Texas Registration 2014

[2789_B_Garcia]

Hey, all,

Sorry I'm a little late to the thread, I've got a new job this year (still at my school, I'm still on the team), and so I've had to take a little CD break...but I'm back!

The big grant everyone was talking about earlier in the thread that helped kickstart several teams about 5 years or so ago was from the Texas High Schools Project (now known as Educate Texas)...We were one of those teams...what helped us stay afloat is that we got the big grant to get started and we also had a strong fundraising/logistics mentor that made sure we were stable as we were being weaned off of the big grant.

This underscores my favorite part about this community...the fact that there are so many ways to approach FIRST as a team. Our team didn't see very much on the field success during our first few years, but I feel that we developed in an organic and sustainable way. We did two regionals per year starting our second year and weren't necessarily "dominant" on the field, but we had a different focus from other teams.

I think there have been several recommendations on here that focus on "top-down" or "money" solutions looking at what sponsors, RD's, isd superintendents and the state can do...To add to the discussion and not necessarily "flame" anyone, I'd like to propose that teams collaboratively organize geographically to help develop relationships between teams to help better support struggling or new teams. I realize that not every established team might want to take part in such an endeavor, but I feel like it would be worth the effort to give it a shot. I know that there has been discussion (in particular in Central Texas) to do this in the past, and I know our team has seen at least one example of how this type of collaboration can be successful (at Chesapeake), so I'll put that out there.

[pilum40]

For our team, we've had to move our physical lab for the third time in three years. Our funding hasn't come in as quickly as last year. Apparently, some of the grants are either slow in coming or have not been awarded yet. The correspondence from the granter organization is "no reply". I'm getting nervous and am thinking of our team selling lightbulbs or something like that to pay the bills. Hopefully the funding will come through.

Originally Posted by jessjank.

The trends you all are referring to certainly appear troubling.

I can't speak for the rest of Texas, but the RD/Assistant RD, Senior Mentor, and Vista staff for Alamo have been busy over the past month contacting all teams who have not yet registered.

In quite a few cases, teams aren't coming back because teachers/lead mentors have been lost. I've been trying to connect teams in those situations, when possible, to other teams to try to help them work through that difficulty. In other cases, teams are just being really slow to actually register although they are still intending to... I've given them quite a bit of prodding.

However, we need to compare these present numbers to last year. I posted some old data below for reference.

[philso]

Originally Posted by 2789_B_Garcia

To add to the discussion and not necessarily "flame" anyone, I'd like to propose that teams collaboratively organize geographically to help develop relationships between teams to help better support struggling or new teams. I realize that not every established team might want to take part in such an endeavor, but I feel like it would be worth the effort to give it a shot.

When we were in St. Louis this last April, I was speaking with some people from some of the Toronto area teams and they described a system much like what is being proposed by Bobby. Can anyone from a team that has done this give their perspective?

[ErvinI]

Originally Posted by philso

When we were in St. Louis this last April, I was speaking with some people from some of the Toronto area teams and they described a system much like what is being proposed by Bobby. Can anyone from a team that has done this give their perspective?

While I am not currently a part of any Toronto-area team, the system described is likely a combination of the efforts of individual teams on top of the efforts done by FIRST Robotics Canada. In short, there is a considerable amount of teams in Ontario that share resources (e.g. the famed practice field that the Niagara teams share, machine shops such as 865's etc.). Also, teams like 1241, 610, 771 and many others do help other teams through distance-mentoring and seminars that occur in the preseason or just after kick-off.

On top of that, I believe FIRST Robotics Canada also tries to assign a mentor team to every rookie team when they start off.

In other words, we're kind of a big, maple syrup-guzzling family that also makes great robots (and people !) .

[lynca]

Originally Posted by ErvinI

On top of that, I believe FIRST Robotics Canada also tries to assign a mentor team to every rookie team when they start off.

Great to hear. Assigning teams to mentor other teams is such an important step to sustainability.

I hope that Texas can implement a similar system.

[Abhishek R]

It's also important that veteran teams stick with rookies for as many years as possible until they are self-sustaining; as in they can manage the program without any outside help themselves. It's easier to start a new team than it is to maintain and grow a single team, as suggested by the numbers.

[2789_B_Garcia]

Originally Posted by lynca

Great to hear. Assigning teams to mentor other teams is such an important step to sustainability.

I hope that Texas can implement a similar system.

Last year we mentored 4610 and it was a great experience for both our teams and I'll +1 Abhishek's comment above! A good next step to implementing a similar system might be to coordinate with other teams to identify nearby teams that are new or struggling and reach out to them...if nothing more than a phone call or having lunch just to make connections.

