[Blue_Mist]

Originally Posted by octothorpe

Doesn't FIRST come first?

Heh. FIRST jokes have popped up in English class and English essays, as a close friend and team member sits close to me in English.

Originally Posted by octothorpe

I suppose 766 works pretty differently from most teams. We don't pay for team travel (everyone pays their own way) and we don't have district-set limits on team field trips, so there are no restrictions on who can come to which events. Consequently, there are no requirements for attendance during the build season. If there were, we'd probably have fewer than ten people officially on the team; we need to count relatively uninvolved people to even claim a 20-person membership. The only real requirement is to have submitted the team medical form so that we know who to call if someone gets hurt.

About the travel, our mentors do get paid travel, as do teachers, I think. The students must take care of their own. Also, our most experienced programmer is also one of the people with the least attendance. Our driver is involved almost entirely with the build season and Cal Games, as are some others. I guess that we will always have these types of people, as well as those hardcore overly dedicated types... We have been recruiting, but only time will tell with our new freshmen. Right now the entire tried-and-true (at least one season) "core" team consists of Juniors, not including possible freshmen.

Originally Posted by octothorpe

We also don't have any grade requirements. Our team's attitude has always been that we'll take involvement at any level, high or low. If you want to devote every waking second to robotics, fail your classes, and flip burgers after you graduate, that's fine. If you want to skip every build meeting but show up to the regionals to cop free medals, that's fine. We may not recommend either approach, but we do ultimately rely upon the student to manage their own life appropriately.

The key resides in finding a happy balance between school and robotics. When in doubt, ask what you want to do for the rest of your life. Or try, anyway (I think I have it...)