How was your batch of newbies?
 

How sucessful was your recruiting this year? Our team recruiting success is highly variable. Last year we got tons of newbies (myself included), many of whom quit or haven't shown up much this year. This year, we got a handful of newbies (~5), who mostly ended up in PR or animation, so we are a bit short of wrenches. (The mechanical/engineering student total is about four, myself, Robbie, David, and Laura)

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

We got about five newbies, which is even with last season and our graduation rate. (Our team is about 20 members big.) We've never been short on gearheads or webmasters, but we are a bit thinner in other areas.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

We got alot of new kids and most qualified for travel and worked very well with the team.As expected, really.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

I think our recruit class has been very similar to the past. Every year, a few students fall into this category:

A. "The New Awesome"
These kids try hard, work hard, and still know how to have fun. Even though not all of them have advanced technical skills, they truly make an effort to learn. We got quite a few of these across the board.

B. "Work Hard, Play Harder"
I love these kids too, but they will grow up later. However, everyone was like that once, and I think it's something that changes with more experience. I think their fun-loving attitude is important, however, it's best for them to be given tasks when crunch time comes so that they don't spend the entire meeting unfocused.

C. "I really don't do much...because nobody taught me"
These kids are few and far between, but we had one this year. I think it was a combination of low personnel able to train and the kid not being there often, but still. If you have one, try to find out what interests them, because you can still get them excited for competition and they may be very valuable later on.

D. "I really don't do much...because I really don't care"
We didn't have any of these, but for those teams that do...these students also aren't without hope! Try pairing them up with an older team member to do scouting, or maybe give them another task so that they can get to know people and get a better feel for the work expectation.

The moral of the story? There is always hope! Just give a chance!

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

We got one very excited, very un-educated (in the sense of robotics) freshman. We've since been (attempting to) educate him in the arts of building robots.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

Our team - as always - is low on animators and PR junkies. Acutually we have 2, and thats all that a team really needs, but a couple more will be very helpful.

Unfortunately, we tend to be short on recruits overrall - we had one new guy who seems uncomfortable in robotics.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

we had a smaller influx this year, at my school in general all club membership seems to come in every-other-year waves this year being a down year and last year with me including making up half of our team for this year.

we did get some anxious and ready to learn freshmen unfortunetaly half fall into the work hard play harder and more often category but we're getting them into line and helping out.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

i totally agree, but suprisingly we got many "A" type newbies

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

Our new student class this year was.... highly varied at its best. There were approximately 2 students that were... um... I hate to say this... but were actually worth having. Mahlon and Nick B. were the those two. The others weren't totally useless but could classify as undedicated. I hate to say this but I cannot tell a lie.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

www.team228.org/images/2006/freshmen-hard-at-work.jpg :rolleyes:

No, I cannot say that the above picture is true for all the new members on our team. Only about half of the new members fool around, while the other half work on at least one of the robots (either our FVC or FRC robot) consistently. Having the Vex team this year really helped, as this was a simpler robot that they did not feel intimidated by. All of the new members on our team are automatically put on the Vex team, unless they feel comfortable working with the shop tools and building the full size robot, or are in one of the FRC sub-teams such as animation or pep club.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

you mean there is something besides newbies? ahh..the joys of being a rookie team....just wait till next year....

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

we got 6-7 new kids this year, and they all seem to be real pumped. though from time to time, i wish they would take it easy on my tools.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

We got a bunch of newbies this year (6-7). They are a sharp bunch of kids that really picked up on the software and some of the mechanical aspects. This is really good, because the team only has one 3rd year member and a couple 2nd year members, who are mainly in animation. All of the lead software and mechanical guys are 4th year (me included). I was quite impressed this year.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

Our newbies were all hand picked so, guess you can say they are A grade newbies. My brother and I nagged on all our friends that we thought would be like robotics to join and now they are hooked. They are now doing the same to all their friends. Hopefully some more people will join next year because our entire team currently is sophomores and juniors with only one freshman.

Re: How was your batch of newbies?
 

We had 13 freshmen and about 4 other newbies and two exchange students, one from Lebanon and one from Vietnam. All of our new members have contributed to the team in multiple ways, and some have demonstrated great leadership qualities. Our exchange students are also enjoying every moment of FIRST and will take home memories they will never forget. I am so glad that they get to experience such a great organization during their year here in the U.S.