[Rick TYler]

I might as well post this here in this handy-dandy thread.

I hope to announce later this month that my employer has provided a generous grant to start a new FIRST team here in King County. Unlike most teams, we would be a club team, chartered through the Explorers program (like fire or search and rescue Exploring programs), and hosted by my employer. We would be starting with three experienced mentors and three student members, and would have our first organizational meeting before summer.

Our new team doesn't have a number yet, of course, and won't have a name until we have some more students to give it one. Team Top Gun will motor on at Eastlake High under the other four mentors of the team. For the time being, my sons and I are still part of 1294, but as we get the new team running we will not participate in Top Gun any longer.

We are planning to focus recruiting on schools that don't have FIRST programs within their schools, and promote FIRST at middle and elementary schools. It's an exciting opportunity to spread FIRST in King County outside of the schools, and to (eventually and hopefully) act as a resource and mentor to new high school programs in the area.

Wish me luck. With our experienced cadre and the support of other western Washington teams (like 1318, 488, 1294, and 492) we hope that we will be a top tier rookie team next year.