"Robotics" Team or Club

[Mirza95vx]

Hey i searched before i was going to post this but i could not find anything on the weather or not the robotics team is considered a team or a club at everyones school.

I know that some teams have received funding from their school and i wanted to know if the school treated us as a club or a actual team. Like a basketball or football team.

The reason I'm asking is our school has not been very generous in donating to our team. Well at least our school board hasn't. They only provide help to team activities and i was wondering what some robotics teams that are considered a team at their schools had to go through to get funding for the team and if it was hard becoming a team instead of a club.

[Koko Ed]

Far as I know the X-Cats are regaurded as a team.

[Mirza95vx]

Do you know specifically what they had to go through to be considered a team?

[Mike]

We're still considered a club.

[Koko Ed]

Do you know specifically what they had to go through to be considered a team?
Far as I can tell, that's how the school reguards them (at least that's what my wife, who is a teacher at Wilson).

[BoyWithCape195]

We are only a "club". This makes it so that the BOE can give tons of money to the sports "teams" for equipment, and make us go find all our own money. Our BOE would rather give each football player a new set of pads every time the UPS truck comes (sarcastic to prove a point) then to help kids excel in math and science.....I guess.....

[Lisa Rodriguez]

Rockville High School=club
East Hartford High School=team...i believe
Manchester=hasn't been considered yet (we only have 2....3? members from that school)
RHAM= only 1 member, no clue
Tolland=Team, i believe, although we only have 3 member, there is a large interest for next year (w00t rookie teams!)

we're trying to get it changed to team for Rockville, although it's rather hard...we're also trying to see if we can get varsity letters for robotics....that'd be fun :)

[OZ_341]

Our school officially lists us as a "Club", but we get treated like a "Team".

One point I would make is that all of these things listed below did not happen by MAGIC. We had to fight for each one over the course of 6 years.

We won the items below by acting as a team when others try to categorize us as a club.

Don't give up!!! Fight for what you deserve!!

Team 341 has:

1) The Gym for Ramp Riot (our off-season comp.)
2) We get excused from school for Robotics
3) School letter after 2 years of service
4) Full bus service year-round
5) $6K budget
6) 1 Coach and 2 assistant coach co-curricular salaries
7) Use of shop area (we bought the equipment)
8) Invitations to present to board at least twice a year
9) Time off to visit elementary classrooms
10) Robotics listed on kids transcripts
11) Robotics Course offered every other year

And probably a few others that I am not thinking of.

But the trick is that we never act satisfied. Just like Dean, we always ask for more respect, time, and $.

Robotics Deserves it!!

[unapiedra]

Team 1110 is a team, but this doesn't say anything about how much money we receive.

We don't get any money from the school, however our school's football team also got under $500. So team or club wouldn't make much of a difference moneywise.

[Bill Moore]

Our school officially lists us as a "Club", but we get treated like a "Team".

We won the items below by acting as a team when others try to categorize us as a club.

Team 341 has:

1) The Gym for Ramp Riot (our off-season comp.)
2) We get excused from school for Robotics
3) School letter after 2 years of service
4) Full bus service year-round
5) $6K budget
6) 1 Coach and 2 assistant coach co-curricular salaries
7) Use of shop area (we bought the equipment)
8) Invitations to present to board at least twice a year
9) Time off to visit elementary classrooms
10) Robotics listed on kids transcripts
11) Robotics Course offered every other year

Al, does your team also receive "Letters" like the athletic teams do? I know that thread has gone around on here in previous years, and very few schools recognize their robotic teams with this symbol of excellence. (To the disappointment of many.)

[nightrenegade00]

Personally i think that at our school it is a varsity sport. 1 - we recieve a varsity letter and jacket over the four years we are involved with the team similar to how varsity sports distributes letters and jackets. 2 - when you r asked to fill out medical cards im pretty sure your considered a team.

-Crash

[Yan Wang]

The club part of the team includes anyone and everyone who wants to join and help out in the school. The team is limited to roughly 25 students who travel to regionals. The team is more of a community project while the club is to get high school students interested.

[Lil' Lavery]

We are listed as a club, and get about that much respect from the school itself. We are allowed to use the drama room for our meetings, and have a small space that is OUR shop (nobody elses, not even drama's, even though it is connected to the drama room. Drama's set building shop is down the hall from the auditorium). We dont get any $$ from the school. We get excused absences for field trips (competitions), but not if were tired from an all-nighter late in the build season.

