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Unread 01-03-2012, 22:09
metainf metainf is offline
jack of trades
FRC #3205
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Rookie Year: 2011
Location: Carlisle
Posts: 17
metainf is on a distinguished road
Re: Challenges of small teams with fewer than 10 students

My team (3205) has from 5-10 kids on any given day, even though our high school is pretty big (Concord Carlisle).

The truth is, we have one SUPER dedicated member, who does a lot of the mental heavy lifting for us. This isn't a great way to run a big team, but it works for us. However, that kid is leaving this year...so next year is going to be tough.
(I'm formatting this the same as lcoreyl)
Build Season

CAD/Building
-although we are a very small team, we are lucky to have access to a very well equipped machine shop, and we do get quite a bit of funding from the school.
-The aforementioned super member does most of the CAD work, but I'm starting to take over that job.
-Because our team is small, we have to get a design ready by the end of the first week, if not just the drive train and other things.
Mentors
-Again, we got lucky, and we found someone who moved into the area last year, and he was a former FRC mentor, and he has helped us out a lot (shout out to Mr.Peeke if anyone else knows him).
-Another two mentors are the science heads, and they are the ones that keep us in line, and help us with planning our schedule/meetings.
New members
-last year I was the only new freshman out of two new members, and I got a lot of help from the older members.
-This year we got around 5-7 new members (they come and go), and its been hard to help all of them, but we're getting there.
-The new members really have to be quick on the uptake in our team, and they have to learn on the job.
-And most of the people who know anything are leaving next year, except for me and two others, so we need to get the new members ready.

That's about all for our small team. We are really screwed for next year unless the new members step it up.
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