Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Alex, you forgot that HOT is also in Oakland County.

Beside the great teams, we have great mentors and volunteers in Michigan. This is why FIRST in Michigan was able to start - because we have such a depth. Among those mentors are 4 WFA winners: Dave Verbrugge, Kyle Hughes, Paul Copioli, Ken Patton

I can't believe I forgot them! I probably should have relied on something other than the FiM team map to know where all the teams were from.

[JABot67]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

In your region, how many Championship banners do you have?

In a county such as ours with teams such as 217, 33, 469, 51, 201, 245, and 1, we have a large collection of divisional banners from most of the veteran teams in the county.

Don't forget 67... they're from Oakland County. Also, 217, from Utica/Sterling Heights, seems to be from Macomb County, although it's possible that some of their students come from schools in Oakland County.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by JABot67

Don't forget 67... they're from Oakland County. Also, 217, from Utica/Sterling Heights, seems to be from Macomb County, although it's possible that some of their students come from schools in Oakland County.

What about the younger teams? Divisional banners in the under 5+ group?

Don't hold back now.

Jane

[nlknauss]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

But the fact is that there are three Hall of Fame teams within a 90 minute drive of Philadelphia. Two of them host-offseasons, and there are several other off-season events nearby as well. The Philadelphia regional has as many teams with two-digit numbers as it does rookies. 47% of the event has a team number under 1000. That should pretty much answer your question.

Great statistics here Sean. The Delaware Valley area lucky to have those teams Hall of Fame teams within such close proximity to each other. They have really helped with the shaping of the region.

When I first saw this thread pop up, I immediately thought of the number of WFA winners in our region. All WFFA winners are exceptional and it would be great to see one come out of our region for the first time soon.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Beside the great teams, we have great mentors and volunteers in Michigan.

Gary,
Can you expand on this?

What does it mean:
'great mentors and volunteers'?

Suggestion:
mentors in the region working together? What types of events/projects leading up to FiM?
volunteers from many teams in the region?

Statewide?

Can you give some numbers.

Example: 15 teams, 20 mentors, 35 volunteers?

Rough numbers but something to give me an idea. For this thread, I'm not interested in 'FiM' formation other than the number of teams/volunteers/mentors involved in making that happen, I'm interested in 'depth'. See what I mean?

Jane

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by nlknauss

Great statistics here Sean. The Delaware Valley area lucky to have those teams Hall of Fame teams within such close proximity to each other. They have really helped with the shaping of the region.

When I first saw this thread pop up, I immediately thought of the number of WFA winners in our region. All WFFA winners are exceptional and it would be great to see one come out of our region for the first time soon.

Nathan,
WFFA and WFA numbers = awesome.

How many?

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

What about the younger teams? Divisional banners in the under 5+ group?

Don't hold back now.

Jane

I know they aren't from Oakland, but 3357 holds a divisional banner from last year for Archimedes. As far as the Divisional data goes they are the only non 5+ veteran to do that (in MI).

As for state championships, 2834 currently holds the title as a 3rd year team. 2612 is a state finalist as a 4th year team.

When you get down to the district level, there are many more teams who are under five years that win banners, but cannot tally all of that up right now, as I have homework that must be done.

[nlknauss]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Nathan,
WFFA and WFA numbers = awesome.

How many?

Jane - I'm sorry I don't have exact numbers, I'll edit if I find them. But between the NJ and Philadelphia Regionals we have 0 WFAs.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

I know they aren't from Oakland, but 3357 holds a divisional banner from last year for Archimedes. As far as the Divisional data goes they are the only non 5+ veteran to do that (in MI).

As for state championships, 2834 currently holds the title as a 3rd year team. 2612 is a state finalist as a 4th year team.

When you get down to the district level, there are many more teams who are under five years that win banners, but cannot tally all of that up right now, as I have homework that must be done.

This info could be good stuff to know. But - not at the expense of homework. Maybe a weekend project sometime... this thread isn't going anywhere.

Thank you, Alex.

Thanks Nathan. Here's an example: the Alamo Regional now has 1 WFFA. Very telling of this region on the level of growth, development, depth of mentorship experience recognition, etc. An older regional will have a lot more and it will show that plus more depth in resources, experience, etc. So any numbers = good. Nothing is bad in this thread, everything is good.
Jane

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

This info could be good stuff to know. But - not at the expense of homework. Maybe a weekend project sometime... this thread isn't going anywhere.

