Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Hello,

My name is Nickolas Crain. I am a current mentor with FRC Team 314 in Flint, MI. While on team 314, my senior and junior year I was very close to award submissions and awards process.

I am moving to Oklahoma for a new job I got with the civil service as a aircraft mechanic. My primary duties mentoring included CADD and Build. I am seeking a FRC team in the area that I could assist with.

I have also mentored several other teams in our area. A couple VEX, FTC, and FLL teams. I was in the military stationed in Abilene,TX mentoring FRC Team 3791.

Software experience: Inventor(6+ years), Solidworks(1+ years), AutoCAD(6+ years)

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Teams within 50 miles of Oklahoma City

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

That helps! I have a friend in OK City, and I want him to Join!

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on

Link to be able to search for Teams and events.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

I recently spent a year in southeast Kansas, and was very sad to see the lack of permeation of FIRST in the area. Luckily, OKC is one of the few oases in the vast dry central plains, and you'll have some options. Best of luck!

Also, consider this an open challenge to any FIRSTers in the center of the country to start evangelizing and expanding.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Also, just for general FIRST presence data, Team 1649 hosts an amazing tool called "Where In The World Is FIRST" at http://team1649.com/witwif/.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

I contacted Lightsaber Robotics here in OKC because they are sponsored by the Air Force base I'm working at now. But most of the teams in my area are home school teams which I find pretty cool considered in District 8 of Michigan I only saw FLL teams that were home school based.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

In my very short FIRST experience, the Lightsabers are probably the best organized group from top to bottom in central OK. They've expanded all the way down to Jr. FLL from FRC/FTC in the last year or two, and are very successful.

There are also a number of other teams that I am certain could use some CAD experience. Oklahoma has state-supported grants to help teams in public schools, so it is growing every year, but there is a lack of mentors in many of them, at least from what I have seen. PM me if you want other folks to contact.

I am still trying to figure this out, but there doesn't seem to be an organized group of teams in the OKC area that gets together regularly to do things like outreach. Individual groups probably do, but I'm an FLL coach and try to keep my ear to the ground about opportunities for my kids to get exposed to FTC/FRC so they can have that experience in the future, and I barely hear of anything outside of the FRC and FTC tournaments. And if I'm actively looking for those opportunities and can't find them, I'm pretty sure that the public-at-large isn't hearing about them. The FIRST events themselves are great, but there aren't too many other opportunities.

Some of our FLL and Jr. FLL teams (along with one FTC/FRC team) got together and showed off their robots and Nature's Fury projects for 5000 people at the National Weather Festival (pics), but that's the biggest thing I know about. We're trying! :)

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Lightsabers are an excellent team and the current reining OKC chairmans award winner. Their head coach Vincent has been involved with FRC since at least 2009 and has helped that team grow tremendously.
I know lots of teams around here are short on mentoring staff.
Let me know if you need anymore resources for the OKC area.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Our team does some sort of outreach at least every few months if not more. Let me know if some of your kids would be interested in coming to our events.

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

Hello Nick,

If you are ever in the Shawnee area, come by Gordon Cooper Tech Ctr (Hwy 18 and I-40) and check out the Sprockets Team2341. We are always looking for assistance with CAD. CAD has been our achilles heel in the past.

Have a great day,

David

Re: Looking for Teams in Oklahoma City
 

@SuperDave777

I can help with CAD if its a weak point for you guys. What kind of software are you using and how much does CAD affect your design/build process??