[Justin1636]

Even though FIRST at our school is a class that we get credit for we are considered a team and get funding from the principal

[OZ_341]

Al, does your team also receive "Letters" like the athletic teams do? I know that thread has gone around on here in previous years, and very few schools recognize their robotic teams with this symbol of excellence. (To the disappointment of many.)

Yes we get school letters and a certificate from the Athletic Activities Director.

[allabout42]

Even though FIRST at our school is a class that we get credit for we are considered a team

Same for team 481

[Justin1636]

ohh yeah I forgot we letter also we are thinking R2-D2 for our pins for our letter jackets

[BandChick]

I guess technically 1089 is still a "club." By all means, we are seen as a TEAM rather than just a club. We do more work, require more dedication and get more funding.

Our student council gives out a $5000 grant every year, and the robotics team has been sucking it up every year. Our school board is very impressed with us and is doing everything they can to help us. We have 1 coach "on salary," but then, there are other club advisors that also get paid (I can't think of any off the top of my head, though).

We might not have a class offered at our school, and we might not get varsity letters, but we get recognized a lot.

We still get excused for trips and have our own "metal shop," we do school board presentations, curriculum expos and we're right up there with everyone else on "club night" (where all sports AND clubs set up tables to recruit 8th graders).

I know 1089 would LOVE to be considered a real club and get the same appreciation our sports get, but we're getting there. As part of our community/school outreach our team did an ad campaign, and, as one of my friends so subtlely put it, "Tetra is taking over my life!"

She has no idea...

[dubious elise]

We are listed on school brochures as a club, but everywhere else, we are regarded as a team. "Club" connotates a loose collection of mentors and students, "team" alludes to a strong bond between the mentors and students.

[pickle]

We're still considered a club, however, after much begging, next year our principal said he'd pay our entry fee :)!

But we'll never be considered a team I bet, we do have a robotics class at our school now, which gets a little bit of money I think, but as far as our FIRST program, we get almost nothing from our school

[527point]

team 527 is a club but we get a lot of money from the school (for almost every year they have been our sole sponsor)

however we do have to fight to be included in the budget

next year it looks like we could get internship credit for participating as well

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

Team 250 isn't really a club or a team from the school's viewpoint. They let us use the school but we're not affiliated with the school at all. But I guess that would kind of make us a club because I guess I'm seeing that clubs are not funded while teams are. Oh well, makes all the fundraising mean that much more :D . Colonie High School rocks for letting us use their tools and equipment. They also give us a place for storage. I'm trying to get our team affiliated with the school so that even if we don't get any funding, we can still get recognized or something on the morning announcements. That way, it would be a lot easier to bring kids into the program.

[Bcahn836]

We are referred as the Robotics Team. but some of the "other" kids call it robot club.

[Tytus Gerrish]

it's a club if you have a bunch of people who Hang out and do nothing

It's a team if all you all work together and cooperate to win

[Billfred]

As far as I know, each school within District Five considers robotics a club. I don't consider it a knock, since Irmo's science team (state champs this year--woot) and quiz team (back-to-back national champs a few years ago--double woot) are also clubs.

We've got workspace (the engineering classroom at Irmo, plus a storage closet that's just ours, except for one small network switch high up on the wall), and competitions are field trips (and are thus excused). The district also helps with money, but I'd rather not dive off that cliff at 8:13 AM.

[omutton]

Team 1006 is known as a team. For next year, FIRST Robotics will be a course but we will continue to be a team.

[sammie771]

That's cool...does that mean you will get a credit for it?

[omutton]

That's cool...does that mean you will get a credit for it?

Yes, we have developed two courses for first semester. One will focus on the mechanical aspects of robotics, where as the other will be for design and administration.

If you would like information on these courses, feel free to e-mail me (omutton@look.ca) and I will send you some information about these courses aso that you too can bring the core values of FIRST into education.

[Jim Kosaski]

I would consider ourselves a robotics club. The school has told us that the only help they would lend to us is a bus to go to any regionals. They said if we are able to make a robotics class that they would try to fund us that way. We will have to work at finding a company to be our main sponsor for next year, and then do other fundraising for the rest of our funds.

[karinka13]

Everyone on the firebirds considers us a "team" mainly. But to the school we're still just a club. We don't get any money or even recognition. I'm not saying anythig bad about sports teams, but everyone is encouraged to go to their events whereas we have to struggle just to get an announcement made that we placed 15th at drexel. Our last president really liked the team and was going to support us, but she was only president for 4 months. We work out of a section of the convent basement and have to beg for use of the gym for one weekend.

