[BigJ]

1. Initial registration fee (1 regional OR 2 districts)
2. Registration Fee for additional regional OR district championship
3. Travel expenses (hotel, transportation, food) for two competition events
4. A mentor of your choice with mechanical engineering expertise
5. A mentor of your choice with programming expertise
6. A mentor of your choice with FRC strategic design expertise
7. A mentor of your choice with expertise in all non-engineering matters
8. An active teacher and supportive school of your choice (1)
9. $500 Visa Debit Card
10. Basic hand tools + Measurement tools + Electrical tools (nothing powered)
11. Basic power tools (Cordless drill + bit set, Dremel, etc.)
12. Drill press & bit set + Band saw
13. $500 worth of raw material (aluminum, steel, polycarb)
14. $500 voucher for AndyMark
15. $500 voucher for McMaster-Carr
16. Sheet metal bending capabilities
17. $500 voucher for Lowe’s or Home Depot
18. Welding capabilities
19. Two Laptops with OS + Internet access
20. $500 voucher for VEX/VEX Pro
21. Team Meeting Area (2)
22. Lathe & tooling
23. Mill & tooling
24. Full Size Practice Area (Space, Carpet, Driver Stations - No Game Elements)
25. Six additional batteries and chargers
26. A mentor of your choice with CAD/Inventor expertise
27. 3 Axis CNC & tooling
28. Belt sander + grinder + arbor press
29. Laser OR water jet cutter
30. A mentor of your choice with electrical engineering expertise
31. Pit Set Up of your choice + Robot Cart
32. Team Uniforms (sufficient quantity for all team members)
33. Team Button Give Aways (sufficient quantity for all events)
34. Unique Team Give Away (sufficient quantity for all events)
    

Top 11 bolded since they are guaranteed.

Assumptions and reasoning:

• The goal is to qualify for championship. I will disregard the Chairman's/EI path to qualification as that would vary heavily on the team and what the students had done in the past.
• Events: I picked registration and travel to 2 events. At the current state of FRC, districts are tough competition. I will go to 2 regionals that are either new, underpopulated, or in a "weaker" region robot-wise. Let's not get into arguments deciding which regionals these would be.
• Mentors: I left the "electrical expertise" and "CAD expertise" down the list for later. I figured a group of engineers and former FIRST students could handle the task of wiring a functional robot. I also left the CAD expertise for farther down the list, for using 3-axis CNC and up tools. A NEM to handle all our hotels and transportation booking and helping with other things also saves a lot of the stress from the other mentors.
• Tools and fabrication: With an experienced FRC mentor I figure the team will be able to build within its means, upgrading its level of construction as it gains more fabrication methods.
• Batteries: I'm sure some nice team would help us out if we couldn't afford extras
• Possibly against the spirit of the challenge, Money-wise I also figured that the mentors have jobs, engineering or otherwise, and wouldn't mind chipping in some cash. I also assumed that the programming mentor would have some sort of personal laptop or other computer to use if the number of items wasn't met for the 2 laptops.
• Spirit/Image items: While important, and one of my favorite parts of first, these dropped to the bottom of a list purely trying to qualify for Championship.
• I set my baseline for comparison at the $500 dollar debit card. A number of things lower on the list are because I felt that the essential parts of it were worth much less. Ex. "Pit and Robot Cart", I felt only the robot cart was essential, and depending on the robot, transportation could be done with something pretty inexpensive.

EDIT: Just realized the max is 30 items! Byebye spirit items!