Hello everyone, since I’m posting from this new account for the first time I’ll take a second to introduce myself. I’m a freshman engineering student at Uc santa cruz and former FIRST team member for four years at my high school. I’ve always greatly enjoyed the program and miss a lot of it now that I’m here.
I knew I wouldn’t really have much chance to be involved for the 2013-2014 season because of the work load of adjusting to college first year. However I can see some time opening up in my schedule in the spring of next year due to course scheduling ect. So I think that’s about the time I’ll be able to get back into FIRST. I’ve already looked around here a little bit and I can’t seem to find an existing FRC team nearby unless you’re willing to go over the hill to san jose. If anyone knows of one in the area I would be really interested to get some more information. But seeing as one doesn’t exist in the local area I’ve been thinking about starting one up. Anyone have any thoughts on this process? When I get some time in the spring I’m planning on going around to the local schools and trying to find some teacher interest, as well as talking to the engineering department here to see if any support can be found there for a new team. I appreciate any thoughts, thanks.
Now, that said, I have a couple of other thoughts, comments, and suggestions. The first is that FRC competitions LOVE getting volunteers. As you mentioned, San Jose is over the hill from you–and they host the Silicon Valley Regional. Something tells me they want your smiling face in a volunteer shirt. Volunteer for a couple of days or half-days–college takes precedence here, so you’d definitely want to talk with your professors.
Speaking of talking with your professors, you might want to find any professors who are involved with one of the MANY college-level engineering challenges, and see if you can join one of those teams. The atmosphere is similar to FRC, but the competition is much different (depending on which competition you pick). Essentially, FIRST for college students–only it’s a multi-month build season.
If you still want to start a team, then you probably want to talk to the faculty in the engineering department first. Who knows, they might already have some contacts in the local schools–and they might know how receptive the administration would be to supporting a team. Also, you’re going to want backup. Being the only mentor can be tough on you, so get some folks who can cover for you/keep you away if you need to be kept away.
As mentioned you may want to volunteer at events for this season as it is a little late in the game to get a team started, certainly not impossible but a uphill battle. However now would be a good time to lay the ground work so you can get the people associated with the potential school or organization to an event as that is the best way to hook people. There may also be a team that is interested or in the process of considering a team. The best thing to get plugged into the system is to contact the FIRST Senior Mentor for your area. You can get their contact info here: http://www.usfirst.org/regional-contacts Now I’m not sure where the line is drawn between the FSM for Northern and Central CA is so you may want to contact them. They may already be working with someone near you to get a team started and if the FSM can say I’ve got a mentor with experience that is willing to help out that may be enough to encourage them to go through with it. They can also link you in to volunteering for all of the programs. We are stressing the Progression of Programs more than ever so getting hooked up with a FLL or FTC team near you could lead to being able to show the demand for a FRC team when those students are moving on.
I’m a mentor for Team766 in Menlo Park, over the hill from you. I don’t think that there is a team in your area, I would think that San Jose or Cupertino would be your closest teams.
As others have stated, the SJ Regional can always use some help, if you want to drive over the hill on the weekends we would be more than happy to have some extra help for our team.
This one is for the OP, and it’s something I’ve been remembering.
If you REALLY have time opening up, then by all means, try what you can do. But from experience, you probably won’t actually have that time opening.
And here’s my experience: Sailed through freshman year. Switched majors from undeclared to ME at end of year. Sophomore year, spring semester, I only passed 2 courses of 5. Yep, only passed 2. I failed 2 ME core courses, plus a math course. I ended up having to juggle my schedule a bit and take an extra year to graduate, along with taking a summer course. And I wasn’t even mentoring an FRC team!
If you were to look at my schedule, it was something like 13-16 credits–not too terrible, considering 12 was a fulltime student and 18 was overload. But the ME core courses can be real killers–some say that they’re designed as “weeder” courses, to filter out the ones who won’t make it farther. (In my case, I retook all 3 failed courses, and passed 2 on the next attempt. 1 took a third try.)
If you have a “light” load, and it’s major core courses, I strongly encourage you NOT to mentor unless you KNOW that you KNOW that you KNOW you can do it without failing the classes. Your 5th year and beyond isn’t exactly going to be fun on the wallet.
As a student, you shouldn’t be starting an FRC team by yourself. Instead, inspire an existing organization, such as a local school, business, or the university to embrace FIRST and its vision. Use this to start an FIRST program. Build the foundation for the program to succeed, so that even after you’ve graduated, it will succeed.
By working the sponsorship, facilities planning, team structure, and “boring mentor stuff”, you will lay the path for a bright future. Plan the organization so it can operate without you.
I’m not sure where you plan to take your future. You may leave the area just as the team starts to “norm”, where the start-up kinks are worked out and everyone is working together in harmony. Having the program, the plan, and the support structure in place will give the team a great shot at success in the transition. I would encourage you to find a more permanent team leader that can provide consistent leadership and mentoring through the years.
Maybe this person could be you. It is possible to work with the university to found the program, then write a job description for the program manager and hire into the school’s faculty Starting an FRC program is no easy task and looks great from an employer perspective.
As always, I know the FIRST community will lend a hand wherever is needed.
Starting an FRC program is no easy task and looks great from an employer perspective.