[archiver]

Posted by Rick Gibbs.

Engineer on team #145, T-Rx, from Norwich High School, Sherburne-Earlville High School and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals.

Posted on 5/28/99 4:14 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by PollMaster on 5/27/99 8:30 PM MST:



Personally, I voted 'strongly disagree' - at least until some issues are
addressed. Here's my two cents.

First, here's my big problem with the idea. It would be a shame to limit
a student's opportunity to be a part of an event as impactful and
impressive as the nationals.

Here's another issue:
In the past, it's been very difficult to find decent travel arrangements
with only 4-5 months of advance notice. That time of year in Florida is
very popular, and often reasonably priced tickets just aren't available.
Now cut that time down to 1-2 months (i.e. you won't know until the
regionals whether or not your going to nationals) and many teams will
have problems getting to EPCOT.

Yet another issue. Say your robot has a mechanical problem during a
couple qualification rounds at the regional. That may be enough to knock
you out of the finals and out of the nationals. This will cause teams
to attend multiple regional to ensure that they qualify for the finals.

Maybe there are some other ways to limit the number of teams at
nationals. 1. No rookie teams at nationals - let them get their feet
wet at the regionals first. 2. All teams must compete at regionals in
order to compete at (not qualify for) the nationals. 3. If teams must
qualify for nationals, hold a concilation competition elsewhere at
Disney. The top 10% of the teams from Thursday and Friday can then
qualify for Saturday's finals.

Am I way off base here?