[Chris Fultz]

We have and enforce a curfew. Last year at one regional, part of the team chose to ignore it, and so the next night the entire team had a curfew that was 1 hour earlier. That seemed to fix the problem (nothing like a bit of peer pressure). I think if it would have happened a second time the students would have been sent home.

Sneaking out is also very disrespectful to your mentors and chaperones. They are assuming a great risk traveling with you, driving or flying, making sure you are safe. They have assumed a great legal responsibility for you - act like you know and appreciate it.

A simple method is to set a curfew, do a check, then do random 'bed checks'. If someone has slipped out - chances are good they will be caught.

What if something were to happen while they had slipped away. No one would know they were gone, and it could be morning before they were missed. Getting into trouble or getting hurt while you were supposed to be in your room would not be good for your team and their ability to continue to participate.

You should also remember that at many schools, the Robotics program may be on the 'fringes' of the school. Many administrators do not really understand what we do - a big negative incident could become a reason to drop the program. Think if you would like to be the student that killed your schools robotics program because you slipped out at midnight to go have some extra fun.