Student Expectations for Travel

[SarahBeth]

So we (the adults) are putting together a handbook for our team and in it we want to include some expectations/rules that our students need to follow for traveling for regionals/staying in hotels.

We already have in there that they do need to travel in no less then groups of 3, letting a chaperone know if they're going to lunch, having a curfew for the night and no closed doors if there are members of both sexes in a room.

What kinds of things do your teams expect from the students during travel? Any insight will be helpful.


Thanks!

[BigJ]

I think it might be regulations with our school district, but our students have to have an adult aged 21+ accompany them anywhere that isn't like the hotel or the venue.

This leads to interesting bargaining when certain groups of students want to go somewhere unique for lunch/dinner

The best one I've heard from a team is once their kids weren't going to bed at proper times, so they implemented a curfew instituted with duct tape on the outside of the door. Can't put it back on from inside!

[SarahBeth]

Originally Posted by BigJ

I think it might be regulations with our school district, but our students have to have an adult aged 21+ accompany them anywhere that isn't like the hotel or the venue.

Depending on where we are, we don't enforce this rule. Like, when we went to Boston, the kids could go to lunch or breakfast by themselves because there were literally a bunch of places across the street from the venue or within a block or 2. They were not however, allowed to get on the T without an adult, for example to go to Fanueil Hall. However, if we went to say, DC or Baltimore or somewhere not 'local' to us, then we'd enforce it.

The best one I've heard from a team is once their kids weren't going to bed at proper times, so they implemented a curfew instituted with duct tape on the outside of the door. Can't put it back on from inside!

LOVE THIS. Heh.

[Jon Stratis]

Check with your school. A lot of schools have a set of rules or guidelines for student travel that can give you a big starting point.

Personally, I think having a reasonable curfew is a must for trips like this. This helps ensure your students aren't disturbing other guests, and helps get them down to the lobby for breakfast on time. Besides, if they aren't exhausted after a full day at a robotics competition, they're doing something wrong!

We always eat as a team during competition. When we travel, this includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When we're going to a competition in town, it's generally only lunch, as students will do breakfast/dinner with their family, and we aren't responsible for them during those hours. This gives us a chance to hold team meetings while we eat, promote team bonding, and ensure no one is getting in trouble.

When we're at the competition venue, the general rule is no student leaves. Obviously, this doesn't apply if a parent picks up their kid.

All of this is designed for the student's safety AND the mentor/chaperone's peace of mind. After all, the last thing you want is for student to get hit by a car when you let them leave the venue to get food unsupervised!

In addition to all of this, there is a general "behave well" rule - We don't want hotel guests, other teams at competition, or patrons at restaurants complaining about us!

[boris1020]

You've pretty much nailed all the things we do. At the actual regional, we use the buddy system- never go anywhere alone. We also expect students to be one of four places: In the pit for judges or drive team, out to lunch, scouting in the pits, or scouting in the stands. Students are also required to travel to and from the regional with the team on the buses, unless they use a travel form from the school's administration to leave early or arrive late. We also have them sign a form that says they will follow typical school expectations and will be punished as if they were at school.

[SarahBeth]

We always eat as a team during competition. When we travel, this includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When we're going to a competition in town, it's generally only lunch, as students will do breakfast/dinner with their family, and we aren't responsible for them during those hours. This gives us a chance to hold team meetings while we eat, promote team bonding, and ensure no one is getting in trouble.

Jon, question on this - (it may be a dumb question but whatever) - are the kids responsible for paying their own way even when you have team dinners or does the team pay?

We tend to run into a problem that the kids don't budget appropriate for trips and their money is gone the first day - and they don't listen to us when we tell them that $20 isn't going to get them through 3 days in Boston or Manchester. Any suggestions for pounding this home?

[SarahBeth]

Also, one more question - do any of you all enforce cell phone use in the stands during competition? During our matches, we do want our kids in the stands cheering, but when we're not competing, we want them either mingling in the pits with other teams or talking to the college reps that are there.

Unfortunately, we have a hard time with most of them just sitting in the stands who aren't scouting and being on their phones. We don't want to have to take the phones away and give them back at lunchtime, but we're at a loss as to how to handle this.

[Jon Stratis]

It depends on the meal. Some meals (like lunch during competition) are ordered and delivered as a team, and the team pays. Others might be on a per-student basis.

Before the trip, we make sure everyone knows which meals the team is covering, and which ones they will need to pay for, as well as how much money they should bring for meals (based on average prices at the places we'll be eating).

