With build season quickly approaching it’s normal to be a little nervous about spending 6 weeks in close quarters with the same people. For an enjoyable build experience, getting along with your teammates is key. Whether you are best friends with your teammates or aren’t friends at all, here are some helpful tips for surviving build season with all your bridges intact.
Good luck to all teams! We hope everyone has an amazing season! – Gus D. 3940 Hello to incoming rookies, and welcome to FIRST Robotics Competition! With Kickoff approaching, I know that we all are anxious about how this build season. One year ago, I was in every rookies’ shoes. I had made the leap and signed up for the team, paid the MSHSL fee, and was on the track to where I am today. I had no idea what was going to happen. Robotics changed my life with the guidance and advice of the lovely people around me and online. As a senior, and now a team captain, here is some advice I would give to incoming rookies.
I hope you all have a great first build season! Happy kickoff! If you have any questions, I would love to talk to any of you. – Abby, MN FIRST Kickoff is in 7 days, and you know what that means: your entire life will revolve around robotics for the next 6 weeks. If you’re a veteran, you can probably handle this without a hitch, but for newbies, it can be difficult and frustrating. Thankfully, this is FIRST, and we’re more than happy to help our own!
Whatever the game is this year, know that your team can accomplish anything with enough determination and elbow grease, but make sure to stay GP. -Max C. 2197 Hello, lovely followers! We’re excited to announce that we’re adding Saturdays posts to our schedule. These posts will be admins’ personal stories on both LGBTQ+ and FIRST related things! With Kickoff right around the corner, we are looking forward to new students joining and becoming active members in the FIRST community. Because of this, I wanted to share what drew me into the wonderful world of FIRST.
I’ve participated in a variety of activities in High School. From Math League to Speech to Knowledge Bowl to Prom Committee, I just hadn’t found a perfect fit for me. All of these extracurriculars were great but had the same problem. They all put me in a position where I was forced to compete against my friends, whether for the prom theme or a spot on the bus to sections. As a student with anxiety, it was a serious problem. Late into my sophomore year, a few students on the robotics team reached out to me and expressed their love for FIRST. I was intrigued, but it was far too late in the season for me to join. It also overlapped with several of my other commitments. I finished sophomore year curious about what would happen if I joined robotics. At the beginning of my junior year, I was approached again. Students would sit next to me at lunch and tell me about what it is like on the team. It was the beginning of the team’s third year, and they were coming off a successful season where they qualified for Minnesota State Championships. I heard about the amazing opportunities, great friendships, and was told over and over how good FIRST looks on a college application. The coach of the team told me about the different skills I would learn, and how they would apply to a future career in STEM. I caved and attended the interest meeting, a decision that has changed my life. I was brought into an environment where a group of students truly worked as a team. My team became a second family for me, and I will be forever grateful for them. The first regional I attended was the first time our team took home a blue banner. Being regional winners earned us a spot in St Louis at the World Championship. Success and growth in a team-oriented environment is exactly what I need in an extracurricular. As my second and final season approaches, I now try to reach out to as many students as possible, telling them about how much I love the community in FIRST and the great opportunities they have on an FRC team. I do this with hopes that it’ll provide the same great experience for others as it has for me. – Abby, MN FIRST Kickoff is next month, and I’ve started planning everything that has to be done for the 2017 season. The one thing that has been circling my mind is what kind of senior I want to be. For the last four years, I’ve worked extremely hard to lead my team, take responsibility for new things, and make my team better. The majority of the things I’ve done, however, were completed with a lot of the work being my own. That was fine when I was an underclassman; I would still be around the next season to do it again. However, a year from now, I’ll be off at college and what I’m afraid of is that everything I worked so hard for will end with me, making my team weaker. If I were to leave now, my team would be without a scouting captain, the head of the Chairman’s team, and a documentation captain. They’d definitely build the same robot with or without me, but they’d struggle to put together a strong alliance, would have no shot at Chairman’s and would have nothing to show judges. If my senior year looks the way the past three years have looked, they’ll be in that situation next year anyway. Which leads me to an epiphany that I’ve found hard to accept: senior year is not a victory lap.
