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Unread 05-01-2011, 15:35
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Bethie42 Bethie42 is offline
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AKA: Bethany Carlson
FRC #0956 (Eagle Cybertechnology)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Rookie Year: 2008
Location: Oregon
Posts: 126
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Re: Incorporating Less Frequently Available Team Members

We have loads of these non-available people and for the most part we really love them.
Drama takes a lot of people at our school and there is always a show that is being rehearsed for during the build.

For several years I didn't come to many meetings: usually I had drama or some other large commitment. However I was able to scout at regionals [was the only scout for several years]. Last year I was a lot more involved and actually learned how to do some mechanical stuff. I also took care of Chairman's, both the essay and video. This year I've totally cleared out my schedule to allow for robotics and I'm doing all the odd jobs like organization, PR, fundraising, as well as being lead programmer [through necessity]. So yes, over-scheduled kids can later go on to be really dedicated to robotics.

I'd say Chairman's Award is a good project for kids who really want to be involved, but can't make it to all the meetings.

Scouting is also a good job [depends on the student, I'd put the outgoing enthused kids on scouting...] but make sure they know a lot about the final design of your robot, and are very familiar with the game. My first year I was recruited to be the [one and only] scout, right at the end of build, and I was a bit nonplussed when I got to competition and people were asking me what sort of drive-train our robot had and I really didn't know....heh.

Last year we had a senior girl on the team who was barely ever able to come to meetings, but she wound up being a huge help to us: helped me with Chairman's and scouted with me at competition. I had a far more enjoyable and relaxed experience at competition knowing I wasn't the only one doing it. The best way she was able to help was just in the last few days of the season.

It would be really helpful if there is one student or mentor on the team who attends all the meetings and can send out email updates after important meetings, recapping what was accomplished/what needs to happen and so on.

It really depends on the student though, do they really want to be involved with the team: if they do, they'll often want to help any way they can and will be a huge benefit to you.
__________________
Robot is now a verb.

We're back to square one...while we're at it, let's redesign square one!

Team 956: Celebrating ten years of FIRST!

Code:
Team record 2002-2011
2002: Highest Rookie Seed, AOR
2003, 2006, 2012: Xerox Creativity Award, AOR
2006: Semi-finalist, Sacramento Regional
2009: Quarter-finalist, AOR
2010: Quarter-finalist, AOR
2011: Semi-finalist, AOR, and Dean's List finalist, AOR 

Personal record: 
2008: Lead scout
2009: Lead scout, publicity
2010: Lead scout, publicity, fundraising, Chairman's, videography
2011: Team captain, lead programmer, fundraising, Chairman's, publicity, wrench-turning, Dean's List finalist at Autodesk Oregon Regional
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