Thank you, Alex.

Thanks Nathan. Here's an example: the Alamo Regional now has 1 WFFA. Very telling of this region on the level of growth, development, depth of mentorship experience recognition, etc. An older regional will have a lot more and it will show that plus more depth in resources, experience, etc. So any numbers = good. Nothing is bad in this thread, everything is good.
Jane

Well I can at least do 2010. I will list the event and the banners/finalists for the non-veterans.

Traverse
Winner - 2645
Finalist - 2246, 2959

Kettering
Finalist - 2619

Cass Tech
Winner - 2960
Finalist - 2612, 2673

Ann Arbor
Winner - 2337
Finalist - 2619, 2611

West MI
Winner - 3357, 2054

Events not listed had 5+ years as the winners and finalists.

[JaneYoung]

Ok, so someone from Michigan clarify this for me.

The younger teams that Alex just provided won at district level so the winners qualify for State? Do I have that right? If yes, do the finalists qualify?

Jane

[Bethie42]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

Bethany
That is a great write-up about the growing program in Oregon...
Don't forget that the Oregon teams come up here to Washington and put on a great show too!! 1425 won the Seattle Regional last year!!

Oregon has a great robot family and we always enjoy coming down and playing robots with you guys!!

We will see you at the Autodesk Oregon Regional
Just 3 weeks away!!

Thanks My team hasn't been able to afford a second regional for a few years now, but eventually we will attend the famed super-regional in Seattle!! In the meantime...see you in Portland!

Eee, can't believe I forgot 1425...they surely do have a great program and I am so excited that they have such great support from their hometown of Wilsonville [my dad, who mentors our team, remembers the days before the economic downturn when Wilsonville offered free hotel rooms to any teams attending the nearby AOR, that's how excited they were about robots...]


That reminds me...if I remember right, Oregon's amazing Regional Director Deb Mumm-Hill was/is affiliated with 1425. What are some ways other areas' RDs are involved with teams and events? We really love our RD... Deb tirelessly sends emails with info about upcoming events, reminders during build season about things like robot inspection, team updates, and classes offered in CAD etc, attends off-season and regional events, and works on legislation to support STEM, just to name a few things. As far as I've interacted with Deb, she's shown great concern about individual teams and students just as much as the larger Oregon FIRST population, including finding grants for teams in financial difficulty.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Bethie42

Thanks
What are some ways other areas' RDs are involved with teams and events?

I've added this to the original post.

I've also added a request for information about FIRST Senior Mentors. How many are in your area?

Thanks,
Jane

[Alex Dinsmoor]

For Michigan, the way to automatically qualify for states is either winning a district, chairmans, EI, or rookie all star.

Otherwise you have to have enough points to qualify for states. correct me if I'm wrong, but every team who has ever been a finalist has qualified for states based on points.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Gary,
Can you expand on this?

What does it mean:
'great mentors and volunteers'?

It takes at least 80 volunteers to put on a district event. Every team is expected to have 2 volunteers for each event they attend. The districts are put on entirely with Michigan people. Some of what might be called the "skilled positions" - those that involve training before the event starts, for example FTA - are staffed by the same people at multiple events. Some people work every weekend.

Beside the volunteers that run the events themselves, there is a dedicated group that does planning all year round. This involves at least 15-20 people in various aspects.


Examples of mentor cooperation include the Ford FIRST program; experienced mentors work with all the teams that are sponsored by Ford. Another example is the MEZ facility which is sponsored by Michigan State University. It provides a build location for multiple Detroit school teams that do not have any facilities in their own school buildings.

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Ok, so someone from Michigan clarify this for me.

The younger teams that Alex just provided won at district level so the winners qualify for State? Do I have that right? If yes, do the finalists qualify?

Jane

Teams that win a district do not qualify for State directly. However, they earn enough points that if they do just reasonably well at their other district event, they probably will have enough points to qualify. A team that is on a winning alliance in one district will probably at least be picked for elims in their other district. That plus a positive win-loss record in qualification matches should comfortably earn them enough points. Teams near the bottom of the state qualification points list might have a qual record of 10-14 and were picked for an alliance in one of their districts, but didn't have to win. It's hard to say exactly what the cutoff line will be for points, as they are earned for qualifications, eliminations (the sooner you are picked and the farther you go, the more points) and for awards.

Edit: And as we were reminded several times this weekend, Michigan has more Championship winners than any other state. (I don't know the exact numbers)