[Rob Colatutto]

The board members of Sachem High School do understand how the program works and how well it does work there. The superintendent started the team back in 1998 and had a major role in starting the SBPLI regional. The problem of keeping the team alive is not in the administration, but in the method they are using the split the schools, and the obvious adviser problem. Their logic in the split is, two schools, each separate but equal to the other. A club that exists at one school has to be at the other with equal funding. The FIRST team isn't the only club to suffer from this rule, but its the main one. Also, there is some recent sponsorship changes and position changes in the companies who sponsor 263 that will make acquiring any money a difficulty.

After the 2002 season, our main adviser, Carl Erickson, left the team when he was promoted from Regents Physics to AP Physics and wanted to take a break for a few years to adjust to his new work load, understandable. The adviser who did all the paperwork previously, took over the team and persuaded a computer course teacher to co-lead the team. Neither were very interested in managing the program, so as a result myself and the other student leaders ran every aspect of the team in 2003 aside from the paperwork for the school. After we graduated, the team had a very rookie-aspect to it, and the advisor's didn't like the idea of myself and other leaders coming back to help out/train new leaders, so as a result the advisor's were forced to run the team, and saw the amount of time that needs to be invested into a team. They had stuck around for the money until then, but then it just became not worth it for them since there was really no interest on their part. Sachem pays robotics advisor's the same pay bonus as they do to the head football coach. Bottom line, not the ideal FIRST advisor's you'd want to continue a successful team.

My advice to you now is simple, before school starts contact Mr. Erickson and see if he has heard about whats happened, and get his suggestions, maybe he can talk to a few friends and get an adviser. You could also try going to Mr. Mac, the APC Physics teacher. If you can find an adviser, you'll probably have to settle with a one regional dual-school team to pilot the idea and make sure it can work with the busing back and forth method Sachem has thought up for you. Having been a 3 year member and previous team leader, I'll help you guys get things together again if you want it, and I could talk to a few teachers if you wanted me to. Contact me if your interested in giving it another shot.