If you want your team to do well after you graduate, your focus needs to be less on you and your achievements and more on teaching underclassmen how to do your job. We all bring different skills to our respective teams, but particularly for those of us who bring unique abilities, it’s important to teach the next generation what they need to know. This is not a job that should fall on the mentors, but on the older students. This year, my team has as many new students as veterans, numbers which are frankly terrifying. Of those veterans, half are seniors. The future of my team depends on how well we train this year’s rookies. It’s not always easy or glamorous or fun, but it’s a necessity. So here’s my message to all you seniors out there… Embrace your underclassmen. Teach them everything you know. Learn together. Work for what makes the team the strongest. Enjoy your final year, but remember that the legacy you leave might be the determining factor in whether your team succeeds in the future. Good luck with FIRST Steamworks. Stay GP. -Tristan D. 107 anonymous asked:
Hey friends, I’m a mentor of an FRC team and I wanted to let that other mentor know that if they are a team based around a school (especially public), they may bump into some policy issues regarding transgender students. For example, on our team, the school district insists students room with other students of their GAAB (unfortunately) if we take students out of school and that is something we have to work on changing to make sure all of our FRC students are treated as they should be. That is true and thank you for replying. Hopefully, legislation changes to make it mandatory for schools to respect their trans students, but that is not the case right now. ~Staff: Sean 5113 anonymous asked:
I am a mentor on an FRC team and one of my students just informed us that she is a transgender female. What can we as mentors do to support her and help her share this information with the team as a whole? Are there any resources available? Thank you! Hello! FIRSTly, we’re so glad that you’re being accepting and showing support by asking questions! We have some resources for trans women and parents/support on our resources tab of our blog [x]. Remember that she is the same person as she was before coming out. Any interests she had before she will likely have now. So if she loved mechanical work before, she’s still as competent now. Just remember to use the right pronouns and name while treating her with respect. You can also ask her if there is anything she would like to feel more comfortable on the team. Don’t beat yourself up over using her old name or pronouns; just apologize and move on. Everyone makes mistakes and the longer you dwell on it, the more uncomfortable she’ll feel. One thing many people do is ask questions, but make sure to be respectful. Don’t ask about anything you wouldn’t ask a cisgender person (AKA don’t ask about her private parts). Some questions that are appropriate would be “What are your pronouns?”, “What name do you go by?”, and “Are you out?”. The last question is important because you do not want to share information about her gender with anyone unless she gives permission. If she has come out to the team, support is as simple as reminding people to use the right name and pronouns. Try to use gender inclusive language such as “hello, team” instead of “hello, boys and girls.” If your team has separate uniforms for masculine and feminine people, ask her which one she would prefer. If you are staying at a hotel for a competition, allow her to room with girls if she is comfortable. If anyone on the team is having problems accepting her, speak with them. Everyone deserves to feel safe on the team. Lastly, treat her like you would treat any other girl on the team. If you usually compliment girl’s makeup skills or shoes, do that with her. If you see something online that you think she would like, tell her. Simply being there for her is the end goal. Tell her that if she has any problems, she can talk to you, even if it doesn’t involve the team. Make her feel validated and important. If you have any other questions, just send us another ask and we’d be happy to answer. ~Sean 5113 psychosuitcase asked:
My name is Lawrence from team 1529 and just here recently I’ve been put in charge of a diversity subgroup for our team. I’m a fully out transboy on the team and my job is to make sure everyone feels safe to be themselves. I just wanted to share that. Hello, fellow dude! It’s so awesome that you have a diversity subgroup. If you ever want to share any of your work with the blog, just submit it (with consent from your team, of course) and we’d be happy to spread some cool diversity to other FIRSTers out there! -Staff: Sean 5113 The experience of overt discrimination is a familiar one. Slurs, harassment and the like are unfortunately all too common. A problem that is distinctly harder to notice is the phenomenon of subconscious bias. While sometimes difficult to detect, confronting and stopping it is crucial to ensure that you are being treated fairly by your FIRST team and your coaches. The purpose of this post is to provide some information about unconscious bias and hopefully help you protect yourself from it What is unconscious bias? As defined by The LGBTA national diversity council, unconscious bias is “an unquestioned or automatic assumption about an individual, usually based on positive or negative traits is associated with a group they belong to, that prevents them from treating them as an individual”. It can take the form of having ideas ignored, being overlooked in determining leadership or generally receiving less respect. Everyone holds some form of unconscious bias, but it is important to recognise it and not allow it to affect your actions. LGBT+ people are unfortunately often targets of this form of discrimination What causes it? While the cause of each person’s specific bias is unique, bias often arises when you are confronted with an identity or lifestyle you are unfamiliar with. Many older adults were raised in a time when the LGBT+ rights movement was just getting started, a time when having a non-conforming identity was still considered by the mainstream to be strange. It is for this reason that often times it is older adults from conservative backgrounds that are the source of this bias. However, discrimination can come from anyone from any background What should you do? This depends on the type of bias you are facing.
