Selecting New Team Members
 

For the past 7 or so years my team has had a selections process that includes an application form, and an interview. After completion of both, the applicants would be graded and a new team list would be posted. The reason this started was because a while ago, 150 students apply for the team. But for the past few years there hasn't been nearly that many people, closer to 40. So the team leaders are trying to make a new way to select the team. We also have an hours system, in which each individual member must put in a minimum of 100 hours throughout the year to attend competitions, this includes the off season. During the six weeks, a dedicated member would usually put in over 300 hours, so if you attend meetings 100 hours isn't a problem.

So, my question is:
How does your team decide on members, and who goes to competitions? Or is there even a selection process?

Thanks for the help.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

If you ever get that many students again you should make another team!

We have it pretty simple: All who want to join get in (about 50+). However leadership positions, going to competition, varsity letters and making build decisions are made through the student's amount of work and dedication (We have a log system that calculates points for meetings, misbehavior and such). Its kind of like having a no cut JV and a cut varsity. The people on varsity are the ones that the team can depend on. This may change though because we basically remake the team every year on ideas gained from last year and how it will help goals this year.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Everyone is welcome to join. Everyone can go to competitions. However to miss school for a competition grades must be maintained at a certain level, and a certain number of meetings during build must be attended. Travel costs are the responsibility of students, except in certain conditions due to need.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

My old team was completely open to everyone, yes that was a big problem because they would get people in the middle of the build session, but then they decided to have it open until kickoff then close it off. we got more students, not as many as you but it was alot for our small school. We let people go to whatever meetings during the week and had saturdays a manditory meeting. then the mentors that were always there could see who was really the dedicated people. Which is how the dedicated ones were the first to pick there roles at competition or were chosen by the mentor for drive team.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Application process:

Returning members: At the end of the school year, returning members take an application packet, fill out the information required of returning members, and write a short essay summarizing their time on the Killer Bees, as well as their goals for the future. This is read by core mentors. You also sign up for an interview time. During the interview, one of the mentors talks to you personally about your time on the Killer Bees, and your goals, and may ask specific questions. Returning members are always prioritized during the application process, but must apply again.

Non-new students: At the end of the school year, students who already go to NDP but were not previously on the team can also apply, at the same time as returning members. The same basically happens, with a slightly different essay question. After the returning and non-new student applications are reviewed and members are accepted, they are now part of the Killer Bees and are encouraged to come to local off-season events.

Freshmen/New Students: In the fall, there is another round of applications for Freshmen/students who did not previously attend NDP. Same as non-new student applications. They usually join the team early enough to see the Kettering Kickoff.

Usually, all applicants are accepted. During the end-of-year applications, we always leave a certain number of spots for Freshmen. If there are too many applicants, then the mentors/key parents discuss if we can grow, and are capable of handling a larger number of people.

Going to competitions:
All students are welcome to go to all in-season and local off-season competitions. Students must pay an additional fee for travel to St. Louis. For the IRI, our only travel off-season, a select few are invited by Jim Zondag, and we ride down in a Sprinter van.

Leadership positions:
Competition positions are applied for during the build season and appointed by the council of mentors. However, student leaders almost always participate in OCCRA, and usually lead on their own, without a title. It is usually obvious who most of the leaders are because they are the ones who are the most dedicated. The competition positions which are appointed are comp team (driver/operator/hp), pit crew (4 members), lead scouts (2 lead scouts, runner, video), and chairmans presenters (3). Usually, the students who were drivers in OCCRA make up the comp team, the most dedicated non-driver members make up the pit crew. Any student not assigned a specific position is expected to scout.

Making build decisions: We have a quote on the wall that says "The world is run by those who show up".

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Our team is open to anyone, but there are requirements that must be met to be considered "on" the team.

We have a meeting in early September that anyone who is interested can come to, then we explain the requirements to be on the team to the incoming students.

You have to attend at least 1/2 of all fall trainings, you have to be present for at least 6 hours a week during build season, and you need to be present at 2/3 of our Friday meetings after school. You also have to write a 250 word essay explaining why you want to be on the team and what you want to accomplish during the year. Also if a student is failing classes they can not participate / travel. This usually gets rid of anyone that doesn't want to be on the team that badly.

