As someone who has done FIRST for 5 years now the prospect of not being a student is… distressing (I’ve been planning my funeral I’m fairly sure I won’t make it through this coming build season not on a team) I’m not seeing a ton of teams within the distance I could be involved in not to mention I don’t know how well I’ll take to college life so time is a big factor. I know some teams have different standards on involvement after graduation and such. How do the rest of plan to cope? Mentoring? Volunteering? Ice cream and tears while watching multiple live streams?
(I’ll be volunteering of course but besides that I don’t know much else, I am in pain.)
I’ll be attending MNSU Mankato! I will do my best to volunteer for the regionals MN holds but it’s going to be tricky, hopefully I can drive myself by then. I’ll be mentoring as soon as it’s reasonably possible.
shakes fist at FIRST how can you get people so addicted and expect them to survive after graduation
I’m considering mentoring teams (including 100, my old team), but also realize that I can contribute to FRC in ways other than mentoring.
Also, I realize that college will be much, much harder for me than high school, so I’ll probably be spending most of my time studying instead of thinking about FRC.
After spending 5 years on a high school team, I went to college in a place where there was no team within the state at the time. (South Dakota–I believe they’ve added a team or two since.)
I volunteered at events, if I could get to them (particularly over spring break…). And I stayed active on CD. I’m now back into FIRST, as a mentor (and a glutton for punishment, as I volunteered to both ref and inspect at two events…)
You’ll survive.
Oh! Almost forgot–Find out if your college has any engineering competition teams that allow freshmen to join. You won’t miss FIRST nearly as much once you get into all-school-year design competitions :yikes: .
Team 3747 Chaotech is located in Mankato and is only a short drive away from MNSU Mankato. I’m sure they would be more than happy to have a mentor (even if you could only be there for a limited amount of time) with your experience. I’m attending NDSU and hope to help out 4818 Taurus Robotics which isn’t far from the campus. If you don’t want to fully commit as a mentor you can always help out Knightkrawler during your breaks!
Well I will take this opportunity to congratulate all the member who graduated high school. Also if anyone happens to be going to school at Baylor University here in Waco. The Devastators would love to have you in as a student mentor for a few hours on a weekend or whenever. (PS you most likely will get food!)
The thought of being without FIRST scared me. So after 10 years of coming up through the different programs I’ve decided to give back in more ways than one. I’ll be mentoring three teams (I’m just asking for stress) as well as being an ambassador for Orlando and South Florida Regionals. Luckily I only have classes three days a week in spring with the majority of them being military science classes.
Teams I’ll be associated with: 4901 Garnet Squadron (Columbia, SC), 2152 SMASH (Volusia County, FL) and 1369 Minotaur (Tampa, FL) as well as all FTC teams associated with Minotaur.
Where I’m going to school there are no FIRST team within 45 minutes of my campus. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not yet because I do want to mentor, but I want to maintain a high GPA more, and be the least stressed as possible. Being so far away from any FIRST teams will kind of push off any temptation to mentor for my freshman year. I know I will mentor when I graduate from school, but until then I think there are plenty of other things to do. For my robotics fix, some of my friends who graduated before me and attending the same college as me have already begun forming a VEX U team for this upcoming season so I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of time taken up by that this year.
Maybe in my later years of college I will approach the local high schools and try to build up a FRC/FTC program here, but until then I think I will be plenty happy and busy between school, VEX U, and who knows what else.
Those who have seen the old version of the site will notice FIRST is continually rolling out new features on this page. Big plans ahead, and it’s important to FIRST to be able to keep track of their alumni. Go sign up!
For those who either don’t have a FRC team near by or who cannot take out time to mentor a FRC team, here is an option for you.
Mentor a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team from a nearby middle school or start a team in your neighborhood, I don’t believe you need school affiliation for this. You will have fun working with younger kids and their amazing ideas!
This is so true. I joined my school’s Formula SAE team this year, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After a couple quarters I’m just as hooked on Formula as I was on FIRST.
In a sense these college-level competitions are the ‘next level’. My involvement has given me so many opportunities and experiences that would not have been possible if I had stayed with FIRST.
Also, college is a nice time to explore things outside of FIRST. I’m auditioning for the Notre Dame Marching Band, and also hoping to have time for some other cool stuff, so for me it’s a nice break from FRC. I may volunteer at an event somewhere along the lines, but only time will tell.
Not sure if I quoted anyone’s post in this, using my phone.
I’ve been in FIRST for 5 competition seasons FLL, FTC, and FRC. These were the best years of my life. I’m attending Florida Institute of Technology and will be volunteering at Panther Prowl. I’m hoping that I will get the chance to mentor team 386 Team Voltage. Unfortunately I haven’t heard from them. FIRST taught me many things throughout the years and I won’t let that stop now!
You could also consider serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with FIRST. The VISTA’s serve for one year, building, creating and promoting FIRST programming in their area. You can earn money for college and have fun with FIRST. Here’s a link to one of the positions: