How to get students join the team?

[Dancin103]

One thing that we do that can help your team increase interest is doing a presentation to the high school and the 8th grade in the middle school. We bring our robot and show them competition footage. We explain to them everything that the team does and then if the student is interested, they have to apply and interview. If you need more help or suggestions, please PM me.

Cass

[Joe G.]

Stress recruitment among your current students. Have them bring in their younger friends. Younger siblings can be especially powerful recruitment tools, practically the entire senior class of my former team originally joined because they were friends of my younger brother.

[nlknauss]

NEMO has a great document at the link below.

http://www.firstnemo.org/PDF/Recruiting_Students.pdf

I would also suggest trying to do a demonstration at one of your faculty meetings. Other teachers are great recruitment tools because they know which students might benefit from joining the team the most.

[SamMullen]

When we've run into problems like this, we've found that the easiest ways to get people who are really into first are to either:
drag in random friends, give them tools, and tell them to do something. They won't understand what's going on, but by the time they've figured it out they're normally already hooked.
or to look for kids in physics classes that have already had some experience building things. Kids with carpenters or construction workers, or if you're really lucky engineers for parents can be not only a great supply of already partially trained kids, but mentors as well.

[Matt C]

Feed them.

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by Matt C

Feed them.

That's always a good option!

[Lledargo]

This is a wonderfully helpful thread, thanks everyone for the information.

[LightWaves1636]

We do robot demos during lunch time in the cafeteria. It helped out A LOT.

We also make visits to every class: specifically science, math, and engineering classes.

Next year, we're participating at athletics events with a t-shirt cannon so we can have a robotics booth set up for recruiting and we're going to particpate at the school rallies.

[Koko Ed]

Invite them to a FIRST event (regional or off season event) if it's local. Nothing sells FIRST better than seeing the end product in action.

[Cyberphil]

Originally Posted by LightWaves1636

We do robot demos during lunch time in the cafeteria. It helped out A LOT.

We also make visits to every class: specifically science, math, and engineering classes.

Next year, we're participating at athletics events with a t-shirt cannon so we can have a robotics booth set up for recruiting and we're going to particpate at the school rallies.

That is actually a great idea! I might have to see if we could do that ourselves!

[LightWaves1636]

Originally Posted by Cyberphil

That is actually a great idea! I might have to see if we could do that ourselves!

Thanks! The key thing with recruiting your own high school is to simply support the school and everyone a part of it and they support the team back. It's worked amazingly for us.

and yeah, i can't believe I forgot our middle school students. It won't be this year but the year after, we're going to do summer camps for the 7th graders and have 8th graders automatically join the team after the school year ends.

This year, we're only doing the 8th grade part. We're visiting their middle school and presenting to all the 8th graders.

[Robby Unruh]

We were a rookie team last year as well. At the end of the school year, a couple members from our team went to the middle school to present the robot and show some videos of it in action. Videos were the best we could do since there's no 'local' regionals (closest is probably Boilermaker all the way in Lafayette!). That got a couple freshman interested, but we only managed to hold on to them until mid-build season. That wasn't too hard of a hit for us, but we managed to pull through and finish our bot this year.

This year we gained 3 or 4 new members, giving us a total of 7 students, 3 mentors, and 2 teachers. We're hoping to do some presentations at the middle school again and get even more 8th graders interested, nothing feels better than showing off your robot.

[Unicorn_Knight]

I feel your pain, my team consists of 14 girls from grades 9-12. I've found a fantastic way to advertise though is through videos of prior competitions, of your robot in action, etc.

Also, a HUGE thing is the merchandise. As soon as you having flaming unicorns on the back of your hoodies, everyone wants to come to the competition. I'm not kidding, unicorns are a big deal here.

If you can, see if there are any FLL teams in the area and advertise your team there. Those kids know what FIRST is about and how much fun the competition is.

Another thing is incorporating your robots in school events. Genghis Khan, last year's robot, has been part of this year's Senior Skits for our school and PIMP, this year's robot, is going to be putting up our team banner next to all of the "real" sports banners.


And trust me, the most important thing you can do is have your team members show some team spirit and wear their t-shirts, hoodies, buttons, etc. Most people are actually interested in joining, they just don't know that much about it and they don't know who to talk to. Make your team available to them, not some super secret clique.

[2471ANNA]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

But does it work?

no no no. i didn't post that and as soon as i figure out how to delete it...ugh i think it's time for a CD password change. i need to protect myself from the programmers/expert hackers of the team..

[Sharp Cheddar]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

That's always a good option!

only make sure people arent only showing up for the free food