[Rich Kressly]

In the interest of clarity and in taking Jane's point to heart, let me start by saying that this announcement basically sparks two conversations - and rightfully so.

Conversation 1 - How this affects Michigan teams, FIRST in MI this year, FIRST in MI in the future.

I stated earlier that it appears that this kind of structure fits a place like MI fairly well because of the number of teams and the strong volunteer base of committed people like you, Jim. However, it would appear from reading here (and from looking at a map) that in places like Western Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, the new structure may actually cost teams more money and headaches than what they are used to. Is there any way to come up with a mileage/travel formula to help these teams out? Is there any way to grant exclusions on a geographic case-by-case basis? Does MI have grant funds to subsidize travel for those most affected by this "mandatory" change?

Conversation 2 - How it affects people and teams in all of FIRST now and in the future.

Personally, I'm having a real hard time swallowing a few things every time I read the pdf announcement Dave linked to as well as the FAQ. It has nothing to do with teams and volunteers like you, Jim. I applaud all of your heroic efforts to make a new FRC system work in your area. As you stated, some things get done at a "board level" that none of us get to know about. We're all just the poor schleps that need to turn our lives upside down to make it all work.
A. This announcement assumes that the way to help solve the STEM crisis in the country is by creating as many FRC teams and events as possible. While this can be part of the equation, it's a little disingenuous for anyone to state that there is a determination "...to assist the national goal by establishing FIRST high-school robotics programs in 15% of the public schools in the US by 2012." ... and in the same statement purposefully ignore Michigan FTC team numbers. If I'm a Michigan FTC team I'm part of FIRST but I can't compete in MI, nor am I recognized by this wonderful new entity that supposedly wants to solve the STEM crisis in my state and nationally. Come on! This sends a very uneasy message all across the country IMHO. When I think about STEM and the need in our nation and I think about how this pilot might roll out to the rest of us in the future, I shudder at the thought of exhausting energies solely in one direction when smaller robotics platforms achieve the exact same goal in oh so many ways.
B. Which brings me to my next thought. I've spent a little time "working" for FIRST as a senior mentor, so I put on my "FIRST hat" just to think about how I might apply this kind of system to my own state in the future. The only answer I can honestly come up with is, "I can't and I'm glad I'm not the one who has to discuss it with my RD." PA doesn't have nearly enough FRC teams and has a huge black hole in the middle of the state (Harrisburg is barely an FRC infant). Simply put, there's just no way to make this work well in my state at any time in the foreseeable future and if my state is ever asked to implement such a structure for FRC, we'd almost be forced to abandon that "other high school program that's already growing" to try and get it done as key volunteers can only do so much in a year. So I thought, "If not in PA, where else could this work?" California? New England if you combine states? NY/NJ with REALLY small events? In no way do I see this FRC system being "scalable" as the announcement alludes to and I shudder to think what might happen if this Michigan model gets rolled out to the rest of the country after it's a success - because I know it will be in some ways just because of the Jim Zondag's of the world.
C. Does creating more FRC teams and more importantly, more plays per team, necessarily translate into more students pursuing STEM careers? No, not necessarily. We all have had times with our FRC teams where some students who would have been great to have on board, but they just wouldn't commit the time to the huge FRC animal or maybe they were intimidated by it. Personally, I currently have four students in my robotics program all of whom got themselves into summer engineering camps at universities on their own. They now want to be engineers more than ever (two weren't even considering it before Dawgma came into their lives) and none of them would have ever been involved if it weren't for FVC/FTC.
D. How about the shipping and other rules differences? Can these be applied to all teams regardless of competition structure? If not, why not?

Moving forward, I think it's especially critical that we all keep our eyes on the real ball here - the individual student and truly working at that critical STEM need in the most efficient way possible. Many of them might not even give a crap how many "official" events they go to, who knows? I'm especially concerned that given no publicly stated goals or "success measurement criteria" for the pilot that this is a system that could be forced upon the rest of us by those "board decisions" someday.

Namaste, Michigan FRC teams, mentors, and volunteers. Keep going to make this experiment the best it can be in Michigan. There are positives to learn about for the rest of the FRC world - like streamlining inspections, lowering shipping costs/hassles, lowering registration costs (even by $1,000 as Ken's numbers show). However, let's be cautionary as to how we think about this for the entire FIRST community and why we really do what we do.

If we concentrate too much on the competitions, the league, the number of plays, and which robot wins and how they qualify I bet we'll be the next great American experiment gone wrong - just like the majority of high school sports programs and their "fans". Weren't these programs at one time in our culture's history supposed to help teach everyone about "life" much the same way FIRST does now?

I feel better having put all of that out in the open, please take no personal offense. I'm as passionate about achieving FIRST's real mission and promoting its ideals as everyone else here. Rest assured I get up every day with those ideals in mind and I try to live my life accordingly, just like so many of you who have done this way longer than I have.

-Rich