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Ok - Here's my two cents
Although teams could always use a boost with grants, being short of money and under funded is a fact of life. It is an important lesson to learn. Raising money and establishing community involvement should be a team responsibility.
Probably the best way to have a lasting effect on FIRST and the future of FIRST would be by making the Mentors (especially Teachers) more effective and allow them to touch more students. I believe the best bang for the money would be to establish and conduct "train the trainer programs". Mentors could be provided off-season seminars to provide Mentors with training opportunities, workshops and documentation. Build on the teaching skills but also provide planning and project management skills.
Maybe even establish some super mentors. Well-trained leaders who move from team to team (rookie to rookie) to help make the teams function better and touch more kids. Make the super mentors the trainers of new mentors. Continue to build the Mentor skills and base. Increasing the number of kids FIRST touches will have a snowball effect.
We need to make all the FIRST teams more effective and efficient. The best way to promote rookie teams is with well-organized leadership. Layout successful plans. Make starting a FIRST team as simple as a cookie cutter type franchise (McDonalds). Too often FIRST teams make the same mistakes
Please don’t infer from this post that I believe that there are not super mentors out there. I know there are, but the more we have the farther FIRST will go.
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