Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

When my husband taught at the school where our team is, he received a SMALL stipend but it was by no means anywhere near $5,000!!! In fact, it wasn't even $1,000. Now that he teaches at a different school, he receives no compensation whatsoever. Nor do I, nor did any of our mentors this year. We attend one regional each year and were lucky enough last year to qualify and go to Atlanta (thanks to last minute fundraising and our two main sponsors kicking in some extra dough). For next year, the students are planning fundraising already so that we can either attend two regionals or one regional and the Championship event. I can't even think of the possibility of going to 4 regionals and the Championship!!! Especially because, given the situation of our team, it would be impossible for us to ask team members to fund the cost of the trip themselves (except for having them fundraise, of course). Consider yourself lucky, count your blessings, and have fun in Atlanta!

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

There's an old joke in Boy Scouting: the professionals get paid, the Scouts pay for themselves, and the volunteers pay for the privilege. I don't really have any idea how much extra it has cost my wife and I for being volunteers with youth programs. It's a lot more than the average, non-involved parent pays, that's for sure -- the poor suckers. They don't know what they are missing. :]

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Trust me as a former scoutmaster I understand. Just keep track of all your expenses for tax deductions. Good records are like gold.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

I see your second Montclair school team, 1929, only went to one official event this year, whereas, last year they were able to attend 3 official events.
Do you share resources or are you independently funded and equipped?


One possible source of material is businesses that are getting rid of excess inventory. Not materials dealers, but companies in other lines of business.
Talk to manufacturers in industrial parks. Usually they have a trade association of some sort with a monthly or quarterly meeting that you can address.
We were able to get a few hundred pounds of aluminum this year from such a company. We distributed most of it to local teams. One rookie team built their robot entirely from the stuff.

(1 hour a week they said...)

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Why not only go to 3 regionals and invest the money you save in a Mill, or metal? Not really seeing a big problem here...

That's more than even some coaches for several sports programs make at some high schools...And 5K isn't that small...

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

I don't know if this will help much, but I will try!
The team I currently mentor (while trying to be a college student - which many people do :) ) Has some similar problems as you.
But, the team I came from in highschool had an interesting way of raising money. The highschool students would visit local businesses and ask for their support. Students would try to raise $500 or visit at least 10 businesses. It sounds like a pain in the butt, but it really works and helps to offset some cost!
Now, many teams are structured differently. But I am sure you will figure something out. In most cases, the students will pay for some of the travel because it is not reasonable at times for it to come out of a teams budget. It can be frustrating and annoying, but there isn't much that can be done other than trying to get more sponorship and doing some sorts of fundraising (look throughout the rest of the fundraising thread for ideas!)

As for the stipend, it is great that your school is willing to do this. Some teams have volunteers and some use stipends. Maybe you could talk to other teachers in the school and see if you can get more involvement - then it would make it easier and spread the amount of things to do between more than one person.

Good luck and let me know if you need anything else!

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Wait... 5 events? So what's the problem again?

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

That was exactly my point:confused:

The way I see it, its common sense to get money out of those regionals and invest it in a mill or metal.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

never hurts to make the same point multiple times to emphasize a point:cool:

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

I am a college student who is helping to mentor the high school team I was a member of. I originally thought I wanted to major in engineering, but after working for a while, I realized that I wanted to go in to education. Most of this reason has to do with FIRST and the rush I get from helping students to excel in something they are interested in. When I become a teacher some day (hopefully), I hope to continue to work with a first team or to create one and as I see it right now, there is no amount of money I would accept to do a job I LOVE to do for free. If someone offered me money to work with a FIRST team, I would get that money in the hands of the team, not myself.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Matt, it sounds to me like you will be a great teacher! The engineering profession's loss is the teaching profession's gain. My husband is an engineer-turned-teacher, and he couldn't be happier with his career choice. Best of luck to you!

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Source?

I've never heard of any team requiring students to pay more than like $50.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Travel might be lumped into his figure; our kids had to pay $100 to go to Chesapeake.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

Or partner with other local teams to do this, much like we do with the four founding Northeast Ohio FIRST Robotics Alliance teams....

Amazing what can be accomplished when you swallow a wee bit of your pride and talk with the team the next town over....

We require ours to pay a $150 activity fee per person, but this can be lowered to nothing if the student takes ownership in the team's sustainability by assisting with fundraising efforts.

Re: Low sponsorship, but ok money
 

We pay no entry fee. But we do require students to pay some money towards travel to regionals/nationals.

This year it was $50 for the Wisconsin Regional and $150 for Atlanta.