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Unread 16-10-2012, 20:19
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Re: A FIRST Warning From VA

Hello...

I'm a mentor for team 1610 which started in 2005 and was the team near
team 616. It is true that to a extent we competed for funding with 616, but
not directly and during the first couple of years we looked for different sponsors than what 616 had. We had tried to merge both 616 and 1610 together in 2006, but school board politics played a part and what happened was team 616 folded and 1610 kept going, but it wasn't easy. Three former team members joined 1610 after 616 folded. A mentor for 616 in 2004 became a mentor for 1610 in 2005 mainly because his son went to team 1610's high school. The Big loss was that we lost 616, the mentors that worked with that team (none of the mentors from 616 came to 1610 after 2006) and the experiance that team 616's robotics program could have given to its high school and community.

I've seen both new teams start up and other ones drop out in the Virginia area. Mainly based on teams that came to the Virginia regional and allowing
for the newer DC regional and NC regional teams i have seen some teams drop out. 616 will probably never be back . I have yet to see team 388 register this year. 165 from Maryland who often came to the Virginia regional is gone. So is team 2108 from North Carolina that used to come to Virginia.
(I don't think they existed after 2010) and there are others.

You'll notice that the Virginia regional used to be called the Nasa/VCU regional. While Nasa played a huge part in that regional, i don't think its as big a part as it had been. Also one year BAE Systems was a co sponsor and they withdrew their sponsorship of the Virginia regional after that year.
(in all fairness BAE has cut back on some of its sponsorship and not just in Virginia) Having many teams close to one another can be a good or bad thing
depending on the given circumstances. In some areas of the country it works.
In other places it doesn't. That was part of the reason we(1610) tried to merge with 616. We have been lucky hand have been able to keep going.
(we won the regional in 2006, but almost folded in 2009) Community support
can almost be as important as sponsorship and not something to be overlooked.
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