WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

WHEN YOU HAVE A LARGE FIRST TEAM AND EVERYONE WANTS TO GO TO NATIONALS AND YOU HAVE LIMITED FUNDS HOW DO YOU CHOSE WHO GOES? WE HAVE THIS DILEMMA. IT WOULD BE GREAT TO TAKE EVERYONE BUT THE FUNDS ARE NOT THERE. :confused:

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Well, you could always try doing fundraising in the school, doing little things. Candy sales are great for profit.
If not, and there's no other way to get funding, you can take the core group first. And if any other people who are maybe new and want to go and have earned their way to going, I'd recommend taking them also. It all depends on the people and if they work for it.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

On our team, for all competitions we go to, the team pays for part of the trip and requires students to pay a certain amount for the trip. It makes the trip affordable for the students, and limits the amount that the team has to spend on taking students.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We use a star chart with required tasks that our students have to accomplish in order to qualify to go. Right now we have 34 kids and can only take 30 so we're going to have 4 disappionted kids (we also can only take 15 adults but we don't use a star chart for them).

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Can you make it affordable to have everyone pay?, or can your team raise some money to offset some of the cost in the approximate 5 months? You could at last resort just start limiting people via performance/attendance.

p.s. Please turn off the caps lock when posting.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

I would start out with team members you need, as in drivers, one or two people who are very good at repairs of all the robot parts, and any other essentials.
Next I would probably give favor to seniors who haven't been to the nationals, and if I had extra tickets either raffle them between the remainding people or distribute them by work effort.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

During 2004 we couldn't afford to pay for everyone's plane ticket/hotel/etc.... for nationals. Basically what we did was ask the student to pay the necessary funds to travel and stay at Atlanta. For those who really wanted to go to nationals and couldn't pay the cost to travel, we used the team's funds.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

1. Caps Lock...off.
2. We usually send the students that participate the most, through their attendance and actions. Extra points for spirited members as well.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

I remember from our team every year for every event we had to pay at least half of everything which included room, plane ticket, and usually buy our own food (except for the team dinners). Others have posted good suggestions but another option could be to partition the funds among those that you are sure will be usefull to take and have them pay some portion of it.

Who goes to nationals?
 

116 deals with this in several ways. This year they are going to nationals and VCU. VCU is about a two-two and a half hour drive from home. For VCU, the flight and pit crews (10 students) go down Wensday night and stay through Saturday. The rest of the team, usually a full school bus load, will go down Friday morning at about 6am, then spend the night and leave Saturday evening. That cuts out two nights of hotel rooms for ~25 students and chaparones, as well as the headaches involved in a two day longer trip - missed school, more chaparones, more time to get into mischif. There is also a $25 deposit to goto Richmond. It offsets the money going out a little, as well as an incentive to show up.

For nationals, most of the team will likely go after school on Thursday and return Sunday. There is a $100 deposit, and will likely be another $150 per student, for a total of $250 for the trip. This is about what it has cost the students for the past few years.

Our funding is such that the team can cover a large amount of the travel cost, but not all of it and the student needs to come up with the rest. Adults serving as offical school trip chaparones do not pay anything. Mentors pay the student rate, and other adults going as guests, such as parents/spouses, pay the full cost.


Wetzel

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Last year 571 was not planning on going to nationals at all but when the opportunity arose, we realized that we wanted to go but didn't really have the funding for it. We went to our sponsors and some of them volunteered a little boost in funding because of our success. We also had each student pay about $300 to go.

At first we were not sure if everyone would be able to go because of funding. We added up the money on the last few days, and it turned out everyone who could go went, but before then all of the seniors were going, along with the most active juniors. We should have based the decision on who should go more on activity level instead of what grade members are in, but everyone got to go for us, so it turned out alright. For your team I would recommend you take: Drivers, repair people, any active builders, then perhaps a few scouters, but mainly those who have helped on the team in other aspects, such as animation, programming, or website design.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Anyone who is willing to put up the money on our team. The "core members" are obviously the ones that you absolutely need, but everyone deserves the right to go to the competition providing they were dedicated during the build season, so the team pays part of it, and we(the students) pay part of it.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

I am on WildStang Team 111 and we have a class that is around 70 members so we cannot take everyone.