Whats the best way to get team contact info?

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by 2789_B_Garcia

Whats the best way to get team contact info?

The number one way is to contact your Senior Mentor, if there is one in your area, and let them know that you want to mentor a rookie/young team.

Contact info for them can be found here: http://www.usfirst.org/regional-contacts. Note you have 3 Senior Mentors in TX and the two that I know are great to work with and very helpful.

You can also find team contact info here: http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on Note for this season the lowest rookie number is 4900, the lowest rookie number for the 2013 season was 4450. Teams that have an 8 digit number have registered in TIMS but have not actually registered for an event.

You could also contact your RD and their contact info can be found on the regional contacts page too.

[2789_B_Garcia]

Awesome, thanks, I'll have our team do some leg work to see what we can do!

[emmcro]

Interesting number on the TWC Overall Grant chart. Any idea how it is broken down by cities in TX?

[Mykey]

We just came off of our second year as a Texas team (and are headed to Houston for the Remix tomorrow). Funding the team the second year was immensely more difficult than as a rookie team.

As an explorer post we are not affiliated with a school. Outside of the fact that we have to scramble for a place to meet, we have also discovered that there is a definite bias towards school programs. This not a complaint, it is just another possibility as to why some teams fold.

The observation about sports vs. STEM or the arts is absolutely too true.

We are also greatly helped by being in San Antonio. I do not believe that we would exist in a smaller town. It is already very hard to get participants (no school to draw from).

I would love a system where mentors share some time with newer teams. We already lend out teens, mentors would be invaluable.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Mykey

As an explorer post we are not affiliated with a school. Outside of the fact that we have to scramble for a place to meet, we have also discovered that there is a definite bias towards school programs. This not a complaint, it is just another possibility as to why some teams fold.

.

Could you expand on this a bit? Are you referring to grants?

[Mykey]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Could you expand on this a bit? Are you referring to grants?

First let me start with FRC itself has never given us any problems.

Grants are a part of it, although there are more aspects to it than that.

We operate as an afterschool program and we take anyone who wishes to join regardless of their location or school affiliations. Because of this we have been accused stealing students from schools that have (or wish to have) FRC teams. We do not actively try to take anyone from another team, but we still catch grief if we are chosen over another. We have actually lost more to new school teams than we have taken.

When we applied for the TWC monies we were informed that we would have to get verification of the teens grade levels from their schools. And in fact if they are homeschooled (about a third of the team) that we would need to go to the schools they would have attended for verification. They backed off of this when they were informed it is illegal to require this in Texas (homeschools are considered to be private schools here). Schools are reluctant (rightly so) to release such information to other organizations. Try collecting this from six different ones.

As an Explorer Post we are provided with liability coverage and legal protection. This is normally a provided by a school. I am not sure how other teams that are not under a Scout/school umbrella address this.

We established ourselves as a not-for-profit organization and have had to establish titles and a non-residential address to be able to fill in the blanks for grants, approaching sponsors, establishing websites, ordering parts/tools from some companies and sometimes getting retailers to acknowledge our tax free status.

When you put your group forward as a youth group not directly affiliated with a school you would be surprised how many people treat the group with suspicion. They ask questions to find out what your "agenda" is. I think many assume that you are either a cult or a group of pedophiles (and sometimes both). We had a neighbor near the garage we meet in accuse us of running a sweatshop. As funny as this was it is an excellent example of how many approach us.

Please don't get me wrong, it is not all up hill battles. It is just that many things related to FRC are approached from the assumption that you are operating through a school.

[Mr.Frishman]

It is definitely more difficult to operate when the team is not district affiliated. We are the second FRC team in the area and the original has been the only game in town for a long time. Because of that our district does not look very kindly on us. Having said that, it is is still possible to operate without district help. We have to find alternate funding sources and so far we have been successful.Teams cannot exist year to year on grant funding alone.It was very easy to get a lot of money to start a team but most fund sources seem to want rookies.Time Warner Cable was a great example of this.

[Abhishek R]

Has the Texas Workforce Commission stopped sponsoring teams or have hey stopped giving grants for rookie teams or something else? As I understand it, they still sponsor teams that they originally gave the grants to.

And yeah, it's a good point that many people don't see FRC as they see "regular sports" or a fine art.

Also, district affiliation doesn't necessarily mean they receive support from the district, it may just be that some teams are affiliated with a school as a club and therefore associated with the district.