And new for this year, students who want to go to the competition we travel for (eg. Las Vegas last year) have to submit a travel application, and if the captains don't feel you helped enough during build season, or you weren't really "dedicated" to the team, you can't travel.
The travel application is still a work in progress as of now though.

We never really had a issue with too many students on the team, our team size has hovered around 50-60 for 3 years now.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

On the UberBots, all interested students are encouraged to join the team; no one is turned away. Our team size has varied from roughly 15-40 through the years as we've grown and changed. We always attend the Connecticut Regional, which is driving distance from our town, so anyone interested in attending that competition is allowed to go. When we go to "travel" competitions (further away regionals/Championship Event when we get hotel rooms), there is a minimum attendance requirement of 60%. We usually offer bonus attendance points for things like meeting on Sundays and clean-up days.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

I definitely like the idea of the travel application, Because i feel we take to many students to competitions, that have done hardly anything for the team. It's costs alot for us to go to competitions because of the distance we travel, we have to book hotels for every competition, closest one is 3 hours away. We have a essay thing on the application, but its the same for returning member's as new members. Having separate essay's reviewed by mentors, seems like a better idea. Grades have never been checked by our teacher/mentors but might be a good idea. The leaders are selected by old leaders and mentors/teacher.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

We let everyone join our team - we have no choice, it's school policy. When it comes to traveling to competitions, in the event that we had more people wanting to go than seats on the bus, we would give the spots to those who put in the most time during build season and doing outreach, but that's never actually happened.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Anyone who shows up can be on the team. We keep track of hours to find out who goes to the competitions. there is no set number that get to go, but it becomes fairly obvious who has put in the time and where the cutoff is.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Our team has a hard limit of 55, due to School District policies, so we are required to cut as many people as required to get to that number, unfortunately. In the past, we have used attendance at pre-cut events (stuff like bake sales, community service, etc...), interviewing people, and a questionare about why they want to be on the team. Freshman/new students get higher consideration than those who have had a chance to join in previous years. The choice on who is cut is made by two groups independently (School Adviser, and Student Leadership), then the lists are compared, and a final one is made.

We have a limit of 40 people who can go to competition, due to bussing space, so it is simply hour based. We try to get everyone to go to atleast one competition, but the top 40 are guaranteed two. It usually works out, with a few people being unable to attend one or two. We are looking for a better way to quantify dedication, but haven't found one yet, so it looks like hours are what we're using.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

We have the dozen or so kids who've stuck around and seem interested. Nothing as formal as applications.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

The team my daughter was on had an application process. The student had to fill in contact information (including parents info), tell why they wanted to be on robotics, and say what they were interested in working on.

As far as I know, no one was ever rejected. But having the application showed that the student was at least interested enough to complete an application with a few sentences. And then the team had the contact info!

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

Wow, our schools are like opposites. Yours says you can only have so many - ours, which is a school of 6500, says we cannot restrict anyone from joining and can only kick people off for disciplinary reasons (really bad disciplinary reasons - only ever happened a couple of times).

On topic, though - if our team was to have an applications process, and I were the one deciding how it went, I would make it based on:

• Grades in the first quarter
• year (loweclassmen would have higher precedence)
• knowledge of engineering, programming concepts, etc (not a major consideration)

Returning members would have had to have put in a certain number of hours, just so that people who aren't interested don't take up the spots of those that do.

I would NOT make the application based on questions like why a student wants to be on a robotics team. To me, a student's motivation doesn't matter, just that they do and what they can contribute. If somebody only wants to be on the team because they know that colleges love it, I say let them, as long as they will contribute.

Re: Selecting New Team Members
 

I think that most teams who ask the question of "Why do you want to be on the robotics team?" are using it mainly for data. In other words, they only use it as a negative if there are more students applying then there are spaces on the team.

330 does use an application process, but it's pretty much contact info, why you want to be on the team, and the like. I don't know of a single case where someone's been turned down due to their application.