[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Our team was proud this year to recruit 11 new girls, bringing our total to 13. Yes, we only had two girls carry over from last year, which is to say, we had very few last year (5 out of 40). The team is now 13 out of 50 girls, which while not gender equal, is much closer to the same proportion of girls in tech classes. Though we have had some new...issues this year, it has certainly been a great experience. I couldn't imagine the team without either gender; some of the ladies have taken up very important fields (welding for one...)

In any case, I feel that any team made to exclude any group is bad, and shouldn't be allowed in FIRST, if not officially, it should be frowned upon. If someone founded a team in my school which disallowed girls (or guys) from joining, there would be quite a hullabaloo.

In the last couple of years we have been having a declining enrollment of girls on the team when we usually have had more since I have been on the team (actually it's been rather difficult maintaining the student population period). Usually the best way to attract girls is when they have siblings (The Emerson girls for example) or friends.