01-12-2012 09:52 AM
Greetings all! I am hoping to find a team in the Charlotte, NC area that might be in need of a mentor/volunteer for the 2012 competition. I'm a BSEE and a Certified LabVIEW Developer, and it's possible that my company might be willing to put up some sponsorship funds. So if anyone around Charlotte reads this please respond!
01-12-2012 12:41 PM
You may have done this already, but if not - I would try contacting your local FRC Regional Director. From the FIRST website, go to "Contact Us" and then "Regional Contacts" on the left. In my experience, the best time to find a team is just before, or at, the kick-off - after that, teams get busy quickly, and many schools have lengthy background-check procedures that need to be completed before you're allowed to work with students. Also, search through the list of teams in your area and try to get in touch with them (or the school) directly; rookie, and relatively new, teams (look for numbers above about 3000) are most likely to need help. If you don't find a team for this season, volunteer at your local regional event. Get in touch with the organizers in advance and tell them you'd like to provide on-site LabVIEW help. On year we had experienced programmers in Java, C, and LabVIEW all available to answer questions at the Parts table, and we were able to help a lot of teams. This is also probably the best opportunity to meet teams in your area.
01-12-2012 01:18 PM
Thanks nathand, I will most defintitely do that. I had looked at the FIRST site in the past, but didn't have much luck finding teams. I'll take another look this afternoon.
01-12-2012 01:40 PM
01-13-2012 09:33 AM
I just sent you a PM with some details about specific teams, but just to close the loop here, too...
There's a complete list (with maps) of all the FIRST teams in North Carolina on the NC FIRST website here. You can also contact Marie Hopper, the NC FIRST regional director on the NC FIRST Contact page. She's awesome and can definitely give you additional pointers.
I'm a mentor for 3459 Team Pyrotech in Cary/Apex, so if you or your team need anything please feel free to ping me, and I'll see you at Regionals!
Good luck and (pre-emptively) welcome to FIRST!
01-13-2012 09:36 AM
Just sent you a response Justin, thanks again.
Thanks to everyone, I hope to have a blast doing this!