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  #16   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 05-05-2013, 17:56
JohnBoucher JohnBoucher is offline
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Samanthaa,
Thanks for the clarifications. It helps knowing more about what is going on.

It will be interesting to hear what the situation is after your upcoming meetings. Do what ever you can to work with the. You don't want to burn any bridges, but do not be afraid of them or what they might do if you take your story public.

If they will give you space and allow you to exist, then great. Thank them for what they can do. The important thing is to remain in business.

If they won't fund you, work the community to get the funding. Our school district is last in the state for per student funding. We work around it.

I question the Robobots direction you suggest they want to go in. It seems to be a very localized program. Perhaps there is funding that you are not aware of if they choose that program. IMO Vex or FTC would be a better choice if funding is the issue.

Good luck, Keep posting.
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Unread 05-05-2013, 19:33
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Thank you so much and it's not a problem. We are happy to answer or give any clarifications that will help.
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Unread 06-05-2013, 02:57
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by samanthaa View Post
Also the school is trying to transition from FIRST to RoboBots which is a battle bots program because it is cheaper.
I'd never heard of RoboBots1 before, so I looked it up. It's not cheaper. It's an arms race.

Although the cost constraints in FRC do stifle some forms of innovation, they enable teams of modest means to compete on a similar level. Not so with that event. With sufficiently generous sponsors, you can straightforwardly outspend your way to victory. Another thing that makes it an arms race is the rather wide latitude teams are given to construct the robots.2 The thing keeping it from getting out of control seems to be the modest means/aspirations of the participants—and there's no guarantee the opponents will be that way for long.

Perhaps maybe an avenue worth exploring is a quick cost-benefit analysis of what it takes to participate in competitive robotics. I think you could make a fair case that to achieve competitive success, FRC is cheaper overall, and that per unit of educational success FRC is cheaper too. Then again, you should probably consider VRC too—measured in outcomes per dollar, it makes a compelling case against FRC, albeit with a lower ceiling.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi View Post
How is the workspace being cut though? Are teachers at the school being laid off from shop classes or whoever mentors the team? Does the school have a workshop that they are shutting down/selling off machines from?

Why do they need a new workspace is what I'm getting at.

Money is easy, especially if they just cut their 2nd event from their budget (but they should be able to raise enough for two events still). Workspaces are much harder to come by and entail a lot more effort IMO.
Layoffs and cuts aren't the only impetus for shutting down a program; it could come down to the perceived value of the program versus alternatives.

Although I don't know about 306's school district (and its debt), some school districts are financially incompetent, and have placed themselves in a desperate situation. (That's actually a discussion I'd like to have—the merits of various school funding mechanisms, the rate of return of the improvements/programs they enable, and the risks of underperforming and saddling the next generation of taxpayers with a disproportionate burden.)

Or perhaps it's the opposite: they're competent despite the debt, and they've done the math and realized that 306 is not benefiting the community enough. (I'd be skeptical of that—based on my experience, you'd be hard-pressed to beat the rate of return of a well-established FRC team in a district lacking in similar extracurricular opportunities. But admittedly, I'm estimating based on anecdote, rather than systematically studying the problem.)

1 Is that redundant?
2 Rules are here and here. It's hard to have a credible ban on hazardous materials when you allow rotating weapons with no kinetic energy limit, pressurized gas at 853 lb/in2, and unlimited battery capacity and chemical energy storage. (As long as it doesn't use them as a weapon or in an internal combustion engine. I'd like to see a team employ some sort of external combustion engine, perhaps out of spite. And a hydrazine-powered turbine would be even more fun, but despite the lax regulation, that would be hard to justify on account of safety....)
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Unread 06-05-2013, 08:10
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

When our team realized that they needed more money, we set up a slide show and practiced a presentation for new sponsors. I think only 2 - 3 companies didnt give us anything
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Unread 06-05-2013, 12:08
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

As one of the lead mentors for a team that is not connected to a district or any major sponsor I know where 306 is coming from. Our team (3999-Shadetree Mechanics) was formed with the intention of allowing any student from any district(or Home School) to compete.
Our school district does not fund our team or even recognize its existence. For the first year I raised over $25000 through grants and fund raising. That number got cut almost half in the second year. It looks like we will be losing 3 major sponsors this year as well. While we may be able to replace some of the funds we will have to ramp up fund raising to cover the expense of going to a second regional in 2014. In the first 2 years we were only able to attend 1 regional. We have the entrance fee ready for the first regional in our account and we will start fund raising for the second one knowing that we need to raise about $4000.
The team is in the process of securing some new sponsors for the coming year. I can tell you that it is much easier and more palatable to a sponsor to let them know that any donation will help. 10 sponsors at $500 per year will insure that you have enough to attend at least 1 event. Please let me know if there is any way we can help as we go through what you are going through now on a daily basis.
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Unread 06-05-2013, 12:35
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

I would definatly send a quick email to your local Regional Director and Senior Mentor, if you have one, letting them know the situation. They should be able to help during the talks to try to keep the team as part of the school. They also may know about some grants that your team would be eligible for.

For us we have not had a yearly budget that the school would give to us each year. Everything was raised by our students or given to us by grants or sponsorships. Our build sites have been in mentors homes and garages.

