[linuxboy]

Oh boy do I have a lot to repsond you and thank you guys for!!

I think a little more in depth team history is in order. I joined the FTC team as a freshman along with 3 other freshman. The team was made up entirely of seniors and one junior aside from us freshman that year. This year like I said we gained a lot of freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. So for FRC this past year I was a sophomore and the bulk of our team had graduated. Once again we had a huge recruitment effort and we therefore ended up with around 17 people.

In short EricH's latest post is generally correct, we did increase membership greatly with FRC.

Originally Posted by VML3256

Overall, the main advantage to FRC, is the wide variety of opportunities. Plus is just more fun because it's way more intense.

I agree the opportunities in FRC are a lot larger, thanks for corroborating that. One think I think the school worries about is it is too intense

In terms of money the school has a budget for FTC. I believe our general plan as an FRC team is to use that FTC budget as well as outside fundraising therefore not costing the school any more money than we would cost them anyway. The issue they have (as far as I can see) is the amount of time it requires for the students that are heavily involved.

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

If all else fails, do what we wound up doing. Ask only for a space, put in all of the hours after school, and fund raise your own money.

We didn't use school space last year, we used space at Brown University. All the hours were after school (except competition of course). I'm not so good at the money stuff but we did a lot of fundraising this year and I think we were mostly self sufficient.

I definitely like the suggestions from James and Jane. One thing I want to point out again is that we are not planning on drawing any more money from the school than the budget they already have for FTC since it seems that a lot of people think that money is one of the administration's biggest concerns. On that note the school is not terribly thrilled that students are raising money because my understanding is they want students to focus on the project at hand (in their eyes I suppose this is building the robot), however one of the critical pieces of FRC is the fundraising which I think the school may fail to see. I'm not really sure they they see the part of FRC that is more than the robot. (Note: to any of my school administrators that I may end up sending a link to this thread to, this is not a dig at you, this is a failure to explain the program in full on our part).

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

P.S. I would never view the FTC teams as peewee leagues and I think it is an insult to do so. I also have trouble with the JV/Varsity thinking. The FTC teams work hard and their efforts should be respected and recognized for what they are, who they are, and how they inspire. And they do inspire.

I know I worked hard in FTC and enjoyed it. I see FRC as something different, in the electrical and programming department (where I mainly work) I see it as a bit more "real world" experience in terms of the parts we use and the way we program the robot.

Originally Posted by ttldomination

FTC is cost/effort effect but the FRC stage is in a league of its own. The students learn to use a wider array of materials, the skills they pick up lean much heavier into the engineering field

I really like this point.

Originally Posted by ttldomination

1261's administration has been overly supportive, and I think the biggest reason for this is simply because (a) there are results and (b) they attend our events. It's kind of interesting to watch an administrator, more specifically the principal, jump up and down in the stands or watch a student give the principal the grand tour. FRC is an experience of everyone, and perhaps the administrators aren't able to see the other side of things.

We have had a couple of administrators come to events however not the equivalent we have to a principal.

Originally Posted by paragon

Robot Unicorn Attack was a good rookie team at WPI this year. Say more students are joining and invite the principle to the WPI regional next year to see how fun it is.Also, check out today's Bill's Blog. Good Luck next year.

Thanks!! I'm glad you think so. I think administration will probably also take notice that an established team thought we are a good rookie team!

I definitely plan on sending the administration information on the TV specials about FIRST and FRC.

Quick recap:
We do not plan to get extra money from the school to do FRC. We don't even use school space for it at the moment and all our ours are after school on our own time. The issues that I _think_ the administration has are the amount of time FRC takes (which can be reduced by planning) and the late nights (or early mornings) it involved. We aren't asking them for a budget increase, just permission to form a team associated with the school at our previous budget (which probably involves some gifts in kind - buses and time at assemblies and whatnot)

Thanks for all your advice, I really appreciate it
- Oliver