[KeatonM]

Many teams in Michigan - and beyond - that I know of (My team, Team RUSH included) use applications to separate those who will be dedicated, motivated, and timely, from those who are not. We also have interviews, after the application process.

If Team RUSH accepted every student who said they "might be interested" or had an "I guess so" attitude, we'd be far past our typical - and ideal - 30 to 35 students.

RUSH is not a robot only team. We meet year-round for fundraising, teambuilding, presentations to sponsors, and more - including the summer, when we host our annual Regatta - a cardboard and duct tape boat race that also serves as out #1 fundraiser, new student learning opportunity, and training.

I do understand your post saying that nobody should be turned away - and I agree - but with an added "if they are committed."

Also, I do understand your stance on dues and fees to participate. RUSH has a pretty hefty amount that each student must bring. In addition to that amount, our school considers RUSH a school club, so we pay the additional school club fee. But something you have to realize, is that FIRST isn't the cheapest thing to do. Our budget is in increments of $10,000, and in today's economy, getting sponsors and donors isn't always easy. So we have dues, to offset that huge budget. Our regatta last year raised ~$25,000 - not even half our yearly budget, and although we raise more every year, we also rely on a network of sponsors (over 100, if you include those who donate through the Regatta) to raise our budget. And it starts over every year.

For the time commitment, there is a vast difference in some teams time requirements. RUSH requires every student from 3pm to 8pm, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during build season. In addition to those mandatory meetings, we have 'advanced build' meetings Tuesday, Thursday, late Friday, and much of Saturday. We only have about half of our team working directly on the robot, with the other half on the business teams. Because of this, we need these extra meetings to make sure the robot gets done by week 6.

I guess my overall thought is this: If you want to join a team, and don't want to spend 100+ hours there, find a team that doesn't require 100+ hours. Every team is different, and there are teams that require less time. Applications are good to sort through students.