[archiver]

Posted by Bill Beatty at 04/29/2001 11:23 AM EST


Other on team #71, Team Hammond, from Team Hammond.


In Reply to: question for teams created among multiple high schools
Posted by Scott England on 04/29/2001 2:44 AM EST:



Team Hammond has always been composed of the four Hammond High schools. The intention each year is to select six students from each school, however, it doesn't always balance out.

There are some problems with multiple schools. The kids are great. Within a short time it has always become a unified team and you cannot tell which student is from which school. The problem has been more with recognition and identity at the individual school itself. Evidently the individual school administrators and other students do not view this program as their own. With our great accomplishments this year, not one high school had a word about it on their marque signs in front of the school. The team is almost never put in the year book of a school. There seems to be almost a resentment from some of the administrators, perhaps it is because, unfortunately, they are completely out of the loop. We have done a very poor job in getting the schools involved. Other than the team members themselves, there is virtually no school interest.

The meetings have always been at a neutral site, only because of suitability of the facility. The robot in the early years was pretty much built in our shop by our employees, and taken to practice at the meeting place each night. Expensive and a big pain. Now, the school city has provided a wonderful facility at the Area Career Center, which is the old technical-vocational high school. It is centrally located in the city. Now the robot is built almost entirely by students, parents, and volunteers at that location. We have been adding equipment such as a drill press, bandsaw, small sheet metal brake, etc. A few of the more intricate machined and welded components still wind up being made partially in our shop.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I also would be interested in the experiences of other muilti-school teams.