yes, absolutely! here’s a link! thank you! <3

The clocks are ticking; there’s only two more days until Kickoff! There’s a lot to think about during this time, such as designing and building a robot, writing code, finishing Chairman’s essays, preparing scouting systems, the list goes on and on. Last, but certainly not least, comes dating.

Dating is always tricky, but it can be even more difficult during build season. It’s hard finding time around robotics to balance homework, self-care, jobs, and relationships. As an LGBT+ student, all these factors and more come into play. By dating, you might risk outing yourself or others; and accidentally creating drama on the team if relations are not kept business-like and graciously professional. Hopefully after reading this, maneuvering the robotics dating field will be much easier!

1. Time Management- Don’t completely neglect your partner during build season. Communicate that there will have to be less time spent together, and decide upon a regular time of the week to go on dates. Make sure to leave time for yourself and homework, too! Personally, the only way I could accomplish this was reducing my work schedule to four hours per week.
   
2. Announcing the Relationship- Be aware of your partner’s needs; if they do not give you consent to tell others about the relationship, then don’t. If you tell others anyways, remember that you might be outing them to people they aren’t ready to be out to yet, or maybe your partner just doesn’t want to create any unnecessary tension or drama on the team.
   
3. Dealing With Drama- Maybe you and your partner broke up. Maybe your team felt it unprofessional to be flamboyantly dating and having public displays of affection. Maybe someone else is jealous. Whatever the case may be, drama isn’t fun for anyone involved. Therefore, if there are any breakups, try to maintain a civil relationship with your ex. If your team doesn’t want you to have PDA, tone it down a notch and remember to use the same manners as you would at a family gathering where your grandparents are watching your every move. If someone is jealous, don’t rub the relationship in their face, and follow a similar procedure to the one described in the previous sentence.
   

Dating is always complicated, but if you handle it maturely, your relationship can survive the stress of build and competition season. Good luck to all teams as you take on FIRST Steamworks!

Three more days until kickoff! You know what this means: pizza, caffeine, and no sleep for 42 days.

However, despite all the jokes we all make about awful diets and bad sleep habits, self-care is something we all need to remember during build season. Here are some tips to stay healthy as we approach a time when our health often, unfortunately, ends up as a low priority.

1. Reusable water bottles. Water is pretty important for obvious reasons, but multiple bottles of water can be tiring to lug around. Plus, it’s better for the environment than the recyclable water bottles.
2. Sports drinks in moderation. Although water is always a good go-to when you need to hydrate, if you’ve been sweating a lot, you also need to replenish the electrolytes you lose. Drinks like Powerade and Pocari Sweat are great for those purposes.
3. Don’t fall asleep in a binder. We all know how it happens: after a long day’s work, you get home, plop in bed, and pass out in grimy clothing. It’s fine. Just make sure you remove your binder if you wear one.
4. Utilize team sweatshirts and layers. Depending on what part of the world you live in, it can get pretty cold outside, so make sure to bundle up when traveling to and from your team’s shop. If you wear a binder, you can also use sweatshirts and larger clothing to take a break.
5. Fruit instead of sweets. And most snacks in general. Vitamin C prevents colds, which is extremely important when you spend a lot of time close to people in the winter. It’ll also help prevent breakouts.
6. Protein bars. Pizza is the solution to almost all your problems most of the time, but if you’re eating it three meals a day, that’s a problem that can’t be solved by more pizza. Protein bars are just one alternative, and a fantastic one at that.
7. Set an alarm for lunchtime. Speaking of eating three meals a day, you need to make sure you really have three meals a day. It also goes for anything else you need to remember at a certain time, like picking up an object, taking your meds, checking a monitor, etc. This is also useful during competition season, because it’s very easy to forget in the heat of things.
8. Work out. You don’t necessarily have to do any intense workouts, but doing at least one physically active thing for an hour each week serves as a good distraction from spending so much brainpower on robots every day. It will also help prevent you from passing out at competitions when you run back and forth between the pits and the stands, or when everyone gets up to do the Macarena.

Good luck, and remember: safety and your health come FIRST.

~Staff: Errica 1073

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.

1. There will be bickering. Build season is a very stressful time for everyone involved in FRC. Due to this high-stress environment, everyone is on edge and seemingly at each other’s throats. If you find yourself getting angry over little things, just step away and take a break! Getting angry and your teammates will not help anyone, but remaining calm and keeping a level head will usually diffuse a stressful situation.
2. Avoid talking about disagreeable subjects in the shop, such as religion or politics. Everyone is going to have different opinions on these things. It’s best to just avoid these topics before anything gets out of hand.
3. If any team bickering gets out of hand talk to a mentor or trusted adult!!! Mentors are there to help you and your teammates have a good time building robots. If you think that a situation requires outside assistance, talk to a mentor that you are comfortable helping sort things out.
   
