Yay for Robots.
I'm pissed at PFP right now.
(Nikhil, Mike Snow, DC, you'll probably disagree with a lot of what I say here. Agree to disagree.)
I was very surprised this morning when I opened up SSINFO to get my grades and found, to my surprise, that the classes I was worried about all showed A's...and only one class showed a B. ME 297F, the FIRST Robotics Advisor Leadership class. (All you FIRSTers, feel free to laugh at me here.)
I ran it through my head, what I had done to get a B. I can think of a lot of things that might do it...I did miss two Saturday meetings, but then again, so did Mike Snow, who got an A. I suppose I was kind of lenient with student behavior, but I took the approach of more being the students' friend, and I stopped it when it did get out of hand (Chicago, bus ride, for example). I did swear a lot, I suppose I could have toned that down. I also guess I didn't stay for the all-nighter meetings, but usually because of family or school stuff (like a graduation party and a CS project) and sometimes because I was never told, even when I asked to be called (guess I wasn't wanted then either.). I had an "unexcused absense" which was actually a thermo exam, which Greg said he'd change, but I'm not sure if he ever did. (If any FIRST people do bother to read this, feel free to list more faults, or things I did wrong below. What I really want is the reasoning behind my grade...Not like I'm challenging it.)
But what stings is what Greg said once when I was talking to him during Chicago. The reason a person gets a B in FIRST is because they're not wanted. If you get a B, you're not expected to come back the next year; in fact, you're being told not to come back the next year. You're being told that you hurt the team rather than helped.
I don't know if that's true or not; maybe it is. Maybe I was just a waste of a plane ticket and a hotel room spot. But I'm still pissed; because of a volunteer organization, that I gave a large amount of my time to, my 4.0 is gone.
I'm pretty sure that I helped with at least some things during build season, though. (Oh, let me know below if you disagree with that, Mike, Nikhil, DC. I want to know.) And at competition, when I did try to help, I got thrown out of the pits. Scouting, which I helped Emil with, got backhanded away. I was sent on a plant trip instead of staying at nationals, and when I came back with intent to see what was going on and help, I wasn't wanted. I suppose I'm kind of worthless with the robot, huh? And after nationals, Flo talks about whether or not I'll be coming back, Carl asks me if I'm coming back, and I say no because my schedule next year will kick my ass if I do robots. (Which it will.) All a facade, I suppose, because I wasn't wanted.
I suppose my problem is I have something that a lot of the advisors lack: I wanted to keep my grades up more than I wanted to build a robot. I skipped robotics when I had exams so I could study, I did my school work and projects first before going to robots. Instead of thinking about the benefits of having a great robot, or of teaching the students, I first thought about the fact that I needed a good GPA to get into the University of Washington or the University of California for grad school (pretty much, you need a 3.8 at least for Biomedical Engineering). I'm a selfish bastard, I guess...I put myself before the robot and the kids.
And I know I have plenty of things that set me against robots: I'm not a good machinist, and my designs suck, and my CAD skills are merely mediocre, I guess. But I tried to be a decent advisor, and failed.
And because I'm not wanted by the team, I guess any thoughts I had of coming back due to lack of advisors are gone. So that's fine. I don't even think there'll be enough advisors on 461 next year, since DC's gone too, and so is Mike. Goodbye FIRST, and goodbye 461.
(Nikhil, Mike Snow, DC, you'll probably disagree with a lot of what I say here. Agree to disagree.)
I was very surprised this morning when I opened up SSINFO to get my grades and found, to my surprise, that the classes I was worried about all showed A's...and only one class showed a B. ME 297F, the FIRST Robotics Advisor Leadership class. (All you FIRSTers, feel free to laugh at me here.)
I ran it through my head, what I had done to get a B. I can think of a lot of things that might do it...I did miss two Saturday meetings, but then again, so did Mike Snow, who got an A. I suppose I was kind of lenient with student behavior, but I took the approach of more being the students' friend, and I stopped it when it did get out of hand (Chicago, bus ride, for example). I did swear a lot, I suppose I could have toned that down. I also guess I didn't stay for the all-nighter meetings, but usually because of family or school stuff (like a graduation party and a CS project) and sometimes because I was never told, even when I asked to be called (guess I wasn't wanted then either.). I had an "unexcused absense" which was actually a thermo exam, which Greg said he'd change, but I'm not sure if he ever did. (If any FIRST people do bother to read this, feel free to list more faults, or things I did wrong below. What I really want is the reasoning behind my grade...Not like I'm challenging it.)
But what stings is what Greg said once when I was talking to him during Chicago. The reason a person gets a B in FIRST is because they're not wanted. If you get a B, you're not expected to come back the next year; in fact, you're being told not to come back the next year. You're being told that you hurt the team rather than helped.
I don't know if that's true or not; maybe it is. Maybe I was just a waste of a plane ticket and a hotel room spot. But I'm still pissed; because of a volunteer organization, that I gave a large amount of my time to, my 4.0 is gone.
I'm pretty sure that I helped with at least some things during build season, though. (Oh, let me know below if you disagree with that, Mike, Nikhil, DC. I want to know.) And at competition, when I did try to help, I got thrown out of the pits. Scouting, which I helped Emil with, got backhanded away. I was sent on a plant trip instead of staying at nationals, and when I came back with intent to see what was going on and help, I wasn't wanted. I suppose I'm kind of worthless with the robot, huh? And after nationals, Flo talks about whether or not I'll be coming back, Carl asks me if I'm coming back, and I say no because my schedule next year will kick my ass if I do robots. (Which it will.) All a facade, I suppose, because I wasn't wanted.
I suppose my problem is I have something that a lot of the advisors lack: I wanted to keep my grades up more than I wanted to build a robot. I skipped robotics when I had exams so I could study, I did my school work and projects first before going to robots. Instead of thinking about the benefits of having a great robot, or of teaching the students, I first thought about the fact that I needed a good GPA to get into the University of Washington or the University of California for grad school (pretty much, you need a 3.8 at least for Biomedical Engineering). I'm a selfish bastard, I guess...I put myself before the robot and the kids.
And I know I have plenty of things that set me against robots: I'm not a good machinist, and my designs suck, and my CAD skills are merely mediocre, I guess. But I tried to be a decent advisor, and failed.
And because I'm not wanted by the team, I guess any thoughts I had of coming back due to lack of advisors are gone. So that's fine. I don't even think there'll be enough advisors on 461 next year, since DC's gone too, and so is Mike. Goodbye FIRST, and goodbye 461.