possible team merger
 

Hello all...

This past week our teams lead teacher held a team meeting (team 1610 Franklin,Va.) to discuss the present and future status of our team.
One of the reasons for this meeting was an offer from the local community
college here.

Our local community college has offered to provide work space,a practice area and class room space and $35,000 towards the team.
The catch....they would like to see us merge with other area teams.
One other team is concidering this (team 616 from southampton co. Va.)

Some on that team want a merger,some not. Our team voted to merge.
In our area there are only so many resources available for both teams.
Some members of both teams know each other very well. We even have a mentor on our team that has been on both.

I'm guessing that if we do merge there will be an entirely new team and that all of us will be rookies again. There will be many,many details to work out.

What other teams have merged and how many schools were involved?
How has this worked out for the teams involved? We need your feedback.

Re: possible team merger
 

Good luck with the merger, no matter what happens.
I can tell you that you won't be rookies again though. We have two teams in Eastern PA working on a merger. Since they are still working out the details, I won't post numbers publicly. However, this is the official response from the head of regional operations we received in Philly about this very scenario:

"Any two teams combining together can choose to use only one of their team numbers. However, that number belongs to the school that formed that team, and while they can then add the other school to it, should any thing happen and they want to separate at some time then the number stays with the first school.
For example:
Team 1234 from Myschool, and team 5678 from Technical Academy can combine to form either:
Team 1234 from Myschool and Technical Academy, or
Team 5678 from Technical Academy and Myschool.

However, if they want to form a whole new team then they can ask for a new number. We would look for a 'retired' number that has not been used for say 5 years. In no case are they a rookie team, and we would not give them a rookie number."

Please have your leadership contact FIRST directly about this as soon as your decision is made.

Re: possible team merger
 

Good luck. I think you'll find that being in a merger has both certian advantages and disadvantages but no matter what i can tell you that if you do do a merger it will be a completely different experience then what your used to! Agian the best of luck.

Re: possible team merger
 

Good luck with this. Team 75, the Robo Raiders was kind enough to let us merge with them temporarily in the 2003 season. We (1403) had a hard time getting started and the roboraiders stepped in to give us assistance. We are very grateful to have had their help because with it, we were able to understand the concept of FIRST. We benefited from the experiences of others in order to create a successful season for ourselves in 2004. The merger has its benefits, it is hard to deal with at first but just hang in their b/c soon enough you will see the positive. Touche with the GP FIRST....... :cool:


GO 1403 and 75!!!

Re: possible team merger
 

Folks:

Obviously, there is joy and some heartache with a team merge. Sustainability is the positive. A chance to meet new students and gain new friends is a positive. Leaving old team identities may be a heartache.

However, one big positive is that a sponsoring organization is willing to provide funds and space for this program. Terrific!

I don't know if it would help, but KathieK, JudyVandy, and I presented a session at the FIRST Robotics Conference in Atlanta in April on Multi-school teams. Perhaps some of the info in this presentation would be helpful.

Here is the link.

http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/2005...sentations.htm

The presentation is under LAROCK "Managing a Multiple High School FIRST Team." It was a collaborative effort between Teams 365, 173, and 84.

Good luck!

Re: possible team merger
 

Good luck with the merger.

We have taken the opposite approach from the beginning of our team formation. We started out as team 217, Royal Fusion in 1999. It included all schools from Macomb County (Macomb Intermediate School District). Our entire concept was to spin off teams. The first team to spin off was L'anse Cruise (spelling?) High school in 2000. We then spun of team 818 from Warren Consolidated School District (another multi school team ) as they gained sponsorship from GM. Since 2002, no other teams have been spun off, but we remain a multi school team. We have four high schools all from the Utica Community School District. While other districts in our area (Pontiac, to name one) have each high school with their own team, we decided to not break up the ThunderChickens into the individual high schools.

I can tell you that the advantages of having a multi school team out weigh the disadvantages by a lot. You will become a better team as a merged entity.

-Paul

Re: possible team merger
 

Being a former member of one of the merging teams, I'll add my two cents.

PRO: More people with ideas, better of the best, more resources ($), more community involvement, etc. (Since I'm at the community college, i can help mentor two teams for the price of one.)

con: BAD Timing. This would have been something to do over the summer.
Transit, location might night be condusive to the schedule that's running

Summer might have been the time to do this.

That's all for now.

Re: possible team merger
 

Suffield and Windsor Locks CT merged into one team about 8 years ago and we all like it very much! It wasnt exactly a hard thing to do, but I think you will be fine w/ the merge. You all know what is expected, so it should be no problem!

Re: possible team merger
 

I read once that if a team retires its number for a year that number loses veteran status. In this case, if both the teams were to form one team under 5678, what would happen if they seperated in the future? would 1234 be able to retrieve their old number? if they took on a new/used (retired) number like 123, if they were to separate in the future would both schools return to their old numbers?

Re: possible team merger
 

We are headed in the opposite direction. After 8 years as team 64, the two schools have seperated and formed two new teams. Highland High School is now team #39. We were told that we were given a team number from the sequence that was used when team 64 originally joined FIRST. I do not know if there was ever a team 39. We are looking forward to seeing all our old friends this year. It is possible that we might "slip up" and do the Gila Dance every now and then. Old habits die hard!

Ken

Re: possible team merger
 

Old numbers can be retrieved if it's not in use

Re: possible team merger
 

Being an alumni of 616 as well as a mentor/sponsor of both teams, I'll throw my ideas into the mix.

When it comes to my business-oriented brain, I say it's a grand idea, and they should go forward with the plan as soon as possible.

As for my old-style nostalgic heart, I hate to see the team I was a part of creating lose it's identity for money.

I'm torn about the merger and sitting on the edge of my preverbial seat (I'm on a bed) waiting to see what Ms Lowe and 616 decide.

As for the rumor mill about other people pulling support and funding from one team or the other because of the merger, I say if it's true, they are bad people that are holding politics above the education of our youth. If not, then whoever is making it up, ought to cut it out.

Me on the other hand, weather I'm mentoring/sponsoring one team or two this year, I'll be there as much as I can, and do whatever I can for the students.

Good Luck with the merger, guys. Keep in touch.

Matt

Re: possible team merger
 

Hi 2 all.

I am from team 1610. I think the merger is a good idea. But I also see where the people who don't want to merge are coming from.

I have heard a lot about the team number and in my opinion, even if we will not become a rookie team we should have a new number because if one of the schools number is used then it wouldn't be fair to the other team. It would be more like one team joining the other, not a merger where the two teams come together equally.

Hopefully things will go as smoothly and all of the detail will be worked out soon.

Tiffany~

Re: possible team merger
 

We started as a merged team. Two schools from opposite corners of the same school district joined forces. The schools between us chose not to participate. (although two did enter competition for a time as a single team but are now doing Battlebots IQ)