Sorry for the long post, but you ask some tough questions...
Quote:
Originally posted by hacksaw692
i am currently the leader/captain/president, whatever you wanna call me, person for my team. and i'm stuck as to where to go with the team right now. this is practically our third rookie year [...]
we lost our original moderator, lost our engineers, have a new teacher moderating, have no money at the moment, are kind of in a bind with administration/school board, and it's just a really big mess right now. i feel that we are behind, and i need a quick way to catch up. if we don't do anything, i'm afraid that the team may go into extinction. [...]
i'm having an officer meeting set for tuesday, are there any suggestions out there as to what i should propose? i just need a push/shove/headbutt into the right direction. thanks a million...
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First off, is your new Teacher
really enthusiastic about this, or just "baby sitting"? Ideally you want a "Bill Nye the Science Guy" kind of teacher that's WANTS this to succeed.
IMHO, when time is short, it is
critical that you get an Adult "Product Champion" for this if you wish it to succeed. A Product Champions is a person who's soul is sold on the concept, and will do whatever it takes to persist and make this succeed. If the Teacher is
not it, you need to find another, and fast. This can be a dedicated parent, teacher, sponsor, or other adult. You
can work without one, but having an ADULT that can legally commit to deals and talk to OTHER adults greatly facilitates getting things moving, especially with sponsors.
Let's look at your priorities:
1) You need to register for a regional. Covered! Searching FIRST's database, I see you are registered for the Silicon Valley regional.
2) Start thinking NOW about your Regional Signup Strategy. Depending on some financing factors, SVR may NOT be your best choice. More on that later.
3) TOP BIZ PRIORITY FOR YOUR NEXT MEETING: You need get first $5K by 12/10, or you're DEAD. The REST of the money is due later, but that first payment is critical. As Grants and other money sources take time to "mature", you need to get applications into the pipeline NOW. More below.
Nitty Gritty:
Financing: You need your kit money by Dec 10, or you're out. Period. That first $5K is your HIGHEST priority. The rest is due in February. Given the kit, you CAN get a very competitive robot built on a series of $100-200 materials donations from local businesses like hardware stores and lumberyards.
The regional fees are the tricky part.
My best advice is to find educational grants and charitable branches of local businesses for that. Bear in mind though, that there is a "grant cycle time" to contend with. That can run from 1-3 months from application to approval/rejection. It is typically at LEAST a month, because the grant agencies typically collect for 30 days, have a "review day", then those that are approved will get their money [xx] days or weeks later. Therefore, it is IMPERATIVE you get that started with grant applications NOW, with MULTIPLE grant applications (for redundancy) in order to snag ONE of them by Dec 10.
FIRST has links to places about How To Write Grants, but I can tell you in general it is EASIER to get a grant for Capital Equipment (especially something that can be reused) than for a Fee for something. So it helps if you emphasize purchasing the KIT in your application vs "we're paying an entrance fee". Remember, this grant is for an Educational Experience in ROBOT CONSTRUCTION, that models an Industrial Design Cycle. That $5K you are asking for allows you to purchase THE MATERIALS for everyone to work with. That includes the kit, the visualization software (Autocad/StudioMax/Inventor stuff), the project management tools (Microsoft stuff), etc... ALL of that stays with the school, is REUSABLE, and they can MAKE CLASSES around it! But if you only ask for a FEE, they'll probably say no.
You say you're in your third "rookie year". Have you applied to NASA before? If not, try for a NASA rookie grants. Follow the links from the usfirst homepage for them. Benefit: It is $6K, not $5K. They give you your kit, AND $1000 to build the robot (or defer the cost of a SECOND regional so it is only $3K vs $4K.
)
The only problem with a NASA grant: You MUST participate in a NASA sponsored regional. The NASA Sponsored Regionals on the west coast are:
Southern CA - Los Angeles, CA (JPL, 20 sponsorships)
Pacific NWest - Seattle, WA (NASA Ames, 20 sponsorships)
This means if you go for a NASA grant you REALLY want the Southern CA regional. As of today there were still 33 open slots for it. Hotel fees can be raised later.
The NASA grant INSURES you your kit, and pushes further money decisions back a couple of months.
If you DO wish to shoot for a NASA grant, make SURE you sign up for the Southern CA regional *ON* 11/3. If you get the grant, and get other money, do both. But by mid January, if you DON'T find additional money, drop SVR and use the NASA money to go to S.CA.
COST CUTTING:
Now I know the SVR is "the big one" in that area, but you also have one a regional in your own home town (the Sacramento Regional) that's open. *IF* money becomes tight and going to the Silicon Valley Regional will cause you to incur excessive travel/hotel costs, then as a last resort consider dropping SVR and going to SR before SR fills up. If you feel you can still swing SVR by commuting, then don't worry about it, but if a change becomes necessary, you should determine that BEFORE 11/3 and make the changes. On 11/3 registration opens up for second signups and that may no longer be an option.
NOW that we have some of the critical dates dealt with, let's talk about the team itself.
First off, get some FIRST mentors. You have colleges near you. Assign someone to get in contact with ALL of the local Engineering departments, and find some Engineering Students that are FIRST Alumni. They are a WONDERFUL resource as mentors.
http://BuzzU.org *was* the place to go for anyone graduating from a FIRST High School to register themselves as a college mentor, but it seems to be down. As I am starting my second team in two years, I'm trying to find out what happened to them now.
If you can't find an Engineering firm to help you, you may also find Engineers at the Colleges and Universities. Many colleges out there have Robotics Labs of some kind. They're also a source of enthusiastic robot builders to act as your Engineers.
Next, as others have said, do NOT try to do all the work by yourself. You'll burn out, and too much has to be done in too little time. Delegate specific jobs, and get some parental involvement. You need HELP. Go to your PTA (PTSO, or whatever you call your parent/teacher/student group), and get some assistance from them. Some of them are excellent fundraisers, and/or have great connections with local businesses. Tap them.
You were unspecific about the problems with the Administration. You MUST resolve any problems they have with your team. You NEED them. If the administration withholds resources or gets TOO mad, your problems are tripled, and it will be almost impossible to continue. Go to them and ask "what can we do to make this work?" LISTEN to them, then do WHATEVER is necessary. If the problems are between the Admin and specific individuals on the team, talk to them and insure the Admin is satisfied with the result, or in the worst case if it is totally unsalvageable be prepared to rearrange team personnel or even reform the team from scratch.
You didn't say the size of your team. There is a Critical Mass of students you MUST exceed to get this to work. If you don't have it, it is Recruitment Time! After you have some basic grant and money plans in the pipeline, prepare some presentation materials, and throw a robot demo to get more students in. You should have two robots now. (If not, ask a local team to help.) I've used a "Robots At Lunch" lunchroom demo with GREAT success. Get permission to throw down a scrap of carpet and run some robots in the lunchroom through all the lunchtime periods. Set up a spot in the traffic path with a VCR running FIRST tapes (you can get promo tapes from the FIRST office if you don't have one of your own), some team photo montage boards, signup sheets, and members to chat with the students.
I hope this gets you started. If I can be of more help, please email me.
Good Luck!
- Keith