How do team select new members?

[Yan Wang]

So how do teams select new members each year? The team size thread made me want to ask this.

Our team is limited to 25 participants. Veteran members pretty much get back on free. New members attend a couple of meetings which introduce them to the team. Applications are handed out, filled, and returned. This year, two people entered all the applications into an anonymous database - no names or handwriting. The applications were shown to the veteran members on projector and we voted based on qualifications such as seniority and ability to commit to the team (obviously very important). The votes were tallied based on approval. Each veteran member made a list of 8 people they would approve of being on the team based on the applications and then everyone's lists were tallied. The 7 most approved people were the initial ones to be on the team. The officers then went back and reviewed them carefully to see if perhaps someone else was close to being in that top 7 (yeah, we have a lot of returning members) and was still very qualified. A couple minor changes were made and presented back to all the veteran members. The teacher then approved/finalized the list.

[Clark Gilbert]

Originally Posted by monsieurcoffee

So how do teams select new members each year? The team size thread made me want to ask this.

Our team is limited to 25 participants. Veteran members pretty much get back on free. New members attend a couple of meetings which introduce them to the team. Applications are handed out, filled, and returned. This year, two people entered all the applications into an anonymous database - no names or handwriting. The applications were shown to the veteran members on projector and we voted based on qualifications such as seniority and ability to commit to the team (obviously very important). The votes were tallied based on approval. Each veteran member made a list of 8 people they would approve of being on the team based on the applications and then everyone's lists were tallied. The 7 most approved people were the initial ones to be on the team. The officers then went back and reviewed them carefully to see if perhaps someone else was close to being in that top 7 (yeah, we have a lot of returning members) and was still very qualified. A couple minor changes were made and presented back to all the veteran members. The teacher then approved/finalized the list.

I would consider the TechnoKats an equal opportunity team. Whoever shows up to the call outs and meetings will be on the team. Every year we would (and I'm sure they still do) get a large amount of people in the fall, and that number would reduce itself down to around 35. The TechnoKats do have a selection process for team positions such as team leader or robot operator, and there are a few different applications for many spots. After the adults recieve these there is a voting session held during a meeting to elect these new student officials. The TechnoKats do become more strict when it comes to who gets to travel, aside from the grade requirements students must attend a certain amount of meetings and participate in a level that is approved by the adults. In the past this has come to hurt a few people when it came to traveling time, and it looks like this year they have a new "point system" to help with this. All of this is explained in great detail in the http://www.technokats.org/documents/handbook.doc . It's a great handbook that has been developed over the course of 4 or 5 years.

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Clark Gilbert

I would consider the TechnoKats an equal opportunity team. Whoever shows up to the call outs and meetings will be on the team. Every year we would (and I'm sure they still do) get a large amount of people in the fall, and that number would reduce itself down to around 35. The TechnoKats do have a selection process for team positions such as team leader or robot operator, and there are a few different applications for many spots. After the adults recieve these there is a voting session held during a meeting to elect these new student officials. The TechnoKats do become more strict when it comes to who gets to travel, aside from the grade requirements students must attend a certain amount of meetings and participate in a level that is approved by the adults. In the past this has come to hurt a few people when it came to traveling time, and it looks like this year they have a new "point system" to help with this. All of this is explained in great detail in the http://www.technokats.org/documents/handbook.doc . It's a great handbook that has been developed over the course of 4 or 5 years.

Ditto with 384 Clark. We welcome anyone who his well behaved, works, and loves what they do. When it comes to travel, it changes due to money. Last year we only brought 12 to Annapolis, but another 7 students drove up on their own time and money to see us on Saturday. That's a 3-4 hour drive, and they were there before we were!

[Duke 13370]

We take 'em as they come.

We have around 70 members and at times I kinda wish mabye we should do tryouts, but no one on our team wants it to be exclusive. Members have to post a certain # of hours outside of general meetings to come to regionals, but we will never turn anyone down at a meeting who wants to learn.

[mtaman02]

Ummm. There are many ways to get team members to join.

1) A Walkin Where students just walkin to the robotics room.
2) Hold a team orientation during PTA nite.
3) If you want kids from technical courses to join invite the teacher and students of that specific course to attend a competition.
4) Have current members spread the word about robotics to their friends. (which i'm almost positive is whats being done already!)

[Matt Krass]

People who know me know how I feel about application systems, and those that don't, IM me if you want to know, because I'm not going to rewrite it here.

My team lets anyone and everyone join, when it comes time for the big trips, any travel ones basically, we decide in a team meeting who should go, usually our drive team and our specialists, then devotees who don't fit that category until we run out of plane tickets or hotel rooms or whatever limits us.