[rees2001]

340 is both a club and a team. For the "off-season" months we meet weekly as a club after school & sometimes on weekends. During the season & at competitions we are a team. What does this really mean, nothing. Our school does not put much emphasis on team letters or jackets.

The school gives us work space, and freedom & support to do what we do.
2 years ago they built a MST (math, science, technology) wing on the school that is really just Tech & Robotics.
Currently the school pays 2 teachers to run the team. Next year & beyond it will be 3 teachers.
We have been recognized at sports pep rallies.
Our team has gotten more press in the school news letters and on the school website than any sports teams.
They host our team web site.
Our students get internship credit for their hours.
Our students are excused from classes to attend competitions.
In tough times the school has given us money(when we had no corporate sponsor or little sponsorship).
In good times we would never ask.
We don't try to go to multiple Regionals + Championship, we don't believe that is the point of the team.
When we need the school they support us, when we don't need them they support us even more.
These are tough times for education budgets, we believe it is better to just not ask unless we need to.
Over the past 6 years we have built a successful relationship with our school district.

I have left out a ton of what goes on around here I just don't have the time.

[Rosiebotboss]

We are only a "club". This makes it so that the BOE can give tons of money to the sports "teams" for equipment, and make us go find all our own money. Our BOE would rather give each football player a new set of pads every time the UPS truck comes (sarcastic to prove a point) then to help kids excel in math and science.....I guess.....

Team or club... In Massachusetts it makes a difference.

Sports teams are governed under a completely different set of rules. Sports come under the MIAA, Mass Interscholastic Athletic Assn., a statewide governing body. Funding is seperate from scholastics and has certain minimums. Schools have to hire a coach, have to supply minimum amt. of equipment, etc. I admit, I do not know all the rules regarding sports. But as a club, the HS does not have to supply funding except a stipend for the Staff Advisor.

We did put in for a line item in FY2006 budget to cover registration for next year. It got cut for reasons I will not get into publicly. But Rosie found a friend on the School Board and the $6k is restored.

My point is, keep plugging away. You have seen our pit displays. It took a LOT of work to do what we have done. Put robotics in the High School cirriculum, get a patent for an invention, keep kids in school and turn on female students to engineering. That' s how we did it. Do the right things and you will get the recognition and the funding.

[shyra1353]

I don't know if our school considers us a team or a club because it doesn't really make a difference in terms of funding.

However, last year on my old team, we received a great deal of funding by the school. And by great deal, I mean registration fee less $2000 (CDN). In order to obtain this though, I presented a business proposal explaining our team, what we did, what we needed the money for, how we planned to pay it back, etc. It turned out we paid back some of the money, but not all of it, which was okay with the principal as this had been a topic of discussion earlier.

I know this probably won't help you in becoming a team instead of a club, but if you would like to take a look at the proposal, email or pm me and I would be happy to find a soft copy of it somewhere to email to you.

Hope this helps

-- Shyra

[xzvrw2]

i consider it robotics teams. i say that because every has to team together to make that robot and everything else (chairmans and scouting) work.

[Mirza95vx]

Originally posted by rees2001
340 is both a club and a team. For the "off-season" months we meet weekly as a club after school & sometimes on weekends. During the season & at competitions we are a team. What does this really mean, nothing. Our school does not put much emphasis on team letters or jackets.The school gives us work space, and freedom & support to do what we do.
2 years ago they built a MST (math, science, technology) wing on the school that is really just Tech & Robotics.
Currently the school pays 2 teachers to run the team. Next year & beyond it will be 3 teachers.
We have been recognized at sports pep rallies.
Our team has gotten more press in the school news letters and on the school website than any sports teams.
They host our team web site.
Our students get internship credit for their hours.
Our students are excused from classes to attend competitions.
In tough times the school has given us money(when we had no corporate sponsor or little sponsorship).
In good times we would never ask.
We don't try to go to multiple Regionals + Championship, we don't believe that is the point of the team.
When we need the school they support us, when we don't need them they support us even more.
These are tough times for education budgets, we believe it is better to just not ask unless we need to.
Over the past 6 years we have built a successful relationship with our school district.

I have left out a ton of what goes on around here I just don't have the time.

Thats great someone mentioned to me that you guys were one of the teams from the Rochester area that is considered a team. This is our rookie year so we don't have much of a relationship with our School Board.

Do you by any chance know how you guys became a team and what process you had to go through to be recognized as a team.

[tiffany34990]

it's basically up to the school...we are tech. regarded as a club but we consider ourselves a team

[Keith Chester]

It took several years of hard work to get our school to recognize our group as a team, complete with naming our adviser the head coach of said team and getting him an assistant coach (with small bonuses in their pay). While they're still football oriented, we're beginning to turn their hearts away from the pigskin.

