Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

Here in Oregon we have come together into what we call FIRST Force. 7 teams that share ideas and fund raise as a group. The Force goes to larger companies (HP in our case) and asks for support. It is great. The teams came together and did a scrimmage last spring in their parking lot for the employees. And this fall they made it happen...


Anywhere there is more than one team in an area this is the way to do it.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

My team, #95, gets students from 5 highschools plus homeschooled kids, we have about 18 kids in total, myself included, and 6 engineers, all from different companies. Job or school boundaries shouldn't mean anyhting in FIRST. As for funding... all of our funding was pulled, as well as our workspace. We had nothing as of June, but after asking around about who knows who in local companies, we scraped up $9.5k and workspace in a little under 2 months. Don't loose hope fellow FIRST teams, just rally together and work hard.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

Joseph - Do you know of any huge VA company that would be willing to help out multiple teams? (I was thinking Dominion VA Power.) With this being a rural area and already having sponsorship from the only large company around here it is hard to find other businesses or people willing to sponsor us even though we placed second at VCU this year. A rookie team starting less than 15 minutes away from us and FIRST raising entry fees didn't help either.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

Very interesting warning. In Northern Virginia, we experienced a similar problem where there are so many teams in such a concentrated area that fund raising was nearly impossible. We eventually had to turn to our own school as one of our main sources of fund raising. It's very hard in First populated cities to keep a team going. We almost did not make the entry fee this year and may have folded after one year. As far as I am concerned, I think that FIRST should regulate team formation. Even though spreading the program is a good thing, sometimes there are just too many teams in one area. Therefore, if a school wanted to start a new team in an already crowded area, FIRST would say no. While this seems to be hindering the creative potential of many students, that school should then seek to join in an alliance with another school and form a two school team. This would cuts down on the number of students not participating at all. FIRST should definitely consider a system like this.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

The quest for funding really can be a quest, and it is generally a required for Robotics in general. But I agree that there is a difference between a quest and mission impossible. Pretty soon, at an exponential growth rate, FIRST prices may end up being a significant portion of the American (and International, at that) Economy. In addition, there has been a recession, and although it is getting better, it is doing that at a VERY SLOW pace. This takes away profits that could otherwise go to teams. It is very sad that this is happening, because teams suffer and fold because of it. I think it is time for massive government funding of the FIRST program, to rescue teams like 384 that are really suffering. I agree that this is one (although the ONLY) downside of FIRST.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

384 is not suffering by any measure, but many local teams are. Just want to clarify that.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

I think they are funding us already through something known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

So, what are other teams that didn't make it doing this year?

I think we'll be having some sort of para-FIRST comp, and working on 3ds max.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

Team 1541 had a great season, we loved every minute of it. We are from Midlothian High School, and I feel that starting a team here was a great move for us. We exposed the FIRST program to a whole new audience, myself included, who would not have gotten into it had it not been for the new team. We worked really hard to fundraise, we had a massive aluminum can drive and brought in close to 3000 pounds worth of cans. We also got a good amount of sponsors, mostly through parents and friends. Basically, all I'm saying is FIRST has definately changed my life, and if my school hadn't started a team I would never have been a part of it.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

I guess we are lucky at George Washington High School in Danville. I first started looking into FIRST in the mid 90's but knew funding would be an issue for this area at that time. As time has passed and things evolved I was approached by the Superintendent and Director of Gifted Resources to do an enrichment program after school dealing with robotics and knew that FIRST was the ticket. We have had a great build season and look forward to VCU. Our team is mentored by 5 teachers and the Work Services Coordinator from the school. We have not gotten any outside help or sought any outside funding. The district officials seem to be very excited about what we have done and the effect it has had on these students. If all School Districts would or could help in this way it would be great and take the pressure off outside funding sources when times are tight.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

As I read through this thread it occurred to me. This is like a business that has only one customer. When that one customer stops buying, the company folds. Answer to the problem, get more customers. Some teams are very lucky to have a single sponsor that can meet their fincial needs. The problem comes when that sponsor can't continue to support them; the team folds. The answer is get more sponsors. For a team or business to have a long range future it needs to have a broad support base. All the money doesn't have to 9in fact shouldn't) come from one place. Get out and beat the pavement a little and you'll find that there are a lot of smaller companies willing to pick up part of the bill. Build a relationship with your community. Show them that in order to have technically capable people to fill their jobs they need to be supporting organizations like FIRST. Don't take this as bragging but during robot season we get the community involved. Many of the local businesses post "Go Robotics Team 343" on billboards outside their place of business. Places like McDonnalds, the Local Auto Parts Store. The Boat Dealer, etc. Our team is not sponsored by a single company it is sponsored by what we call "The Oconee County Business Partnership". Sure it's more work but if your goal is to have the team live on then just like in business you need to work to diversify you income base.

Re: A FIRST Warning From VA
 

As nukemknight said, their is a new team 15 mins away. That's the Franklin team I sponsor. nukemknight is from team 616, in Courtland. 616 didn't participate this year because of a lot of complicated politics that I don't feel like explaining... but part of the problem was corporate funds in the area.

The big business around here is small potatoes compared to some of the other localities that other teams are in. With the creation of the Franklin team, the available funds were cut in half and both teams suffered last year. This year the teams wanted to merge together in order to put the corporate funds together and push their team forward. This failed due to the politics I spoke about earlier and 616 is the one that noticeably suffered. Not to say that 1610 didn't suffer. They lost the mentors that 616 was bringing to the table as well as the additional students to assist in the work load and the experience with FIRST that came with them.

I believe that every high school ought to be involved in FIRST, that's not to say they have to have their own team. If you're team finds itself close to another team, you ought to work together toward the common goal. Which isn't winning, it's learning. Hopefully the school boards in this neck of the woods will learn that before next year's season.

How to cut a CAKE
 

How to cut a cake in Robotics...

First, get the cake

Second, get the saws all

Third, you cut the cake with the saws all.... And the cake pieces go flying :yikes:

Hahah, Team 1730 has so much fun :D

Attachment 13107

Re: How many Richmond area teams ????
 

So this thread was resurrected by fluke but I think it could serve as a learning tool for teams looking at sustainability. The thread is from 2005 but we are still facing these problems. Of these teams here is where they stand 7 years later (I took the team list from 2012 as some teams may not have registered yet). Green means they are still around Red means they did not register in 2012. If you are an alumni of some of these teams and it turns out you just merged please let the CD community know how that went.

346 L.C. Bird - Chesterfield
384 Tucker - Richmond
405 Richmond Community High School & Richmond Public School & Richmond Community High School
414 Hermitage Tech. Center - Richmond
416 Armstrong - Richmond Now 3709
422 Maggie Walker - Richmond
539 Trinity - Richmond
540 VCU/Henrico Education Foundation - Richmond
638 Clover Hill - Midlothian
975 James River - Midlothian
1033 - Benedictine - Richmond
1086 -
1093 Collegiate - Richmond
1172 Richmond Tech Center - Richmond
1222 ???
1467 Home School Robotice - Chesterfield
1522 Hanover High - Mechanicsville
1530 Thomas Jefferson - Richmond Now 2998
1541 Midlothian High - Midlothian
1545 Freeman High - Richmond
1599 Atlee - Mechanicsville

Nearly 50% of these teams no longer exist in the same form that they did in 2005. Two have created new teams in the past 4 years. Let's not let that happen in the future. Pay attention to sustainability and make sure you guys all have a rainy day plan Ed Baker posted a link in this thread to a presentation that was adapted from 234's at Worlds.

Re: How many Richmond area teams ????
 

I added an old team, and added some information