Colorado FIRST Student Division

[ktrobotcreator]

Hi everyone!

My name is Katy and I am currently on Shazbots 1245 in Colorado, and I recently came from CRUSH 1011 in Arizona.

Last fall, a member of CRUSH (Fiona) and member of Plasma 2403 (Kelly) started a new organization that aimed to help Arizona FRC teams excel. The organization is called the Arizona FIRST Student Division (or AZFSD). Fiona and Kelly founded AZFSD as a way to expand on gracious professionalism and increase communication between teams. Teams really only get to show off gracious professionalism at competitions, so CRUSH and Plasma decided to change that. The program is different than what is already available to teams. The Student Division focuses on communication between teams in a particular state. It expands on helping by having web-cam meetings every 2 weeks, so teams can verbally explain what they are having problems with, which is in some cases easier to do. Since it is focused on each state individually, it has been found especially helpful for fundraising.

This organization really helps teams, and I would love to see it in Colorado by starting the Colorado FIRST Student Division (COFSD). Just like in AZ, we would meet once a week or every two weeks (the specific day TBD) via video chats (AZ used Google+ Hangouts due to being able to video chat with many people at one time for free).

If you’re still not convinced that this is a worthwhile organization, take a look at this. One night this past build season, CRUSH broke a motor to their shooter, an essential motor to their robot. They didn't have another one, and there was only one more week left of build season. They posted that on their Facebook page, and within the hour, two teams within driving distance offered a motor that could be picked up that night.

Oh, Fiona and Kelly also talked to Dean Kamen when he visited Phoenix, and he approved the idea!

So here is what I ask of you: if you are in Colorado, send me a private message to get in touch with me. If you are not in Colorado, see if your state has one, since there are quite a few other states that have started these. If not, then try to start one! Send me a private message for any questions or help!

Thanks!

Katy