For mentors: Framing sad news

FIRST General Forum
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There is a ton of uncertainty around the entire 2020 FRC season right now, but what we do know for sure isn’t looking good.

I wanted to encourage everyone to think of ways to frame this decision with their students as a moment of learning and an example of GP at work. No competition, no matter how fun, is worth risking the health of the most vulnerable in our communities. There is value in learning to overcome difficulties and unexpected changes of plans - that will serve students well throughout their careers.

Also, be sure to reach out to your seniors independently and let them know they will always be a part of the team, even if the season is cut short - and that mentoring/coaching/volunteering will allow them to stay in FRC for years to come.

If your school district will allow it, continue to meet and brainstorm ways to make the most of this downtime - if not, use programs like Slack and Discord to host virtual meetings. There is a lot of potential for outreach, service, and education for teams even under these circumstances. Running food/necessity drives, virtually helping local FLL/FTC teams, and other opportunities for growth exist.

Hopefully we will have more clarity soon on what the season will look like, but until then, I just wanted to wish every team good health and to encourage keeping spirits up.

EDIT: With the official word from FIRST HQ, it’d be worthwhile for mentors to communicate their plans for the coming weeks/months to foster student engagement and excitement for FRC, even given this disappointment.

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There really isn’t excitement for FRC when the work done by new students isn’t proven. Hopefully we’ll see the return of regionals in the late summer/fall. Essentially, we’ve lost an entire “class” (first time FRC) of students. What’s more the timing of the cancellation (during the first day of week3 events) was a poor showing of GP by FIRST. I was there, I talked to many other mentors. By the time the word to cancel had come down, we had already mingled with many 100’s of people in the pits. We are a local team to the Orlando regional, I feel for those who spent over $20K to just show up only to be told to go home. It is easy to say “its the right thing” but really, at the wrong time for those week3’s that were already underway.

Now we have to work to roll back our deposits, transportation fees, etc. For us, that’s about the same as the registration fee of 2 regionals ($9,000.) If we can’t get that money back, any other regional than the local one is going to be canceled by us. The attitude that its no big deal (and I’m not saying this poster is saying it) to suspend the season until a later date is reckless on the part of FIRST. Many teams will not recover financially to replay this season. Hopefully we can see them next season.

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I immediately posted the official notice on Slack…team handled it well. Memes where immediately posted

I don’t see this a sad news, its a worldwide reaction to something outside our control. Things happen and students in HS get that. There will be another time to do this. My guess is in several months. They will not trash the best game to come down the pike in a while. Think of it as an extension to no-bag day.

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Members half expected the news for several days. Once districts began postponing/canceling events, they had an idea that something was coming our way. When a regional was canceled during a driver’s meeting, they were waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Our job as mentors is not to minimize their feelings about the season’s end, but to give them a time to process their emotions with people who understand what they are experiencing. Their teachers don’t understand what has happened. Upon learning that our season was over, a fellow teacher commented, “At least you don’t have an 8 hour bus ride to Huntsville.” Unknowingly, she reduced over 120 hours of work, frustration, and joy to an escape of a bus ride.
Give them time to commiserate, but don’t let them wallow in self-pity. Don’t let 2020 become the “if-only” season. Make it a time for us to improve our teams, to teach more students how to use a CAD program, use the lathe, etc.
We are not abandoning our 2020 robots (a practice robot & competition robot). We will continue to improve them as if Rocket City Regional was still looming over our heads. We will look forward to a robust offseason season. Perhaps invite nearby schools to join us in robotics, investigate starting a FTC team, starting a dodgeball tournament with local FRC teams, float down a river or two, etc…
Make the rest of the 2020 season become the “time we really enjoyed ourselves”!

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I disagree it is sad news. If I was a betting man and I am I would say there will be no rescheduling. rebooking all the venues at a later date this year will be very difficult if not impossible.