Occasionally we'll have a student who forgot to bring money, or didn't bring enough. It's usually not a problem for one of the mentors or teachers to cover that student and get paid back by the parents later - it's never been that common for it to be a big problem for the team.

If it's a chronic problem, though, I would recommend having a travel fee every student pays before they get on the bus that covers all meals. Plan the meals appropriately - for example, stay at a hotel with an included buffet breakfast of some kind, pre-order lunch through the venue if possible (at our regionals, they provide an option to get boxed lunches for your team ordered ahead of time - just pick them up, find a cozy spot in the hallway or in the stands, and chow down), and go to a pizza place for dinner, where you can order a number of pizzas for everyone to share. It helps a LOT if you can find a local (someone who used to live in the area, or someone who has friends or relatives in the area) to give you restaurant suggestions. They'll be able to clue you in on great places that don't cost too much, can fit your team AND take reservations!

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by SarahBeth

Also, one more question - do any of you all enforce cell phone use in the stands during competition? During our matches, we do want our kids in the stands cheering, but when we're not competing, we want them either mingling in the pits with other teams or talking to the college reps that are there.

Unfortunately, we have a hard time with most of them just sitting in the stands who aren't scouting and being on their phones. We don't want to have to take the phones away and give them back at lunchtime, but we're at a loss as to how to handle this.

This is a great point! One year, cell phone use got so bad we placed a basket next to the door at our build space - every student had to drop off their phone before entering, and any phones we saw out would immediately be confiscated and placed in the basket. Fortunately, we haven't had to do that since - the threat of the basket at the beginning of the season is usually enough.

As for at competition, cell phones are great to have from a safety perspective, especially if the students have phone numbers of adult chaperones. The best way to keep them off the phones during the competition is to keep the busy with other stuff. If you have enough students to fill a drive team, fill your pit, and fill your scouting team with some left over, find something great for those leftovers to do. Form a "help squad" of some sort to go around the pits and help teams (especially rookies!). Have a couple of experts on Chairman's or community outreach go around to the younger teams to talk about those aspects of your program, and help them improve their programs. Talk with the individuals coordinating your regionals, and see if they need extra volunteers to help run the safety glasses station, or to guide VIP's around the regional - these are perfect roles for students to help out with!

There is so much you can do at a regional, no one should be sitting around playing on their phones!

When in doubt, send your technical students to the inspection station to ask which teams need the most help - you'll quickly become your LRI's favorite team!

[SarahBeth]

Thank you Jon! That is all great information!

I'll have to look into the venues possibly providing boxed lunches for the teams - I didn't recall this happening last year (Boston & Manchester, respectively). I'll definitely ask around, because that would be a great help for a) corralling our kids to the arena during lunch, b) not making them pay arena prices for food and c) Not having them have to leave and cross the street to get outside food.

[SarahBeth]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

This is a great point! One year, cell phone use got so bad we placed a basket next to the door at our build space - every student had to drop off their phone before entering, and any phones we saw out would immediately be confiscated and placed in the basket. Fortunately, we haven't had to do that since - the threat of the basket at the beginning of the season is usually enough.

As for at competition, cell phones are great to have from a safety perspective, especially if the students have phone numbers of adult chaperones. The best way to keep them off the phones during the competition is to keep the busy with other stuff. If you have enough students to fill a drive team, fill your pit, and fill your scouting team with some left over, find something great for those leftovers to do. Form a "help squad" of some sort to go around the pits and help teams (especially rookies!). Have a couple of experts on Chairman's or community outreach go around to the younger teams to talk about those aspects of your program, and help them improve their programs. Talk with the individuals coordinating your regionals, and see if they need extra volunteers to help run the safety glasses station, or to guide VIP's around the regional - these are perfect roles for students to help out with!

There is so much you can do at a regional, no one should be sitting around playing on their phones!

When in doubt, send your technical students to the inspection station to ask which teams need the most help - you'll quickly become your LRI's favorite team!

More great ideas - I apologize for all of the questions, but myself and 2 other adults (alum of our school and our FIRST team) just took over the team this year so we're trying to make some positive changes for our team and for our students.

We don't necessarily have a problem with cell phone use in our build room - that tends to be more of a sneaking off into other rooms under the guise of scouting or homework to play minecraft on the computer for 3 hours.

I love the basket idea though.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by BigJ

The best one I've heard from a team is once their kids weren't going to bed at proper times, so they implemented a curfew instituted with duct tape on the outside of the door. Can't put it back on from inside!

Just make sure you don't have any devious mentors who would do such a thing as remove/reapply the tape for students who offer bribes.

