[GeeTwo]

If I were to quote everyone I'm going to address, it would get too silly, so I'm just going to include by context.

I'm the oldest active mentor on 3946, and I won't be 53 until next month. Nonetheless, the message stands. Kennedy's message inspired the generation of engineers and technicians a generation before me, and their results inspired my generation. Manned space flight peaked in the early '70's, and since then, space boundaries have been pushed by autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles and devices. Satellites also look back down at earth and AUVs (autonomous undersea vehicles) probe the ocean volume. Robotics is how we learn more about the universe. Robotics is how we make more stuff at home less expensively. Robotics is eventually how we shall achieve the Hellenistic dream of a society in which people are for deeper thinking, planning, and imagination, and all of the routine is taken off our hands. So robotics matters. And yes, STEM is hard. But if you apply yourself to it, it's not too hard.

Sean and Jon are 100% correct about downsizing. I don't recall the source, but as I was entering the workforce (late '80s, early '90s), I recall reading "No company ever downsized its way to greatness." The same is even more true of a political or cultural movement - and let's remember that at its core, FIRST is a cultural movement. There may be individual cases where teams can and should merge, and FIRST is right to acknowledge and support it, but should never force it or even encourage it as a regular thing to do.

As much as organizational structure, the "hierarchy of needs" is wildly variant across FRC. 3946 seeks to change the local culture as a primary mission. Diversity, improving student career selection and marketability, and developing leadership are secondary. And while building a competitive robot is tertiary, we don't kid ourselves that it's the engine that pushes the ship. The mission isn't to kill the gators. The mission isn't to drain the swamp. The mission is to make this area that was once a swamp a seat of productivity, creativity, and development. And that will almost certainly involve killing a few gators and running some pumps.

Here in Louisiana, school-based teams are the norm, and essentially mandatory in order to attend competition, at least for public school students. High School students are allowed five non-school-field-trip absences per semester, or they fail every class that semester. Period. No excuses, exceptions, ifs, ands, or buts. As such, community FRC teams are like hen's teeth around here. Going to districts wouldn't change things - two Fridays cost just as much as Thursday and Friday of Bayou Regional in terms of field trip time, and more in terms of travel. Then, if you were to get a trip to DCMP, you'd fill up the budget of days, and if any of your students went to CMP on top of anything else, they'd fail the semester. How inspiring would that be?

Learning from failed teams - Slidell High School had a team (2182) which did very well in competition (ranked 3rd at Bayou in 2007, rookie year, and 5th in 2008). However, it starved for funding and did not compete after 2008. When we formed a new team in 2012 (not a single student or mentor in common with the old team), we made a point to get enough funding to continue past the first couple of years. When we qualified for CMP, we did a blitz to find more sponsors. We now have our own trailer, and list 9 platinum sponsors ($1000+ in a year), and a couple dozen gold and silver sponsors on our web site, and we're still pushing on a few more. And most important, we are changing the school and the community, creating bonds among the different segments of our student population, encouraging clean living, and promoting school spirit. Not bad for a team that has never ranked over 20th at a regional.

Finally, districts. Louisiana only has 42 teams listed on usfirst, and a few of those no longer exist (or at least compete). 37 of those teams are within 100 miles of a point midway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. So while districts would be great for those of us in southeast LA who can already day-trip to Bayou, it would probably just double travel costs for the others. A few years with a regional in the center or northern part of state (perhaps along the growing I-20 tech corridor) would be a good in-between step to get the rest of the state up to district density.