4. Take time to destress. Designated destress times such as lunches or breaks are always a good way to stay mentally healthy and prevent fighting before it starts.
   
5. Befriend your teammates outside of robotics. Becoming friends with the people you will be crammed into close quarters with during build season is always a good idea! Try team building exercises or social activities with teammates to strengthen your relationship in non stressful situations. Becoming friends can help aid in team communication as well as create a more cohesive building environment.
   
6. Have fun!!! Build season is supposed to be fun for everyone on the team! If you keep this sentiment in mind and remain lighthearted, build season should be a breeze.
   

Good luck to all teams! We hope everyone has an amazing season!

- Gus 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.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! We have all been rookies at some point. I have learned so much from just asking questions. It is better to be told how to do something than to just assume and then possibly make a mistake.
2. The rule book is your new best friend. As the Head of the Design department and a member of the Drive team, I read through the rule book at least three times. No matter what department you are in, the rule book will always be referenced, whether it’s for rules regarding wiring, bot size or the layout and components of the field. It’s better to know what you are looking for instead of skimming through the 100 pages looking for 1 rule. Also, check Chief Delphi and the FIRST website regularly for updates to the rules.
3. Stay on top of schoolwork! School always comes before any activity. Communicate your school schedule with coaches. They will be understanding if you need to miss a practice to take a test or work on a project. With competitions, you can miss up to one week of classes. Communicate with your teachers in advance to stay on top of everything!
   
4. Becoming friends with teammates makes build season so much more fun. You don’t need to be everyone’s best friend, but it makes build nights go faster if you can chat about the weather or last night’s hockey game.
5. Take care of yourself! Strive for eating 3 meals a day and getting as much sleep as possible. It makes work so much easier. Being well rested also makes us all better teammates and easier to communicate with.
   
6. Sign up for anything you are interested in! You never know where you’ll find your niche. Something that you never had any interest in could be the way you best support your team. I never had any clue I would be scouting, yet here I am. It is useful to your teammates to learn new skills.
7. Be patient! Not all of us can build a robot in 3 days. Take on problems with a calm approach and a clear mind. When frustrated, we are more likely to make avoidable mistakes. Accept that you don’t have all the answers, but work with your teammates and mentors to find them.
8. Don’t forget the amazing memories you will make this season. From when the feeling and joy when the autonomous finally works or the amazing feeling seeing you get picked for an alliance, or the laughs over a meme deep into build night, always cherish those memories. Look back to them in hard times.
   

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 @terrrifed

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!

1. Let others help you! You’re on a team for a reason! Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone was a rookie at some point.

2. Don’t fall behind in homework- It may seem difficult, but school always needs to come FIRST. Missing out a few hours of build time to study for an important test or ducking out early to do work on a project will be worth it in the end.

3. Be a pacifist, not an instigator. The people on your team are going to be around you constantly for the next 6 weeks. Sometimes, leaving the room quietly is better than starting an argument. Defend yourself and your beliefs but be reasonable. Some people will never change their views, and you can’t make them. Express disapproval, leave the room, inform a mentor, etc, but causing a fight will only stress you out.

4. Take care of yourself! Yes, you still need to shower! No, don’t only eat food that’s bad for you because it’s easier! Yes, you still need sleep! Don’t wreck your body. It isn’t worth it because you can’t give 100% to your team if you only have 50% energy! Try packing in healthy snacks or taking some power naps here and there if you find them hard to squeeze in.

5. Befriend your teammates! Being around the same people for 6 weeks nonstop doesn’t have to be a bad thing if you can find common interests with them! Build season is so much easier when you look forward to being there.

6. Don’t ignore everyone else in your life. You may feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, but friends and family outside of robotics have even less of an idea. Send them updates! This helps maintain relationships with other friends and make sure your family isn’t upset at how often you’re gone. Send photos of your robot, text a quick update on what you did today, or bring someone to the end of a build session if you can! Spread those ideas of FIRST!

7. Don’t overload yourself. If it starts to get overwhelming or you find yourself taking on too many tasks, take a step back. Look at everything you need to do and by when. Maybe a few projects need to be given to someone else. No shame in being human! Wearing yourself thin won’t help anyone.

8. Have fun, learn, and create memories. That’s what FIRST is all about in the end, right?

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 ( @heronian)

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 @terrrifed

This is an awesome idea! If you hop on our discord server, we’d love to get to know you and work out the details for implementation!

Here’s the link to join the server: https://discordapp.com/invite/Kufnf6v

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.

Thank you to everyone who supported the LGBTQ+ of FIRST pins! They look so amazing!