Quote:
Originally Posted by nathan_hui
So and start FTC teams in your feeder schools or in the community. Start FLL teams at the elementary schools. Reach out to the community, and get involved with the maker community for help, resources, and inspiration, and inspire the maker community as well.
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While this may or may not be practical, it is a good point. My team runs a large amount of FLL and FTC teams in our area, and it has really improved our recruitment-- students from those programs join and lead on our team. In 2012, our two (senior) captains both either came from one of our FLL summer camps or from an FLL team that we started and assisted. I was on an FLL team in middle school which lead to me being in FRC in high school. Setting up that pipeline-- wherever it is-- is critical to sustainability. Unfortunately you don't always see the results immediately-- kids move or go to different schools or pick a different path or whatever-- but ultimately that pipeline sets up for you a core of not only involved students, but also their parents! If you can tap into the elementary parent base to help run those programs, you have some of the most active and invested parents you can get a hold of!
Finding that pipeline is sometimes rather difficult though-- it may be FLL or FTC or VEX teams, or it might be some regional program, or it might be a class, or even a middle school teacher that recommends students to your team. More than the actual method, it's the touch and the scope that I think separates "recruitment drives" from a pipeline.
It's difficult to make a good leader in four years, but it gets a lot easier when you've had a kid in your program for 3-6 years before they've even joined the FRC team. Then for them it's just like a high school sport might be for some other kid-- it's a logical extension of the elementary or middle school program.