I understand you are in a small town which can mean limited means to draw from. Perhaps you would work out an agreement with the school to build and store off-site and fund everything yourself under your current team number. You could be affilated with the school and covered under their 501c3 and insurance but would not have a specified budget with them.
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Unread 06-05-2013, 12:56
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

You have the support of FRC 2656. I shared your video on our Facebook page and we "liked" your page. Best of luck to 306. 2656 and the Steel City Robotics Alliance will do whatever we can to help out.
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Unread 06-05-2013, 15:48
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Hello everyone. My name is Courtney Ruth, and I'm secretary of CRT 306. I'll be updating our situation along with Samantha.

First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you and your teams for your support. It means so much to us, and there aren't words for our graditude.

As of right now, our two captains, Samantha and Emily, have met with our superintendent to discuss what's going to be happening with our team. I don't have te details of that meeting yet, but I do plan on finding out.

We've crunched the numbers, and we've managed to come up with a budget that will at least allow us to attend one regional next year. Right now, we're working on thinking up fundraisers to help reach this goal. If anyone has any ideas for us, please let us know.

We've also arranged a meeting with our School Board, scheduled for May 20th. As far as I know, we're going to present our Chairman's Award, and we've invited a couple of teams down to support us. If the meeting goes in our favour, we'll get to keep our room as well as our number. We're not expecting funding, and we think we can manage without it. Should it go awry, we'll begin looking for a new place, and we'll need a new number. If that happens, we'd appreciate it very much if everyone could help us get the word out that we're still around, just with a different number.

Again, we thank you all for your support. Personally, I'd be devastated to see the team go. I'm only a sophmore right now, but I've been involved with FIRST since 5th grade when I was on a lego team. I don't know what I'd do without it, and I think my team feels the same way I do. I'm truly touched by the effort CIA 291 has put in to keep us around, and along with everyone's support... It's overwhelming, to be honest, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

If anyone's ever been in a scenario like this, or doesn't get funding from the school, will you please let us know how you raise enough money to be a part of FIRST? Our superintendent likes the plan that we have so far, but it'd be nice to reinforce the idea that operating outside of the school is possible.

Once again, thank you.

~CRT 306~
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Unread 06-05-2013, 16:03
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by kitsuneheart View Post
will you please let us know how you raise enough money to be a part of FIRST?
If you have any spare funding available, take a look at the Hexbug Fundraising opportunities that VEX provides here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vex/fundraising/ These things pretty much sold themselves at local events for our team. Kids love them, and adults do too.
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Unread 06-05-2013, 16:04
JohnBoucher JohnBoucher is offline
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Thanks for the update.

It is good that the superintendent likes your business plan. You might want to each out to some of the community leaders and ask for help fine tuning the plan. Get them involved. Show the board your community support.

I don't see that you won the Chairman's Award. 291 is listed. Was it a joint effort?
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Unread 06-05-2013, 16:19
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnBoucher View Post
Thanks for the update.

It is good that the superintendent likes your business plan. You might want to each out to some of the community leaders and ask for help fine tuning the plan. Get them involved. Show the board your community support.

I don't see that you won the Chairman's Award. 291 is listed. Was it a joint effort?
No, CIA won the Chairmen's Award at Queen City all on their own. We came very very close at Pittsburgh, about 4 points below the team that did win from what we've heard, and plan to use it to show our board how much we try to give back. We've been working within the community to better our business plan and keep on going.
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Unread 07-05-2013, 10:46
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by kitsuneheart View Post
If anyone's ever been in a scenario like this, or doesn't get funding from the school, will you please let us know how you raise enough money to be a part of FIRST? Our superintendent likes the plan that we have so far, but it'd be nice to reinforce the idea that operating outside of the school is possible.

Once again, thank you.

~CRT 306~
I had a nice talk with Kyle over the phone last week. I'm sure he has passed on what information I had on our situation, how we overcame and how we are much better off for it.
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Unread 20-05-2013, 11:21
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Today is the day we find out what is going to happen. We are meeting with the school board to discuss our future, the kids have worked very hard the past few weeks putting a great presentation together. As said the superintendent is willing to work with us and told us what we need to push to get the board on our side too. Thank you to everyone for your help and support, it means a lot to the team and has kept them going. We will give an update as soon as we can.
Thank you all again.
Kyle A
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Unread 20-05-2013, 11:33
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle A View Post
Today is the day we find out what is going to happen. We are meeting with the school board to discuss our future, the kids have worked very hard the past few weeks putting a great presentation together. As said the superintendent is willing to work with us and told us what we need to push to get the board on our side too. Thank you to everyone for your help and support, it means a lot to the team and has kept them going. We will give an update as soon as we can.
Thank you all again.
Kyle A
Good Luck!
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Unread 20-05-2013, 14:39
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Re: Help Save Team 306 CRT

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyle A View Post
Today is the day we find out what is going to happen. We are meeting with the school board to discuss our future, the kids have worked very hard the past few weeks putting a great presentation together. As said the superintendent is willing to work with us and told us what we need to push to get the board on our side too. Thank you to everyone for your help and support, it means a lot to the team and has kept them going. We will give an update as soon as we can.
Thank you all again.
Kyle A
Keep us informed and good luck!
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2011 - Pittsburgh Semifinalists - Buckeye Engineering Excellence Award,Coopertition Award,SemiFinalists
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