Snow days are killing us

[staplemonx]

We haven't been able to get our stuff since wed. And the city just announced that we are not getting in to the building til monday. And our weather person just announced more snow on monday.

Has FRC ever given a team an extension due to snow?

Philly schools close to easy.

[liam.larkin]

In the same boat. Team is out of Lansdale PA not to far from you sir. I think maybe it happened once I want to say 07 maybe but maybe I am making that up. This is always a problem for us. You are gonna have to do whatever you can. I dont recommend this but I may or may not have broken into our school before to "take" some of the stuff to work on it in my basement with some of the kids..SHHHHHHHH

[Steven Donow]

Last year, they made the witholding allowance(the amount of parts you can bring with you to a competition for use one the robot) significantly larger.


We're also running into the same issue (including final exams being pushed back a lot..), so hopefully they'll do something similar this year.

[rcmolloy]

JJ,

I feel you man. We are in the Delaware Valley as well with many other teams and it seems like there's nothing that can stop this weather. I'm sure you can snag a few students for your team and bring them to your house or something. I have done that with a few people last year and it really helped. Although, I can see there being issues with the students going to where ever they could meet you.

If you guys need a place hit up some teams from around the Philly area. I'm sure we would help you out but we're 45 minutes outside of of the city so haha.

Talk to your new man Akash, he will help you out a lot.

[JudyVandy]

There was one year (2003?) that the whole eastern quarter of the US was shut down because of about 2 feet or more of snow, Carolinas to Maine, and we were given a few days. However, this was mainly because FedEx could not do their pick-ups rather than because teams could not get to finish their robots.

With that in mind, don't plan on any extention!

[Ed Sparks]

In Alabama, we lost the first 10 days due to snow and school closings. Policy dictates that school groups cannot meet if the school is officially closed. This is definitely a tough year for us and I hope FIRST gives us some relief. I expect a larger "Holdback allowance" will be the best way to help all of us.

[fox46]

In our area (Stayner Ontario) whenever they close the roads the snowmobile trails are open and the build continues! It also helps that our primary workspace is a snowmobile recycling and repair shop. As a matter of fact many kids ride sleds to school because you can get a snowmobile operator's card at age 12 so transportation usually isn't an issue.

My suggestion would be to make friends with a custodian and get him/her to let you in to get your parts and work at home. Better yet, see if you can find a local business to loan you some workspace.

There is of course the other option.... Find someone willing to let you into the school despite beurocratic policies and power through the storm! Sometimes you just have to look the other way or find a creative way around little roadblocks like this. There are things that I have done in the past in highschool on my own team that had I not, we would not have been able to do the things we did.

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by fox46

In our area (Stayner Ontario) whenever they close the roads the snowmobile trails are open and the build continues! It also helps that our primary workspace is a snowmobile recycling and repair shop. As a matter of fact many kids ride sleds to school because you can get a snowmobile operator's card at age 12 so transportation usually isn't an issue.

Thats just awsome.

I miss the OP and snow mobiles, used to play hockey up in ignace and wassaga beach.

[thefro526]

JJ,

Snow days have been a part of build for as long as I can remember - they're just part of the game. We usually aim to be "done" by the end of week 4 just so that we know our schedule can slip a week and we're still on time-ish.

Also, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.

[Brandon Holley]

Snow days are tough. It's something our team deals with every year living in New England. You must try to get work done on days where you are unable to meet. Whether it's finishing design work, creating drawings, constructing BOMs, ordering materials, working on awards submissions, etc. This year has been tough on us as well (~60" of snow on the winter thus far, ~50" of which during build season), so we are definitely a little behind.

All we can do is work as hard as possible to make up the time, and if FIRST throws us a bone great, but we cannot count on that happening.

-Bando

[spartan058]

I agree, but last year, FIRST allowed us to keep up to 50% of our weight from Ship Date, and we just brought it with us to BAE, where we attached it to the Robot, and then it was crated up at the end as usual.

[pandamonium]

work on non robot things... Chairmans, WFA, strategy, inventor, Reading Chief Delphi, rereading the rules,

There are so many things to do that don't involve the robot and don't involve physically being at the school.

when life gives you lemons make lemonade

[davidthefat]

In California, there are "fire days" instead of snow days. Must say I rather take snow days over fire days when the skies are red and ashes "snow".

[Tetraman]

There is a reason why we named our team "The Arctic Warriors". Being near Syracuse (where the real snow in NY hits, don't ever think Buffalo or Rochester has it worse. I did live in Rochester too.) is always a pain, but we always plan for the snow days.

It's actually the mentor "break" days that are worse for us then snow days, but hey you need to give the mentors at least one day a week off from working their tails off.

[indubitably]

Historically, if our team was anticipating a snow day, we would bring everything we need to continue progress to a student's house. Mentors would not really be able to meat with us, but work was still accomplished.

We have not had any troubles in the past 2 years, thankfullly, but the 2009 season came with a week off school and many trips to a student's house.