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Re: Texas Registration 2014
Great discussion here, very thought provoking and informative.
-----Warning - long post here ----- Michael, I like some of the ideas you have proposed to be district wide teams rather than multiple teams within a school district to start off. Growth within the school district can promote new teams and support for each other. Michael, I believe that a staggered support system would be something to consider. I believe that Kansas had something similar to this a few years back. 1st year - $15000 grant to start, 2nd year - $10000 grant but must raise $5000, 3rd year - $5000 grant but must raise $10000. Next year on your own. I believe this stagger system allows a team to grow but also to be able know that have support over the first three years. I am from a small town in West Texas. We had several small schools in a county in the Eastern panhandle. Having multiple schools in this situation work together would be tough and would include a large amount of travel for teams and students just to work each day. Many of the kids at these schools are already involved in multiple activities at their schools and adding just one more activity, no matter how important, is very tough. I do not believe that many teams are moving back to BEST from FRC. In fact here in central Texas, we have seen more teams move away from BEST and focus more on offseason projects or mentoring other teams. Our program, FRC 2468, at Westlake High School started after visiting successful schools in California - Palo Alto (The Vikings - 8, Gunn (GRT -192), High Tech High (Holy Cows - 1538) and Poway (Team Spyder - 1622), we came home and started our program. Little did I know I was visited such powerful and successful programs. What I did come away from California was that each state is different in education and funding. A few others and I had a conversation with a representatives from National Instruments and FIRST robotics the year that the Texas Workforce Commission grant was announced. One topic that was discussed was how to sustain veteran teams and the fact that the grant did not support veteran teams in anyway. Veterans were going to be expected to support the new rookies while at the same time trying to sustain themselves. Many teams who were just in their second or third year were going to be asked to support rookie teams who were getting grants. These veteran teams were still trying to find a way to maintain themselves. The grant has continued to become even more restrictive over the years. District events are two days rather than three days. As a coach, I find the district model much better and more bang for your buck which school district administrations will be interested in. So $5000 for 8-10 matches if you do not make the eliminations or 24 matches without eliminations. Even better is you get a work window on your robot in your home shop the week of each district event you attend, so at least 10 more matches and 2 more work days to improve your robot. That in my opinion will make it more enticing for rookie teams to want to come back after their first year. I also believe that this is a great selling point for schools. If you consider the cost per match, it is much easier to see the benefit. So if you consider the cost of the year is $12,000 per year. Lets say a team gets 9 matches in a regional (usually what we get at Alamo) - the cost per match is $555 per match. Only one day of improvement and it is at the tournament during practice matches. Now, lets say a team gets 24 matches in two districts - the cost per match is $208 per match. The team also gets the chance to improve their robot the week of their first tournament, work on it while at the tournament and then get another 8 hours of work time in their home shop. I am a believer that the second tournament will be a much better experience for a rookie team or inexperienced team. I see several responses here about not qualifying for Championships thru one district tournament. Many teams are not realistically going to get a chance to qualify for Championships on one tournament anyway. I am a big believer in FRC but I do not think that it is the answer for each school district to have an FRC team. I think it is feasible for any school anywhere to a FTC team - cost wise, budget wise and technical skills wise. BTW, I went to a high school that did not have football or band. There are more than you think. As Jess says, football has been around for a long time. FRC has made strides and will continue to do so. I do not believe in comparing us to athletics and I am ex coach. I also do not believe in comparing to other states. I believe we should strive to see growth within out state and work toward that. |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
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What I really love is that you get into stating specifics that are very real and doable for new teams. --Michael |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
Michael,
The numbers might not be correct but it is a plan to begin to look at. I think that rookies should have some skin in the game at first. So maybe a $2000 raise by them in the first year. Norman |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
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It also helps that all teams in the Kansas City area have a local tournament to attend. Travel expenses are huge. In 2007 (our rookie year) the Foundation gave us an extra $3000 to not go to Kansas City because they were concerned it would fill up with all the new teams coming onboard. We ended up in St. Louis which was a stacked event that year. We learned alot of humbling and inspiring lessons from some of the very best teams in FIRST. We learned not to depend on corporate sponsorships as we transitioned from grant funds to a more self sustaining model. The depreciating grant funds forced this mindset. We started running a couple of summer camps featuring FLL and VEX robots after the 2008 season for elementary and jr. high students. We've continued to add more camps each year, maxing out at 7 different day camps in a summer, usually 2 a day (morning and afternoon). Most of the camps have huge attendance numbers. We also run an annual science carnival where team members each design an interactive science booth. A small entrance fee and a huge turnout nets a couple grand in a single evening. Most students get their travel expenses covered by the team by participating in our fundraisers, and those that don't participate have to come up with those funds on their own. We still seek out grants and corporate donations wherever we can find them, but diversification in funding sources has been key to sustainability. |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
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Great information on the camps and the interactive science demo activity Sounds like that would be a blast to attend. When do you hold it? and Where? Thanks Norman |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
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Still - contacting superintendents is a good idea. And surely they have yearly regional or state-wide meetings where one could make a presentation. I think the loss of so many teams is kind of a perfect storm. Texas started large numbers of rookies teams in a single year. Two years afterwards all school districts budgets were cut significantly when the economy crashed. Then JC Penny had a change in leadership that hurt many team budgets. Maybe some transitioned to BEST. I know many had poor teacher/mentor support (because I help to run the quick build in Dallas each year). At some point it is just statistics that good ole fashioned foot work might lower. How about a canvas to find out why the teams failed followed by target programs (help from FIRST, formal mentor-ships with veteran teams etc) to mitigate the top two causes of failure? My money is on sporadic support (personnel and dollars) from the school districts and little effort building a fund-raising infrastructure. |
Re: Texas Registration 2014
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Parents are grilling hamburgers and hotdogs to go along with the chips and canned soda dinner package. Students get entrance to all the activities and dinner for $10. Parents enter for free and can purchase dinner for an additional $5. Several silent auction and raffle items have been donated for parents to bid on as well. Science Carnival Events include
Our team members spend weeks planning their booths and making sure they understand how to explain the science they are demonstrating in kid friendly terms. They prep the area from noon until the event starts at 5:30. Event ends at 8:30. Incidently there is no school that day (teacher inservices). Kids look forward to it each year, and parents do too. Sometimes a corporation or philanthropic organization will match a fundraiser dollar for dollar up to some limit. We don't find a sponsor every year who will do that, but have found this to be the perfect activity for that kind of thing when it works out. PS. We've found that we can raise funds and promote STEM at the same time. It's also a whole lot more fun than traditional fund raisers. |
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