Quote:
Originally Posted by gblake
If you think you have gotten enough answers about the general topic of retaining new members, I'm curious why you think your group is going through an every-two-years boom/bust cycle.
Can that be shared, or does it need to stay private?
Blake
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Agreed. It would be easier to offer assistance if we knew some of the reasons for this boom and bust cycle.
4607 has been graduating 10-13 members each year for our short four year existence - and every year we bring in a load of 10th and 11th grade students that have an immediate impact. Next year we will be returning 16 seniors - and all but two have at least 2 years on the team. However, we noticed that the 9th grade students were not ready to take on the tasks and the time constraints required by our FRC season - and a lot of this is due to their maturity and lack of a drivers license.
My suggestion is to create a FTC team that is designated for freshman. We did this in 2015/16 and most of these students are wanting to return to their FTC team in the fall and then transition into our FRC team after their season ends. This has created a need for a new FTC team in our HS to bring in the new 9th grade class. The sophomores on the FTC team will not have to pay a new registration fee for FRC 4607 as the two fees are the same - so that has helped to encourage them to stay on FTC and then transition more slowly into the FRC season.