[McGurky]

Brendan,

I want to extend this message to you because I want to make sure that you know you are not alone in this difficult decision.

My first season on my FRC team we had 8 members, 5 of which where seniors, whose mentality was pretty much "I do not care about the future of the team". When they graduated, we had 3 students the next year, and the other two had very little interest in leading the team. On top of that we had lost all but one of our sponsorship due to the downturn in the economy as well as the loss of support from our school when our lead adviser had to step down due to family conflicts.

Having had the time and experience of a lifetime my freshman year, I knew I needed to step up to the plate to ensure the sustainability of our team.

That year I was the team president, treasurer, lead builder and pretty much every leadership role the team could possible have. Not because I was greedy but because they needed to get done, and I was the only one who wanted & needed the team to succeed.

There is only one thing that kept me going, and that was shear passion for FRC. It was not that I was an excellent leader, it was not that I had a lot of experience, I just wanted really bad for the team to succeed. I certainly made a lot of poor decisions, and our team was not perfect the next year, but we were able to build up the size to 8 people again, and gain funding due to a sustaining NASA Grant.

After that year, our teams focus was on sustainability and strength. We worked really hard to gain back the support of the school, gain funding and gain membership.

Now, only 3 seasons later, this team is 40 members strong, and excels in a lot of areas.

You obviously have a lot of passion for what you are doing, and that passion will lead you to success if you want it too. The barriers that you are seeing can easily be broken!

Through all of this I learned a few lessons that could help you

-Fundraising is a team effort all year round
-Get your school involved
-Establish a great team of people to work around
-Do not be afraid to ask for help, and thank them at every opportunity
-Hand written notes/letters to your key team supporters goes a long way
-Look to your freshman as the leaders of the team, and do everything you can to empower them to lead. As when you leave, they will be doing what you do.
-Community, community, community... get your name out there, do every demo you can.
-Focus on what your team CAN accomplish this season, then next season build upon it, do not let the stronger teams in FRC intimidate you. A few years of hard work and your team could be among them.
-Always have food at the meetings (seriously, its a great motivator)


Please send me a PM if I can be of any specific assistance to your team!

-Kyle