Improvements for FIRST: first a gripe, then a suggestion

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

First in Michigan matches every rookie team with an experienced mentor team.

Yeah, he's in California. That's a really great program for teams in Michigan though. I'm thinking he can achieve the same result by sending a couple of emails or making a couple calls to contacts in his area. It doesn't have the same prestige as a formal system, but hopefully it could still be effective.

[Fusion_Clint]

First, thank you for giving your time to the students, it is a tremendous undertaking.

I am a second year teacher after spending almost 22 years in the USAF. I was blessed to find employment as an engineering teacher and FRC coach with TEAM Fusion 364. While Fusion 364 has been around for 15 years, we are always needing mentors and additional funding. Last year I saw students that took the team for granted and didn't respect our resources, I'm trying to help the students gain team ownership by giving each of them fundraising goals.

BTW, money is not your main obstacle to keeping the team going, it is energy. As long as your team has the energy to keep going, you will find the money.

As an educator, you should be the grant writing expert. If not, I guarantee your school district has people that can help you. I usually submit a new grant request every 2-4 weeks. The time in between is spent researching new grants. It is a lot of work, but it is what I signed up for.

I'm now going to give you two life lessons that have taken root over the course of my life.

1. "If your not early, then you are late." We called this Lombardi Time in the USAF, you have to plan for the unexpected. If you wait until the last minute and things go wrong you are out of luck. Be early!

2. "Follow-up, is the key to success." You can't think that because you did your part, that everything is done. You have to follow-up to ensure the completion of the task, to the point of doing others jobs for them.

It reads to me that your KOP problem could have been prevented by following these two simple rules.

Many of the resources you requested in your post currently exist, but you (or your team) have to take the time to find them and use them. The spirit of FIRST is represented to me best in the old proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." We are about teaching, not giving. The "how to" is everywhere, you just have to teach and manage the "doing"; the key is motivating the kids to do it.

You need to shed the "academic" label and become a leader, if you are going to lead a FRC team.

[droswell]

We're a small team in Vermont and struggle every year just to make enough to pay for one regional (now districts). We've been doing this since 2008, and even now if one of our two main sponsors leave, I really don't know how we would do it. We've done fundraisers, approached businesses, partnered with local schools. It's terribly frustrating, but at the same time I can't imagine not doing FRC.

When you see some of the other teams with massive resources, tons of kids, business plans, and everything else, it can get overwhelming and you think you'll never get there. Sometimes you think it's just not fair your kids don't get to use a water jet, or can't afford swerve modules. But in the end, we all struggle to finish, we all run into issues, and the really great teams give us something to look up to. I can't tell you it gets easier, but I can tell you that you will get better at doing it.

This is something I think every mentor frets about. Some have less to worry about financially, but other issues are on their mind. I do wish there was more recognition for smaller teams. I know from our experience that coming home with an award, any award, makes fundraising for us easier. It's much better to walk into a business and tell them how well your team does and how it has received awards. So there is value in smaller teams getting some sort of recognition from FIRST. Something to keep in mind.

I think it would be great for struggling teams to get help, I just don't know how that would happen. In the meantime, keep up the good fight.

[ehochstein]

In addition to contacting the FIRST Senior Mentor for your area, FIRST has a resource to help teams raise funds called the FIRST Fundraising Toolkit. It can be found at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...aising-toolkit. It was created by Renee Becker-Blau, Executive Director of InF, and I'm sure she would be happy to answer any toolkit question you may have. You can contact her at rbecker (at) usfirst.org.

[Tungrus]

Rookie teams are getting much needed support, but it's 2nd and 3rd year teams are struggling to survive. FIM has been actively working to get State grants for all, kudos to them.

[Loxmyth]

I think more teams share the same frustrations as you. I believe the biggest obstacle for most teams boils down to time. The teams that are part of a school that has incorporated FRC into their curriculum, or that have paid full-time mentors are far ahead of other teams that operate on a volunteer basis. Even a full-time teacher that mentors a FRC team as an extra-curricular activity is not a full-time FRC mentor. Even then, One mentor is simply not enough to run an FRC team efficiently. Three build mentors (as we have) is still not enough.

Most mentors juggle an overwhelming number of tasks, becoming 'a jack all trades, but master of none.' Although very difficult, seeking more volunteers is the key. Not just volunteers to help mentor the students, but volunteers to help with all the background stuff that a FRC team needs. The more volunteers a teams have, the more time the team has.

More time allows for:

more fund seeking (sponsors, grants, etc.)
Grants take a lot of time to research and write. Volunteers with full time jobs simply don't have the time to do this easily. Finding a volunteer that will tackle this task is very difficult. Traveling to and from all the potential sponsors is very time consuming. Having more than one volunteer to help with this task is a huge help to the team.

more planning (you have time to plan the day, week, month)
I have noticed over the years that planning the day's activities ahead of time gives better work flow, especially during build. This is not such an easy task for volunteers that are around for the exact amount of time that the students are. Planning the day's task before students arrive is important, but difficult for mentors with full-time jobs elsewhere.

more mentoring (you can spend more time students)
A mentor that spends part of their time performing background tasks (grant writing, day planning, making orders, etc.) has less time to spend mentoring students.

more recruiting (students AND volunteers)
The more people involved in a FRC team, the more the word gets out.

Executives have administrative assistants for a reason, it allows them to better focus on their job and delegate some of the supporting tasks for someone else to perform. It makes them more efficient. That is what all FRC teams really need. It is what I see in a lot of large, successful teams.

Finding volunteers is a difficult task, and a subject all of it's own.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Our team has a pretty good lab space we open up for other teams to use in Mountain View. It's obviously a bit of a hike from the city, but it's probably one of the best resources for teams in the bay area.

Feel free to PM if you are interested in coming to check it out. Your students can drive/test their robot on the field with other teams and you can talk with some other bay area mentors. Between our mentors and those of the other teams in the lab (1868/971), there should be a person or two to talk to regarding some of the issues you are running in to.

[NLake]

I'd like to thank everyone who gave helpful suggestions; as usual, I am blown away by the support offered. Everyone who told me to private message them, rest assured that I will; let me just run around and do the other million things that are also first priority before kickoff.

Thanks, CD.