[ahartnet]

You won't be interviewed the same way you are for chairmans.

Judges will come by your pit. You'll need to prepare them the same way you would for any other award. Making the assumption that new teams in the PNW district are going to have experienced mentors similar to new rookie teams in the Houston area - it'll be tough.

Look at the RAS description. "Celebrates the rookie team exemplifying a young but strong partnership effort, as well as implementing the mission of FIRST to inspire students to learn more about science and technology."

You'll need to make sure team members are adequately prepared to show how the team is:
1) building strong partnerships
2) implementing the mission of FIRST

We had a large enough team that we were able to do a little bit of everything. We put effort into the pit, we built a practice robot, we submitted a business plan, woodie flowers, chairmans essay (which was required because of the NASA grant anyway), etc. If you don't have a large team (or the budget for some of the things) - I'd recommend the team focus on developing a plan to show to judges on how you'll grow the team to do those things. We actually even got a congressman to come to the regional. Despite all those things, we only received Rookie Inspiration - however the Rookie All Stars at our Regional event were a team who went on to win the Rookie All Star in their division at World Champs so we had some pretty tough competition.

The #1 thing I'd recommend though regardless of the award you're going for is document. Your team's students will be best able to convince the judges coming by your pits of your efforts with proof of it. Also, the typical thing that should go without saying is making sure students feel comfortable talking to judges, and that you have some students that make sure a judge doesn't walk by your pit without being asked if they have any questions.

Feel free to pm me or email the team (FRC 5414 on facebook/twitter or I can PM you our team email) with any questions throughout the fall/spring.

Good luck!