In order to be recognized as a team you must present yourselves as one. Our team presented itself as a team, with proud members wearing their ridiculous shirts throughout the halls, our long hours of hard work, staying far later during the build season than any football team did for any practices. We always carried ourselves as calm and collected, just as a true team would.

Then again, I see 25 as more a family than a team.

Don't worry. I've seen many school boards be resistant to the idea of a robotics team, and it's not because they're afraid of change or simply don't like the team- it's that they don't get it. They don't understand the time we must put into each bot for it to operate, the work and stress we endure to ensure we make each match.

The difference between a robotics "club" and a robotics "team" can be described in one particular moment this year at South Carolina. We came off the field, rushing the bot back to the pits. While we were victorious on the field, it was not without cost- the wire that runs our telescoping mast had been entangled in the bot's innards. The proper fix would take 10 minutes to 20 minutes. Unfortunately, we had a match in 3 minutes. Without a word the pit crew descended on the bot, each member taking care of each part with a flow and speed that would make nascar pit crews envious. Without words being traded amongst each pit member, each piece of the robot was checked and rechecked as repairs went on, tools being traded between hands only with monosyllabic phrases. It was as if the pit crew was one being, one entity, swallowing the bot whole to produce the fixed version. We made the next match before our opponents did, with a completely fixed robot.

That is the work of a team.

[Alaina]

The funny thing is, my school doesn't have any teams at all.
So, we're definitely considered to be merely a club who takes a lot of field trips. Even our advisor calls it a club, still. :(
I would really like to be the first official team at my school, but I don't see it happening no matter how much we beg. There's just not enough room in my school's budget to add us in...

[Goobergunch]

Although we consider ourselves a team, officially we're an "activity", just like the Malvern Theater Society or the Blackfriar Chronicle (school newspaper). Trying to get our school to recognize us as a team would probably first involve getting our school to recognize us much beyond the money the Malvern Father's Club gives us, which was just enough to buy a drill press and a tablesaw this year. Given that everybody started shouting "battlebots" when I mentioned FIRST robotics in economics class the other day (long story), I think we need to increase recognition of who we are before we could be recognized as a team.

[JakeGallagher]

We're in kind of a unique position as far as I can tell...
Our school considers us a team for everything that could hinder us, like when it comes to being on the team based on grades (usually not a problem, except near competition time when most of our seniors are in AP classes and start neglecting their homework for sleep after FIRST lets out), when we are going to competitions, the entire team has to go on a bus, so we have a really hard time getting our tools to and from the venue, and when ever we have to do anything that a "team" does for team unity, we're considered a team. That's because we're called a team.
As for anything else that "teams" at my school get, we're officially a club. Examples: school funding, being able to hang our banners in the gym, putting our trophies in the trophy case, and getting a second bus for the team's fans (all three of them, since the school openly disapproves of all FIRST related propaganda, but that's a totally different story) to go to the competition with us.
So to our school, when you ask if the FIRST team is really a team or a club, it depends on the context. If you're talking about getting anything from the school, we're a club, and we have to be self sufficient. If you mean when the school wants to limit us as much as possible, we're a team...and we're treated as such.
A pessimistic view of our situation, but a very real one.

[dmurdz]

We are a team at school.

When we won the Chesapeake, we were the first team to win a championship since 2001 at our school.

[Laura 1547]

They announce us as the Robotics team during announcements so ya...I guess we're a team!

[False Illusion]

For our school, I don't think it makes that much difference either, though they probably consider us more of a club then a team. We have to fund ourselves, so we don't get money from our school itself, and the BOE just approves us going to the competitions and such. I consider ourselves a team though.

[1086Programmer]

Robotics is a team. Although we're regarded as a club at DRHS, I am a firm believer that Robotics is a team. For all the time the teams put into their Robots and the competitions, I think Robotics teams at school should be more important and supported than any sports team.

