Team537 has the totally backing of the Sussex School district here in Southeastern WI. The students last year (rookie year) all earned varsity letters. The same is true of the students who are working this year (once they meet all their requirements
We also devised an implemented a summer class that ran for 3 hours a day for 3 1/2 weeks (GE engineers worked in 1 1/2 hour shifts, the class was basically run by the TAs (FIRST team members from last year)) and we are currently working on a year long FIRST/robot/science application class to implement starting next year. Getting Administrative buy-in is key to the success of any FIRST team!
We are currently working on getting the same level of support at Mukwonago HS for team 930. We're slowly whittling away the resistance "Persistance prevails where all else fails!"
Having an open house and pep-rally certainly help the cause, by getting alot of parent buy-in and understanding of the program. Last year Sussex Hamilton hosted an open house that was attended by 3 other WI-FIRST teams (93, 269. and 706) and it was a huge success!
We're doing it again this year (Saturday before ship!) 16feb2002, and we'll see who can show up. It's a nice date to work towards!