Depending on the team structure, time commitment can vary as well. On my son’s team, Design, Code, Mechanical, and Electrical units pulled the latest nights during build season. Animation, Course, Marketing, etc all still put in a LOT of hours every day, but their responsibilities were focused differently. FIRST is a year-round activity for this group, as even in the off-season they meet 1-2 x week and have volunteer & outreach activities. He had a great experience, and is looking to see if he can get involved with FIRST volunteering or mentoring at one of the high schools near his university.
One of my kids did it, and I was a volunteer for the program, and I was impressed. We operated on a shoe-string, and didn’t win any major competitions. I wish it was all year, as opposed to being such an intense several weeks, but the kids seemed to really enjoy it. If she’s doing it just for the college app boost, I’d say don’t bother. If she’s doing it because she’s really interested, I’d say try it and see what she thinks. She can always decide its not for her and not do it the next year.
What did your daughter decide @niabost ? My son and six friends decided to start a team and went to the FTC kickoff event yesterday. RES-Q looks like an interesting and challenging game.
My son did Robotics freshman year and enjoyed it, but then the following year found that he liked fencing better, and has stuck with that. It would be difficult to do both, as they are both a big time commitment. In the context of college applications (he is a senior this year), I certainly do not regret that he stopped. I am glad he found something he really enjoys and does well.
I say if she likes it, then she should do it, as long as the time commitment is not so onerous that her grades start to suffer. It’s a great program.
If your teen isn’t REALLY into it I wouldn’t waste your time. Once you add up the season’s hours it’s really insane. Further, a disinterested kid isn’t going to be engaged and will net zero benefit. It’s not like you’re going to go and babysit her every meeting, she can easily just play on her phone and watch more aggressive students do all the work.
I would add that a team has no interest in including a student who’s not interested, so if they show up and don’t participate, they typically end up not being on a team and wash out. Our public school had a shoestring budget (I think our robot was 2k of old parts, lol), and you can still win if you have good team spirit and some creative strategy. Watch out for “coaches” who want to build the entire robot and let the kids twiddle their thumbs on the sidelines-you get a lot of that with VEX at the middle school level. It makes me crazy!
^I volunteer for FIRST events, and you can tell which coaches those are. They make my blood boil. One if those teams won one of our regionals this year. Grr.
^Yeah, and the worst part is those kids get to high school with no parents doing the building, and they have no idea what they’re doing other than some basic low-level stuff. One year the head coach decided only his son would be allowed to program ALL the VEX robots. Yeah, I don’t think so. I went over his head, bought the program and my older daughter had figured it out and was teaching the other teams how to do it. The guy was furious. I was like, bite me-you don’t get to dictate who learns how to code. His argument for it was “team consistency” and I said “your kid programmed our robot wheels incorrectly-are we going to be consistently bad? No.”
Son of a work colleague (sophomore) was not able to keep his grades up doing both band and FTC last year, he just was not sleeping enough. His dad made him choose one major activity. Since his team went to Worlds last year FTC was an easy choice for him. He went to the kick-off this weekend and is very excited and focused, not missing band anymore. He plans on being an engineer so I think he made a good choice.
FIRST is just that way, it takes great commitment and passion to be a top team. You have to give things up, but that is not all bad. Better to be really good at something than just a participant in several.
My D went the other way, turned down invitation to the FTC team and put her time into band. She is now a section leader and working on an arrangement for the annual concert. She finds music a diversion and a stress reliever. She often expresses how glad she is not to be in FIRST anymore. It was not her thing and she found it too stress inducing.
I agree that FIRST is one of the most “real world” activities my kids did. It was a lot of work and a lot of responsibility, and a huge learning experience that has been helpful in college and beyond.
My sons are on an FRC team at the high school. One (current college sophomore) was very involved) - on the drive team etc. The other one (HS sophomore) hasn’t quite found his niche - but enjoys the camaraderie. The freshman doesn’t think he’ll join - and that’s okay. We parents do joke about the “3rd quarter slump” in grades during build season. On the flip side, the kids do mentor/tutor each other when they get a chance. We have a huge team (100+) so there are generally some idle hands to help with homework.
Don’t forget the scholarship opportunities through FIRST too! I agree with the comments that if it’s the right fit, do it. We tell all of our children that they need to be involved in 1 thing at the school - whether it is a sport, FRC, drama, whatever. Connections are important and teach valuable life skills too.