The teachers and Mentors from Motorola select a group of people (around 25-30) to go to nationals yearly.

Everyone goes to our hometown Midwest Regional and a small crew of about 10 students went to the Great Lakes Regional in the past year.

I always saw Nationals as a reward for a job well done and I always worked my hardest so I could participate.

As for funds... We do a bunch of fundraisers, right now we are selling Fannie May Candy. We also sell Entertainment books, have a huge raffle, and partner with local commiunities to get part of their earnings given to us. (for example Roly Poly Sandwiches is donation 15% of their profits from this Thurday Night's sales) We also get help from our sponser (Motorola Inc.) and School Dist. 214.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

well right now we have 41 veterans and about 30 something rookie-- and we can't travel with all of them to any competition

to determine who travels we have rules-- right now all paper work must be in, grades checked during the spring, you have to raise a certain amount of money to go to a competition , then another amount for 2 competitions and if we go to national then another amount to go to all three competitions and you have to go to 1/2 of the car washes, so right now we had three car washes you had to attend 2 out of three

it is very hard but we have 2 regionals to go to and hopefully nationals-- so we try to make sure that everyone can go to a regional

good luck to all this year in raising money and building :)

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Actually, last year we based it on a points system. There are so many meetings, and work days, and other activities that go on throughout the fall and build season. The students received a number of points for each activity they attended. Anyone wanting to go to competitions had to pay a deposit for their travel, but at the end of build season, we had 3 ranges of points. Highest points (to a certain break point) had travel pretty much paid for, middle bracket had half (or some amount) paid for, and lower bracket had to pay for themselves.

Also, we will not allow students to travel if they have any school grades below a C-, regardless of what points bracket they are in. So not everyone always gets to go.

We also have some fundraising that can get applied to a students "account", which can help them pay for some travel if needed.

Having it based on their activity level is a pretty good way to make travel decisions. If everyone is equally involved and interested with the program, then decisions can be tough. We do our best to have everyone go to the competitions with us because we think it's exciting and valuable for every student to attend. We don't like leaving anyone behind. But the manner in which they get there is not always the same.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Thanks for correcting me Amy.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We work hard to be sure everone who is eligible to attend can attend every event.

Students are required to attend 80% of the meetings, maintain a defined gpa, and be passing all classes at the time of the trip (teacher leaders make sure of this.). Students are also expected to get small sponsors. Anyone who is not contributing to the team during the build season is dealt with then, not before travel time.

I think it is important for everyone who was a part of the team to travel with the team. The trips are the real reward for the season and how a team comes together as a group. Rookie team members can learn so much from being at the events that it is worth a lot of extra effort to get them there. You never know which student will get the super inspiration!

Two years ago we qualified for the Championship after attending 2 regionals. The funds were very low to cover even a portion of the team traveling. We ended up asking each student to contribute a little more money (students have to pay a fee to be a part of the team) and everyone was able to go. We stayed at a cheaper hotel, rented vans, and did picnic lunches everyday. It was great to be there and have the whole team with us.

So - some ideas to get the team there -

More fundraising.
Stay at off-site hotels, especially suite hotels with 5 to a room and free breakfast.
Ask students to put in some (more) money.

:)

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We have a few ways of doing this. First, we have a system that tracks how many hours everyone's been at meetings. We use this to get a basis of how much they COULD have contributed, but it's not always that effective. This year, we're having each student write a list of what they've contributed to the team.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Also see this thread

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Everyone who we feel deserves to go, goes to the competitions. This is usually everybody, as those who don't care enough about the team usually aren't on it by the end of build season, by their own accord.

