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Unread 01-02-2009, 16:56
smurfgirl smurfgirl is offline
Still a New Englander on the inside
AKA: Ellen McIsaac
FRC #5012 (Gryffingear)
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: Team Award Trophy Cases in School

We have probably as many problems as you do. Our team's first season was in 2003, and we got a trophy from winning the Rookie All-Star Award. It was not allowed to go in the trophy cases from sports teams, and we were not given our own trophy case, so it sat in the room. This continued as awards built up, until we won a regional for the first time in 2006. The Board of Ed ended up issuing a "proclamation" for the team, and in this ceremony, the superintendent gave us the case right outside of the room to set up a display in. (Before that, they had been storing cardboard in it.) At the end of the year, we were warned we would have to take our stuff out, and this went on through the next year and the next. In 2008 some parents donated their time to help make a really sharp-looking display set-up for our banners and trophies, and a display with computer monitors running powerpoints... it was truly a beautiful exhibit. However, we were told multiple times by the new principal that it was intended to be a display case for artwork, and we had to move our stuff out. They packed everything up for us and left it in our room. He said he would be willing to negotiate a new spot for us to keep our stuff, and took the Management Team on a tour of the then under-construction wing. A deal was never really reached. Both partied remained unhappy. Currently, our stuff is back in the original case outside our room. There are a lot of politics going on around the issue. No one is really satisfied.

Unfortunately, I think our team is stuck in the same hard place as yours, so I can't offer any suggestions from my experience. However, you say that you haven't gotten any reasoning as to why you can't have any trophy space. I think you should approach the administration calmly, and ask them what the reasoning behind this is, so you can understand what you are working around. Thank them for explaining this to you. Then, based on their qualms, work with your team to write up ways to work with them around these issues, and explain why it is important to both them and you that your robotics awards can be displayed. Try to remain level-headed throughout, even if the process gets frustrating. Hopefully you will be able to win them over. I think this is the best approach available.
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Ellen McIsaac
Team 1124 ÜberBots 2005-2015
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