Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

Some things to note...

Yes, Lynch is up for re-election. But he also has a redicoulsly high approval rating, and I have barely heard/seen an ad for his campaign...because I think he feels he does not need to spend the money. Lynch has always been a huge FIRST supporter, as he frequently visits NH FIRST events and speaks at Kickoff before the NASA feed kicks on. Is it well-timed? Sure. Is it out of character? Not really.

Also of note - the BAE GSRegional in the Verizon Wireless Arena currently is maxed out at 39 teams (which could stretch to somewhere in the low 40s including the hidden rookie spots). It is a fixed hockey arena that can not expand, and to my knowledge is the largest public arena in NH. If the plan is to get 87 public schools on board, plus the 5 existing private school teams and the non-school affiliated groups, we will roughly need at least a second Verizon Wireless Arena to fit the NH teams only.

And finally, it comes back to that dreaded s word - sustainability. If there was any state in New England to do it, NH is it, as it is faring the best in this downturn - but can it be sustained, and is this the right place for our time to be spent? No matter the location, it comes down to those two questions.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

I have a mixed reaction to this announcement, on one hand I think its great to see this type of support for FIRST in New Hampshire. But on the other hand (as I've stated before in the Michigan thread) I agree with Cory and JVN that maybe FRC doesn't work for every high school. I do believe that FIRST can work in every school, be it Lego, FTC, or FRC.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

Alright, perhaps this could use some clarification.

Governor Lynch specifically said when asked by a reporter that the government would not fund FIRST programs, but rather that he would get corporations to donate money and mentors. That is why Walt Havenstein and a high-ranking (it was a while ago, so I can't remember exactly his position or name) member of the New Hampshire High Tech Council were both there to announce their support of this proposal.

I do remember seeing a video crew there, so I'll try to see if I can find a video of the announcement, hopefully with all the other people there. (Somebody else might have better luck than me on this - First page of Google and YouTube results turned up nothing for me)

To whoever said something about quantity over quality - Dean Kamen, Walt, and the guy from the NHHTC (but especially Dean Kamen) talked about how necessary mentors were. Dean Kamen talked for quite a while (surprise, surprise!) about how necessary good mentors were to FRC, even saying something along the lines of having a FRC team at a school without good mentors was essentially pointless.

Anyways, it does seem that more people than just John Lynch are committed to having a FIRST program in each school. Even if this is just part of a campaign, BAE and the NHHTC aren't running for office.

Besides, government support is not required for a school to have a FIRST team.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

The person who posed the quality v. quantity question is one of FRC's superior young mentors and a WFFA winner. JVN has contributed designs in collaboration with other FIRST mentors that have been part of the FRC kit of parts and his drive train calculator posted right here on CD-Media has been used successfully by countless teams. He was a student on a team in HS and has mentored both a college based and a sponsored based team.

As far as the pointless nature of an FRC team without "good" mentors I would challenge you to define "good". I believe this is akin to the push Dave Lavery made at kickoff about how having real engineers and/or actual engineering support on a team is critical and a part of the program. That is not the same thing as trying to define "good" mentors.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

i agree as well and i guess our superintendent does too. i think developing the feeder program (just like sports) will help to keep the programs continuing. dr. dipatri wants FLL in all the elementary schools this year. we've had such a huge growth in teams and tournaments. this year we are helping to run 8 local tournaments in our county alone, 1 regional and 1 state tournament -- all for FLL. now, as these kids age up they will be looking to continue their involvement.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

It is great to see a state make this a goal. Michigan has done the same. The Govenor of Michigan has been to several events and even placed money in the budget for FIRST growth for a couple of years before the economy really went bad. Since then she has sent a letter to most of the R&D facilities in Michigan telling them about FIRST and asking for them to get involved.

The "experiment" in Michigan this year is about testing a plan to be able to get FRC in all schools. I am on the Board of FRIST in Michigan and we know that getting FRC in all schools is impossible---not everyone will want to play. But we want to set it up so that they can. That is why we are trying a method of "divisional" play where teams will get two events for less than one using the FIRST method.

I also believe in the other FIRST programs. I have been with FLL since the pilot in 1998. More than half of our FRC team are graduates of FLL. In my opinion, if you want a strong FRC program you must build a strong FLL program. FTC is fine, but it is missing one element of FRC...engineering mentors. FRC is where you get "professionals" to work with the kids to "inspire" them to take up fields of science, math, engineering, and technology. This is the key to FIRST. All other programs build to this and having a FRC team in every school should be our goal. Use the other programs to make that happen. Sure this is hard, but don't focus on the difficulties, plan for the positive. Don't you want kids in all schools to have the chance to have the same experience you have. I think you do, so Make It Happen.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

FRC teams in every school would be possible if the teams that have over $15000 of sponsorship would give the excess sponsorship to other schools. My team does very well on about that much. I think that one key that we do to save money is scrap old robots rather than keep them on display. This saves alot of money on metal. We havent bought wheels in over five years. we also always go to the closest regional, that always saves money. This year with the DC regional, we are commuting on the Metro so we will be spending no money on the competition. ALSO an interesting idea for sponsorship; if big companies donated money straight to FIRST and then was distributed to teams that need money equally. obviously there would have to be some kinks worked out of the system but in the long run it would make the playing field slightly more equal.

No offense to the teams that do any of the things above, i am just putting this out here.

Re: Press Release -- FIRST in ALL NH Schools
 

Hi Walt,
Since you're one of the decision makers in MI and since you've been so gracious to speak here, I was wondering if you could shed any more light on how MI plans on using FTC to help "make that happen." I would also offer a word of caution about FTC not having "professionals" to work with the kids to "inspire". While it is true FTC requires less technical expertise than FRC some of our best FTC teams over the past three years that have won at the championship event have been engineering supported.

Also, I run both FRC and Intermediate Program teams (formerly FVC/FTC and now VEX). I'm not an engineer, I'm a career educator. We've been successful with the smaller robot and team by being able to inspire students (some of our school's best and brightest) toward those futures you talk about without the FRC experience and without practicing engineers. Some of these students simply do not have the time to devote to FRC or initially feel intimidated by it and the smaller scale has been what captures them in our program. Most of our graduates go on to pursue the type of futures you speak of and only some of them ever experience FRC.

Don't get me wrong, I love engineer exposure for the students. This year, our FRC team has it's first dedicated engineering mentor from Lockheed Martin and it's a true thrill to see him interact with and excite the students! However, if this would be our only approach with Lower Merion students we would inspire fewer on a yearly basis. Also, if we would ever lose funding, space, or support for FRC, we would not have to close the doors on our HS robotics program altogether - we have a safety net "intermediate" program that could take on additional participants if need be.

I was wondering if, with all of your statewide support and lofty goals, your group was considering anything like this for two reasons - sustainability and meaningful engagement of more students in a hands-on way. Your thoughts are appreciated and thank you for offering your insight here.

Namaste,
Rich