But that's just me, and I don't play sports. You prolly can tell. XD

[Termite233]

they always call us the Robotics Club...which upsets many kids on the team including me. we are a team. we work and we compete just like other teams. but the school doesnt seem to care. they give us no funding. we get excused absences for trips only. we can't leave school early and it be excused during build season (at my school. at the other school on our team they can because they have a robotics class last period...) it really bothers a lot of the kids. when we got back from the denver regional, they still havent announced that we went l;et alone winning the regional or getting the chairmans...so they dont really care about us...we dont have a trophy case or anything at our school or anything that even shows we exist so they definitely consider us a club. our picture in the yearbook is about 1-2 inches. they athletics each get a full page...not fair but c'est la vie. one must not create too much havoc at one time. we'll just be content being unrecognized until we do something great(an in FIRST, everything is great). then people can say they knew us back then...i think i strayed from the topic...oops :o

[mtaman02]

I know of one School on Staten Island that is like team 341 and I have to hand it to them they have come a long way to be considered a team


1) A Total make over of the Robotics Room from a prior Machine shop design. (The room is now broken into 3 categories)
a: The Classroom - which holds work benches and computers & television set for the newly instituted robotics class which if im not mistaken seperate from the team.
b: The Field - which proudly displays previous years robots and 1/2 of the playing field surface (the carpet and tables for the various sets of controllers for the robots)
c: The Machineshop - which is an enclosed area with proper safety equipment in place (Fire extinguishers, Fire Alarms, Emergency Cut Off Breakers, FIRST Aid Kits) for the purposes of making and building a robot safely

2) A Robotics Class which teaches kids who are interested in robotics to learn the basics before joining the team as well as many other useful things which includes weekly projects with a small kit of parts to complete and test the project successfully.

3) Still fighting for Decent sponsorship

4) While the BOE is supportive of the team the school itself really doesn't shed to much light on the team.

5) Robotics has a spending account but i think its in general and not for the team or the class. mainly for tooling supplies


and probably alot more that hasn't been listed

[EricH]

330 is regarded as a team not only by the students on the team, but by the administration and the entire student body. Two minor details: 1) we are a small school and 2) we are the only team the school has. I don't know how much that helps. We can get classes cancelled just because we have a competition (usually because half that class or more is on the team).

[unapiedra]

330 is regarded as a team not only by the students on the team, but by the administration and the entire student body. Two minor details: 1) we are a small school and 2) we are the only team the school has. I don't know how much that helps. We can get classes cancelled just because we have a competition (usually because half that class or more is on the team).

Two questions: How many students has your school and how many are on your team?

[rees2001]

Two questions: How many students has your school and how many are on your team?

Our High School (10-12) has about 1200 students.

Our club which ran in the fall had over 60 students. We used that time to let the kids figure out if they wanted to stay with the team. By the time the "season" started we had only 48. I managed to keep them all busy working and learning the whole time.

[Sakura141]

At our school I believe we're considered a Team because we're on the athletic grade list on needing a C- or higher to participate. Teachers and Students at our school think that we don't seserve to be considered a team or a club because what we do is stupid... I don't see our football team winning a state title while our team wins a regional.

[PeterSugus]

At our school the "robotics society" still a brand new organization, occupies some kind in-between status. We don't need a particluar GPA or anything to qualify, and naturally we are open to everyone, like a club. Yet the school has been VERY generous in outfitting us for our rookie year with funding, tools and a place to set up shop. That is partly due to the marketing abilites of our head coach (Thank you Dale!) and the good history he already has with the school after establishing FLL :] a few years ago. In this way we were lucky and avoided the challenges many rookie teams face getting equipment and funding for their rookie year. For now, this team/club staus works fine for us.

[Ethulin]

At our school:

My club/team members: a team
by the rest of the school: A club

I guese it does not help to have club in the name of the club/team...

[Ashley Christine]

Well, I call it a team. And I think that it shud be considered a team. Alot of teamwork is involved.

I havent payed much attention to how my school feels about it. But I hope they see it as more than a club!

[Nowhere Matt]

i'm pretty sure we're considered a club since it seems like everything not sports is not team, plus we call our selves club sandwich, for the pun factor, still our school is called sandwich secondary

[mhayon]

I made a speech at our school's pep rally on behalf of Team 1676.

[krunch79prez]

Team 79 is definitely considered a team. Clubs usually dont go out and compete. LOL!!!

[stevek]

We are a TEAM and a few years ago we got official School Recognition for Captains and LETTERING with the Typical Sports Criteria- 2-Years as a Varsity Contributor. We don't have a JV but I guess we look at basic contribution to any area of our team's functions.

[Not2B]

I asked the students...

-Lighting Robotics is offically a club
-They can get out of class for comps
-They can (finally) get letters in robotics
-At CLUB night their school sign said Robotics TEAM
-There is no grade requirements (although I tell the students and parents to use some common sense.)
-They are supported like a club

-And finally, the students told me they don't want to be a team, because then they would fall under the athletic department - and they want to avoid that mass of red tape.

By the way, can you consider yourselves a robotics family?