[Pat Arnold]

A major barrier for all teams, including school-based ones that struggle for teacher involvement, is turnover. 4 years ago Jupiter High was one of three local schools approached by GE employees interested in forming a team, & was the only one to accept when its Engineering Academy teacher, Mr. Z. (a former Team 180 mentor), agreed to be the team's faculty sponsor.

4 years later, Mr. Z. (still the team's only teacher) wanted to move on & reclaim his classroom & storage space for academy use. The team's rookie year students who participated all 4 years graduated in May 2008. JHS's supportive principal retired. Although the team has several strong underclassmen, the loss of experienced students, parent-mentors, the team's one teacher, principal & facility have been a huge hurdle.

MARS has dealt with everything by partnering with a second High School in the area (welcome Dwyer High!), recruiting a Dwyer teacher as faculty sponsor, & relocating to their campus while still being a part of Jupiter High. They've met with JHS' incoming principal gaining her support, & with her help recruited another Jupiter teacher. This summer has been an incredibly busy time & without year-round meetings the team probably would not have been able to continue in 2009.

So...I agree with everything already mentioned: faculty involvement & lack of incentive for teachers, workspace, $, communication, restrictive school rules, etc., and add "turnover " into the problem mix (although as stated this is not unique to school-based teams)

By the way, it was great meeting Team 1557 at Eustis' Street Fest. Part of why MARS has been able to deal with its problems is how hard they've worked on community outreach by participating in similar events. Dwyer High was amazed when Jupiter High's award winning & known team approached their cross-town school rival for help.