Also, know that some teams might enjoy removing the tape to get your students in trouble.

Regarding students having enough money for food throughout the weekend, one method we find works very well is giving students $1.00 in profit for every pepperoni roll they sell. The team gets the remaining profit per roll. These are very popular - we sell them throughout the school year.

This money they earn from this specific sale is first used to pay off a student's activity fee, required prior to traveling. Any excess proceeds are then distributed by the parent booster leader to the students while on the bus heading to the competitions for use as extra food money. So the kids have an opportunity to earn additional spending money for trips. This is especially beneficial to students who come from poorer or struggling families. And it isn't a freebie handout - double bonus.

[nobrakes8]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Just make sure you don't have any devious mentors who would do such a thing as remove/reapply the tape for students who offer bribes.

Also, know that some teams might enjoy removing the tape to get your students in trouble.

Or students from the team who break the rule remove duct tape from everybody's door (I didn't do that in high school )

Our team is actually very liberal with rules because we're smaller and our students are all pretty good about being where they're supposed to be and telling us their plans. We enforce going to lunch in groups and we do allow them to take the light rail in Dallas if they choose. Us engineering mentors are closer in age to the students than the other adults we'll tag along with the students. After dark they weren't allowed to leave the hotel without adult mentors being with them.

One issue our team had dealt with religion. Some of the boys wanted to go swimming but a few girls couldn't be around them shirtless and also couldn't use the pool so that was something we had to deal with. We still allowed the team to use the pool but the mentors reserved judgement that if the particular students who couldn't use the pool were being left out (perceived or real) we would have said no swimming period. Again, our students are pretty good and genuinely like each other so we didn't have an issue but with larger teams it's something you might want to think about BEFORE angry parents call you.

[treffk]

Use of cell phones on our team has gotten so bad that at most events we have a jar that all phones have to go in. The exception is each buddy group may have a cell phone so we can reach them.

As for hotel rules, from my experiences as a student as we have never travel with the current team. A Curfew which is enforced by room checks and 'lock-out' tape tags to seal checked rooms and see if someone left. We didn't allow members of the opposite sex in a hotel room unless there was an adult present also.

One thing that we learned from our trip to Atlanta in 2008 is have an id or reference card for each student that includes hotel information and adult contact numbers. We had a student get separated from us, due to a misunderstanding between the mentors and his parents, at the finale and he had to walk back by himself without knowing what hotel we were at or know any phone numbers to each us.

[SarahBeth]

Regarding students having enough money for food throughout the weekend, one method we find works very well is giving students $1.00 in profit for every pepperoni roll they sell. The team gets the remaining profit per roll. These are very popular - we sell them throughout the school year.

This money they earn from this specific sale is first used to pay off a student's activity fee, required prior to traveling. Any excess proceeds are then distributed by the parent booster leader to the students while on the bus heading to the competitions for use as extra food money. So the kids have an opportunity to earn additional spending money for trips. This is especially beneficial to students who come from poorer or struggling families. And it isn't a freebie handout - double bonus.

What are pepperoni rolls? And I'm not sure that we could sell food as a fundraiser only because MA has become really stringent with the healthy eating intuitive (all the lunch rules and stuff changed this year too) and we're not allowed to sell candy bars or anything like that in the building due to the rules.

I do love the idea of the kids earning extra spending money for trips though - thats kind of a cool incentive for fundraising.

One issue our team had dealt with religion. Some of the boys wanted to go swimming but a few girls couldn't be around them shirtless and also couldn't use the pool so that was something we had to deal with. We still allowed the team to use the pool but the mentors reserved judgement that if the particular students who couldn't use the pool were being left out (perceived or real) we would have said no swimming period. Again, our students are pretty good and genuinely like each other so we didn't have an issue but with larger teams it's something you might want to think about BEFORE angry parents call you.

This is a good point - thank you!

Use of cell phones on our team has gotten so bad that at most events we have a jar that all phones have to go in. The exception is each buddy group may have a cell phone so we can reach them.

How does this go over amongst your kids? As I said, its not that we WANT to take our kids' phones away but I'm not sure how else to motivate them to get out of the stands if they're not scouting and go talk to other teams, check out the pit, etc.

One thing that we learned from our trip to Atlanta in 2008 is have an id or reference card for each student that includes hotel information and adult contact numbers. We had a student get separated from us, due to a misunderstanding between the mentors and his parents, at the finale and he had to walk back by himself without knowing what hotel we were at or know any phone numbers to each us.

Also a really good idea -- and actually really important! Thank you!