[Jaine Perotti]

In addition to what I said earlier ---

I am also somewhat worried about recruiting too well and making the team grow too large. We have a small team, which makes the whole experience much more personal and relaxed. We are much like a big family. I don't want this to change.

To solve this problem, we could limit the size by making students apply to be on the team and then select who we want. I know a lot of teams do this.

However I would be concerned about doing this because it would make being on the team more competitive and less relaxed, and might eliminate some of the students (in my opinion) who could benefit the most from robotics but might not necissarily be the most appealing on an application form. These students would include those who really haven't found a direction for their lives yet, get in trouble because they have no outlet for their talents and have not found a way to make a contribution to society, or who aren't at the top of the class.

I know that robotics has "saved", so to speak, many kids who would just be sitting in front of the tv all day and not doing anything. It has been life changing to those who have needed to learn how to be gracious and professional. I would like the robotics team to continue to affect people's lives in this way, but how do you include "everyone" in the robotics experience without losing the benifits of having a small team?

If we had an application for the team, what sort of questions would we ask to determine who would truly benefit from the experience the most, and giving the kids who are less than stellar a chance to change their lives? How would we distiguish between the kids who would truly be non-beneficial to the team and the kids who would grow into the team? If you have one, what sort of questions does your team put on an application and what does your team look for in a student?