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Of course it is sad news. That the decision makes sense doesn’t change that. But it is our reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself which defines us. And I was so proud of our kids, showing up after school the same as always to finish our “pretty” robot that was going to go to champs. We were more fortunate than many in that we scheduled a week 1 qualifier (which we had never done before) so our kids got a moment to show what they had worked so hard on. I hope teams who didn’t get that opportunity can find some way to give their kids that moment, whatever that might look like.

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I take great offense to your statement that “teachers do not understand what has just happened.”
I am a teacher and I believe I totally understand the gravity of this situation, the impact on my students, other teams and FIRST participants in gemeral.
My life has been turned upside down alongside my students, mentors and orogram. It is unfortunate and out of our control.
We will all deal with this in different ways as well we should. Many others are experiencing feelings and emotions similar to our team. Athletics being cancelled during state tournaments, school activities cancelled and or suspended. School itself being altered, cancelled or delayed.
We are all in this together.

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Yes. We are all in this together. Students pour their heart and soul into building the robots. Teachers, Coach and Mentors pour their heart and soul into building up the students. Various other volunteers pour their heart and soul into building the events that we compete at. Everyone has lost something. Now lets all work together to solve the new challenge set before us.

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Perhaps I should have qualified it as some teachers.
I apologize for offending you.
I should learn not to generalize. Yes, there are teachers who are not affiliated with robotics who understand the implications of a canceled season. Whilst there are some who do not understand how dedicated our students are and the time commitment robotics requires. I have fellow teachers who are generally shocked by the time it takes to do robotics. They believe that we receive a kit (think IKEA), put it together, then compete.

The main point of my post is to allow students the time and space to grieve - let them talk about how it makes them feel. This is going to take days for them (and me) to fully process.

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It is tough all the way around. We will get through this together and supporting each other. I misinterpreted “teachers” statement.
Each has their own perception of what we do and how much work/effort it takes for our kids to bring these robots and programs to life (technical and non-technical included).

Our students are looking to us for guidance, comfort and direction. I have asked my students to be there for each other, spend time doing fun things and creating memories. Spend time bonding over non robot activities. Enjoy the good times and memories from the year, laugh and cry as the emotions come and be totally honest and open with each other.
We at our program do not know what is in store for school and/or access, so we have not made or discussed future plans in terms of robot and team otherwise.
I am glad my students have each other, their mentors and families to support them in this time.

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I feel so bad for our seniors to have it all come to an abrupt end this way. Today we learned that school is cancelled for a month for our entire state starting Monday. That means that we can’t even meet as a team. Seniors will not get another chance:(

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I think the positive take away from a crisis like this is the level of empathy a person should gain and appreciate. I have to give credit to what would Woodie think of this situation.
—Mentors - You still need to help young men and women grow and are helping them to cope with adversity. Some of you (Mentors) in the professional environment may have dealt with the situation when a scheduled project is canceled due to budget or timing restrictions. This is a real-life scenario. They (the students) will have the chance to encounter first hand and they will be able to keep their heads up because you were able to put it into perspective. For those Mentors and Teachers that have not to experience this before, please consider this opportunity for personal growth. For those that promote " it more than just robots" get to understand the true meaning of that phrase.
–Students: All the same things I said above, but be thankful that your mentors were there to help you on this path. I hear mentors and parents comment all the time, “I wish I had this when I was growing up”. Believe it or not, that is one of many driving factors why they mentor! Yes, it sucks, but you hopefully see the bigger picture that we (FIRST) are here to build humanity and not just robots.
In summary, empathy through life-changing situations is precious. WWWD?

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Our teachers are tireless servants going largely unpaid. They love the program and the students and spend large numbers of hours away from their families to work with our FRC team. I’m a 20 -year mentor and have nothing but the greatest respect, bordering on reverence, for these remarkable public servants.

In the future can I respectfully ask that you keep the rare flippant remark from a teacher to your freaking self.

Rant over

Edit - just saw the apology - much better and thanks

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