Of course, this costs a bit of money. Some of it is payed by the team, and the rest comes from the students. And, to cut down on costs, we use parents' vans and trucks to transport toolboxes and such to nearby regionals, and a bus for those that are further away (fond memories of the 16 hour bus ride to nationals).

The bus also doubles as a mobile lock-in before the competition.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

For Team 812 we also have a grading system and also requirements. The requirements are grades, 20 hours of FIRST community service, and to plan one FIRST community service event. As for the grading system, that actually has three components. It is based on a journal (measuring participation), attendance, and the a set of about 5 short answer questions on your contributions to the team. For Nationals, our goal is about 15 students every season with about 6 mentors. For Los Angeles regional, our mentors usually choose anyone that is above a certain point value, maybe 80 percent or so on the grading system.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Last year, we let anyone who put in at least 60 hours during build season go. This year, we're adding a stipulation that they have to also be involved in pre-season fundraising. It's pretty much at the discretion of mentors and team leaders; it's not hard to tell who deserves to go. Team members also have to donate $50 to go to the regional, and $300 for the championship.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

For us its all about who puts in alot of participation and whos really into the team like who shows dedication etc. For pit crew theres only 4 from the electrical sub team and 4 from mechanical sub team and 2 or 3 from softtware sub team. So the people that have been chosen to be on pitcrew go to all the competetions. but this year only 2 people from each subteam get chosen to go to the Purdue regional. so there taking about 8-10 students. For nationals were takin about 30 students i think.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We let anyone go who can afford it/wants to go. All the money comes out of the students/parents pocket ($150 for hotels, and $200 if they chose to fly, much less if they are car pooling). Our team simple doesn't have enough extra money from sponors to pay the cost of the trip.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

I feel badly for those 4 kids, if they are qualified. Maybe I misunderstood.
You have an amazing adult:kid ratio.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We have several requirements on 461;
1. $300 dollars of fundraising (most of the time, we just have parents pay for what we don't raise)
2. I think it is 80% attendence (which included PR events)
3. We have a clock-in/clock-out system that shows how many hours we have worked. This counts for advisors and high school students. more hours = dedication and dedication = traveling to nationals (and if we are lucky we get to go with the Tech crew) take a look at our times: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~cagnew/at...ce/ranking.php

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

How exactly does that work? Our team sure could use something similar to that for who attends what meetings and for how long, people like to come to a meeting, sign their name on the paper, stay for 5 minutes, then leave. :(

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

we havent had a problem where we couldnt aford to bring everyone who wanted to go but just in case we have a sign in book that you put down the time you started working, what you worked on and then when you left. we made this up just in case we could only send a few team members we would check the log and see who had the most time working. as i said we never had to do that but i guess it would be a fair way to determine who can go and who can't.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

We have a clock-in/clock-out system that shows how many hours we have worked too. it does not really work because no one really keeps track of the people. as was said before ppl clock in and leave and comeback later to clock out. But this year our team shrunk so its a little bit easier to know who was working and who was not. Also just cause they have the hours on the sheet does not mean they are actually doing anything. I find that it is not the time that counts as much as what you do during that time.

Basically we see how much the person has contributed. then we put together a tier system. and those who do the most pay the least. but every one does pay some green out of pocket. Usually the mentors pay their full way so that the students can go for less. We try to subsidize as much of the cost as possible while having some money in the bank left for next years regional entry fee.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

Everyone on our team gets to go. Unless there grades aren't at the requirement, other reasons.

Re: WHAT TEAM MEMBERS GO TO NATIONALS
 

we have a system of dealing with things like this

for funds, we sell tattoos, sell pizza at the Georgia Dome, car washes, and various other things to raise money. Every person who worked at those events are awarded "credits". Some people end up having enough credits to attend 2 regionals and championships at no cost.

When it is choosing time. Meeting attendance, amount of work effort, amount funded, and general behavior is all factored in and the selection begins.