We were really suprised by the amount of media coverage we got last year during the build season.
First we were on our local FOX affiliate's morning show for three 10-15 minute live segments (Get to school at 6:00am, first segment at 6:30am, second 7:15am, third 8:30am) Our school really got into it and by the third segment the entire school was huddled around us trying to see why we had a camera crew filming us. This appearence was very early in the build season and all we had was a chassis, a proto-type of our electronics board and some caster wheels (yes, we were experimenting with casters)
Our second appearence in the media came a few weeks later when our robot was a little more complete (At least our lift was done). For this segment we went to our local CBS's affiliate and ran our robot in their studio and the news personel were really impressed and loved our robot.
Our third media appearence came after we went to our one and only regional. A reporter from a small local newspaper came to our school to do a story on us.
In retrospect we find ourselves very lucky that we got so much media exposure. San Diego isn't exactly a small town, so it isn't lacking in news stories. Yet we were fourtunate enough to appear in the news three times and because of it, get our whole school behind us (Which might explain our surge in membership). We intend on repeating what we did last year, this year. We will start on January 7th. Looks like our local FOX affiliate will be doing a story on the kick-off that is being held at our school.
In late April we showed off our robot for our
ROP (Regional Occupation Program) and
WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges and impressed everyone from retired school teachers, former Boeing engineers to Regional Directors.
Then back in May Team 1538 helped build the playing field that was used for Battle at the Border 2005. Which turned out to be a success and Team San Diego is planning to have it again this year, if you are interested.
That is what we did last build season/this off-season...