California District Proposal, Rev 2

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Pauline Tasci

I'd like to disagree. There are so many great people in SoCal doing amazing work that frankly are not active on this website (and for good reason).

I've been speaking to SoCal Mentors/Students/Alumni/Volunteers for years and most want the district move and want to aid the transition.
You can even see that more SoCal people are posting on other forms of social media rather than this page. And frankly, many well known mentors try to not engage in arguments back on forth on these platforms.

Most mentors on my own team don't engage in these forums.
How can you judge an entire region when CD only represents a small portion?

I'm sure if I sent an email to every single FIST-er in SoCal the response would be less "ghost town" and more "how can I help"
Thanks
-Pauline

Pauline,

Great points you've made. A lot of people in California want districts! We will be discussing at most NorCal off-season events this fall about how to mobilize.

I'm going to go out on a limb and speak for Joe He does come from years of leadership with SCRRF, an organization that has served robotics initiatives in SoCal for many years. While I don't agree with his diagnosis, I think his evaluation comes from more than just these forums, and is based out of his experience with SCRRF.

I understand districts is a huge logistical and volunteer challenge. However, 9(?) other regions have moved to the district model already. What challenges do we face that other regions have battled, what challenges are unique to CA, and what perceived challenges are in reality trivial to overcome?

To Joe's point, I agree that working with school administrations is a challenge, but I do not agree that the challenge is unique to California. Other regions that run most or all of their events in High Schools have found solutions to this particular challenge that California should be able to adopt.

I think solution #1 is booking with venues early. Solution #2 is being willing to pay the usage fees (the 25k district event budget includes 10k for venue).

Thanks for contributing everyone!

-Mike