Jokes are some of the most common examples of unconscious bias coming out; most are made without malicious intent, but they still reinforce stereotypes. Jokes can sometimes be harder to defend yourself from then direct attacks, as when you try to shut down a joke you are often labelled a “buzzkill.” If someone makes this kind of joke, there are two main ways of dealing with it. The first is calling them in the group setting, this strategy creates a more public message that this kind of humour is not ok, but this may put the person on the defensive. A simple “I don’t appreciate those kinds of jokes” should suffice. The other option is to wait until you can speak to the person one-on-one, this allows you to talk to them without potentially embarrassing them, but you lose the opportunity for a larger learning moment for your team. Make the decision you think is best for your team and your circumstance. The most important thing to do is to use one of these strategies the first time you hear one of these jokes. These jokes can quickly spread out of control so it’s important to nip it in the bud. Another way unconscious bias can manifest itself is in the relationship between LGBT+ team members and their teammates. Often times the discomfort that people feel towards an identity they are unfamiliar with can manifest itself as consistent disregard for another’s opinion or instruction. This can result in you not really getting a say in team meetings or having people you are supposed to be leading not listening to you. This is unacceptable; You should receive just as much respect for your input or ideas regardless of your identity. The most important step to combatting this form of bias is to make sure there is a legitimate reason whenever your idea is rejected. If you notice a trend of you or your ideas consistently being ignored or rejected without good reason, talk to your coaches, or the infracting member if you’re comfortable. Often times when people realise they are being biassed they will attempt to correct their actions. If not, your coaches should be able to help. One of the most damaging ways bias can present itself is in the selection of leadership. LGBT+ members can often be looked over for leadership due to unconscious bias. If you are ever either not selected for leadership, or get a position you do not enjoy, always ask why that is the case. If the reason you are provided is not satisfactory it may be because of your identity. This problem is, unfortunately, one of the harder to prevent and most difficult to identify forms of unconscious bias. If you suspect that your identity impacted how your position on the team was determined, speak with the coaches. If you receive a hostile or unhelpful response, you can contact your school administration if you attend a public school. You can also contact FIRST’s Youth Protection Program; they can help with cases of discrimination. In all cases, if you cannot solve the problem through your team or school then contact the FIRST youth protection program; discrimination violates FIRST policy. If to go to a public school, you can also contact your local ACLU; any form of discrimination is illegal. I hope this guide was both helpful and informative. We here at the blog would be more than willing to help with any specific questions. Hey, guys. As you know, I’m Sean from 5113, the Combustible Lemons. This year was the first year where I was 100% out to my team. The first (haha FIRST) person I officially came out to was the team’s Head Advisor and he was honestly pretty rad. I had come out to him as “Sean” the year before and he asked me what my pronouns where (I didn’t know at the time so I couldn’t give him an answer). The other Head Advisor was rad too. I was a little scared since he’s a little older, but he was so excited for me!
My teammates were all pretty good. When there was that rooming miscommunication, everyone was so kind and tried to help me feel better. Most of the guys saw me as another guy and the girls saw me as a guy. At first (FIRST) they asked questions that were a little personal, but after I talked with them, it was all cool. Whenever my legal name showed up anywhere, no one said anything mean and they would correct people if that person called me my legal name. However, at competitions, I was often scared to use the bathroom. This wasn’t due to people being rude to me but it was just my own anxiety and paranoia. If I asked a teammate to go with me to the boy’s room, they would and it made me feel much safer to have a buddy to protect me. This year, for the first time, we included sanitary products for the boy’s room and we had a lot of people thank us for it (yay!). Usually, our bathroom baskets were the same for guys and girls rooms except for the sanitary products, but after asking advice from the school nurse and my mentors, we decided that it would be okay and if anyone had any questions, they could just ask us. I think I’m really lucky to have such a nice team. Next year, we plan on trying to incorporate some little things to help make the team more inclusive and we have the support of all our mentors which is nice. I don’t know if anyone on the team is out to anyone yet, but I hope that they come out at least to the team because it is one of the most accepting communities I’ve ever been a part of. |
About LGBTQ+ of FIRST
LGBTQ+ of FIRST is a student run organization that advocates awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ+ students, mentors, and volunteers of FIRST Robotics. LGBTQ+ of FIRST reaches out to over 1000 members across the FIRST regions and fronts multiple outreach endeavors. Archives
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