[Cynette]

This is advice I give every year:

It will be just as important to have the students who are working in your pit also know your team’s story. The emphasis is on partnership. With whom has your team formed a partnership? Is it with your school, teachers and administrators? Is it with a business that is sponsoring you? Is it with the community, or a community organization? Is it a combination of all of them? How is your partnership being developed, nurtured, grown and what is the personal impact on your team and the impact on the surrounding community?

You can make a presentation package for the judges that will stop by at your pit. Include your essay and an executive summary, some photos of your team in action, copies of any news articles on your team, your business plan summary if you have that, anything that your pit crew can use to tell the judges about your team and hook them so they will come back to hear more!

Pick some members of your pit crew who are enthusiastic about your team and FIRST and have them available to talk to the judges. It is very, very, very important that the people who talk to the judges are STUDENTS! Mentors should keep a few feet away and let the judges interact with the student.

Each team has its own personality. Be sure to be yourselves, and enjoy the experience. Good Luck!