearly over. Luckily for me, this one team out of the “Blue” invited me to work with them at the UTC Competition. They’re awesome! Team 195 SOUTHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL the Cyber Knights!
But in the mean time, when I’m not involved with robotics I have looked into other prospects. Yeah I know. Right now I’m a junior, I have considered looking for a good job but of course, I need to have fun! The last couple years, I have participated in the Trinity Firefighting Competition. Its almost like FLL but on a more complicated level. Its awesome believe me!
When I’m not in robotics, I have gotten back into sports…well kind of! I’ve been riding around on my motorcycle Vin’s Motorcycle
Also, I have been playing paintball for like 8 years so that’s always fun! Its an awesome sport and believe me, it takes a lot of stress away especially after a long day of programming! Well that’s me! My advice, find other prospects in life, don’t always rely on FIRST.

12

I’m currently on co-op and don’t have any classes. We are in the initial stages of starting our fall season. For co-op I’m on a software engineering team at a defense company working on a project for the military’s Future Combat Systems intiative.

13

What our team does in the off-season:

  1. Fund-Raising
  • We run car washes in the early summer. We typically take a break from fund-raising in the summer, but once school starts again we’re ready to solicit sponsors and have bake sales and such.
  1. Chairman’s Work
  • There’s always time for chairman’s. In fact, most of what goes into our submission is completed in the off-season. Our team’s Girl Scout Day is after nationals, and we attend various 4-H fairs during the summer months.
  1. Rookie Training
  • Typically, the Sept. -> Dec. months are dedicated to sub-team training. This way even rookie members can be productive during the build season
  1. Off-Season Competitions
  • A lot of fun! This also gives teams a chance to train new drivers and show rookies what FIRST is really like.

What I do in the off-season:

  1. Chief Delphi
  • Yea, pretty much what everyone said… it’s addicting :slight_smile:
  1. Various Papers
  • This off-season I prepared a handbook for the team. I also created the student information forms for rookies way in advance this year; that way I won’t be rushing to make them at the last minute.

There’s a lot to do in the off-season! Good Luck!

14

First withdrawl? Been there… twice now!! Im not sure if the original post was intended to mean over the summer, or when you leave a team… ie college…

Heres how I delt:
Graduated HS 1998, couldnt leave FIRST, originally wanted to go to a college that had it, so I applied to a bunch… however I found that Clarkson would be willing to give me money to start a brand new FIRST team (thus FIRST withdrawl avoided!) I spent the entire summer planning for the new team.

College 00-02, had a hard time balancing an engineering degree, varsity skiing, and FIRST, so while I cut back on the team, I ended up volunteering at the competitions (including nats!) what fun!!

Same when I left college, 03 I couldnt stay away, so I volunteered again (not to mention kept tabs on my HS and college teams!)

Finally started to get the itch to dive back in early this year, mentioned it to the Clarkson team (perhaps mistakenly!!! :ahh: ) and ended up getting my name passed to parents in Penfield… thus getting sucked right back in! I’ve been planning this team since February '02 this year, and now its here! yeah, no more withdrawl!

So I guess my advice is, if you mean you are having withdrawl from FIRST itself(ie treked off to college or a new job), go join a team, or start one of your own!! The starting one is a lot of work, but the more you put in, the more you get out :slight_smile:

If you just mean over the summer, well relax, go to a few summer competitions, or do some fundraising :slight_smile:

15

withdrawls?

I work on campus, am a Student Government Senator, and president of the Robotics Society on campus (where me & RogerR hatch our plans for the new season)…also I work out logistics for the season like where we are going to work on the bot, what machining capabilities we will have etc…also I plot on how to defeat george1083 at the robot rodeo (incredible strategist)…

16

The majority of my time is taken up by my sorority. I joined in my “lost FIRST season” (aka 2003), and I now serve as the VP of Scholarship (basically keeping the chapter GPA in the top spot among all the other groups) and the Triangle Coorespondent (I write articles for the Triangle, our national magazine). I also am blessed with a little sister this semester (basically a new member that I mentor), and I’m in the midst of spoiling her terribly with gifts. :smiley: They really like when I go do FIRST stuff, since I can count those hours towards my volunteer requirement.
Though it depends on the chapter, going greek is an easy step for FIRSTers, since most of it is about shared experience…which is the same thing that FIRSTers do every year. We all have gone/will go through the 6 weeks…greeks were all new members once and had to go through their own 6 week process. Thus, just as we can go anywhere and strike up a conversation with anyone in a FIRST shirt, greeks can strike up a conversation with any other greek, because they both went through similar experiences.

I do other stuff on campus: I have an amazing job, I’m on the Steering Committee (they plan class-wide events, such as the Senior Ball), and I mentor the Babson-Olin Catholic Association (I was their president my sophomore year, and now that it’s been passed on I mentor the executive board to make sure that they stay on the right track).

I’m of the school of thought that a FIRSTer should have other experiences under their belt besides FIRST…although some people are ok with only doing FIRST (which isn’t a bad thing at all)…there are some people that work better when they’re doing other things as well. The best part about it is being able to pull in experiences from elsewhere and apply them to FIRST - many clubs & orgs run similarly, and you can bring stuff from other places and apply them in a way that the FIRST community may have never thought of.