[smurfgirl]

In New England, even before districts, events were close enough together that we could do a local event that didn't require travel or hotels (Hartford was ~20 miles away), and a travel event that was only about 1-1.5 hours away. Now with districts where there are more/closer events, events are only 2 days long, and they are often Saturday-Sunday, it is even easier for the team to attend multiple events without worrying about travel, missing school, or vacation time.

In college, I usually went to 3-4 events as a volunteer, because my schedule was flexible, and there were lots of easily accessible events in New England.

Now that I've relocated to Southern California, events are further apart than I am used to. However, my employer supports STEM volunteer activities, and they pay for my time volunteering as a mentor and at events during work hours (I still pay for my own travel to events though). Combined with a 9/80 schedule where I have every other Friday off, as well as one Friday-Sunday regional, I've done three events this season while only missing 2 days of work and taking 0 vacation days. My team is doing two events, one of them being the Friday-Sunday event, which has less impact on missed school/vacation time.