[Noah]

Our team has an application process that begins extremely early in the fall. All veteran members are offered a slot to return, and then we open any remaining spots to applicants. The main reason that we use this application system is that we have (officially) a twelve student team. The major benefit of such a small team is that everyone gets a huge amount of time working with the robot. It is a hands on experience for everyone. By the end of the build season we are all very close (after spending eight hours a day for six weeks together, you become friends, or you die.). It is a great experience to be a part of, and I am sure that it would be very different if we had a sixty person team.

Of course, after the applications are done, anyone who wants to build a robot without being "officially" on the team is welcome to join us in the shop after school, and they can be added to the roster if they show a lot of determination. We try to keep our team small, but we welcome anyone who is willing to make the commitment and join us.

[Amanda Morrison]

Many teams treat FIRST as an early occupation for students, i.e. they must try out for a position on the team relevant to their interests. While this may suit many teams and lead to student success, our team takes a much more broad approach: 'Let's inspire EVERYONE!'

If a student comes to our meetings, they are on the team. If a teacher participates in activities or fundraisers, they are our ally. And we found out, amazingly enough, that this lack of organization/mass inspiration lead us to a successful year with many supporters of our team.

I've managed to find that the students I probably might not have picked specifically for a programming or driver's position end up being the most involved, most dedicated, most inspired students. The only thing I can ask of other mentors is that they give everyone a chance... this program benefits those people who dedicate their time to benefit others. It's a win-win situation.

[Allison K]

Well, right now we dont really have a problem with selecting members. The team is small enough that I take what I can get.

I don't know what I would do if the team ever did get too big. I not really a fan of applications (besides, that means I have more paper work, and I'm not a fan of that either) and as we are the only educational extracurricular activity in the school, I really don't want to turn people away. And I think right now we have enough work to keep about 300 people busy. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Allison

[srjjs]

Although I support the totally open approach that some teams have, some schools/teachers (such as our own) have problems with this sort of ambiguitiy and lack of an official decision as to whether a certain person is on the team or not. In my opinion, the restrictions are understandable (a robotics competition is pretty much a four-day weekend, and if someone who has no intention of going decides that they're suddenly "on the team" despite not having expressed any interest before...), and I've concluded that the spirit of FIRST is not significantly hurt from that.
What I think does hurt, however, is a sort of elitism that develops if membership is restricted to people who are declared "more qualified." I can see not expending limited resources (maybe not everyone will be able to attend natinoals), but everyone should be exposed to FIRST in some way or another, whether they're "on the team" or not.

[Melissa Nute]

My team allows whoever wants to join to join. We started out with almost 40 members this year....its weeded itself out to 25 by now and I doubt anyone is going to leave the team now of the people we have.

[Joe Matt]

Also to add, we are VERY close to a regional here, so we let everone go to the VCU regional. Our onl stipulation is that if you get out of school on Thurs and Fri, you have to come on Saturda, and vice versa.

[Katie Reynolds]

Select? Whoever wants to join 93 can join ... everyone is welcome. *edit* But to stay on the team, students must maintain a C average and not be failing any of their classes.*edit* To attend competitions, though, members must fufill a certain criteria (attend so many fund-raising events, show up more than once every great while, etc.) if you want to know the specifics, send me a PM!

[Yan Wang]

Well, many teams seem to let anybody on the team (granted that they behave and are doing well academically), but for us, it is not possible and limited to 25 per year. All vet members have a slot if they wish. If we could have a lot of people, that'd be great, but too much is also a problem since that affects productivity. Our lab just got 24 new workstations (which play Halo nicely) and I am sure that they will be of great distraction to even the 25 people that we have.

To say that the application process is unfair is unfair. Our team looks at everyone's application anonymously and we decide based on:

Seniority - If that person is a senior and has only this year to participate, then they should.
Commitment - The person needs to be able to be there everyday for most of the time. It's only 6 weeks and things need to get done fast.
Overall application - Did the person put time into the application? Some of the ones we received included phrases and fragments, which we immediately rejected.
Desire to learn - Did the person also show a desire to learn? The ability to want to learn is more important than any prior background and teaching is a goal of FIRST. We do ask if the students are taking PLTW courses and what background they have, but when we initially look at the applications, those sections are not shown to be fair.

Another topic that was started within this topic was how members were selected for trips. Well, for us, it is similar to what has been said. A minimum number of hours is set and people have to meet that requirement. They also have to be passing classes.

[generalbrando]

It seems with 246 that since the team is small anyway, whoever shows up is a part of the team if they want to be. I hope to turn things around to the point where they start considering applications because there are too many people - and then fight them because I don't like that idea

1020's approach, as Amanda mentioned, is also very open. Back in the day, when Shrutish and I started putting the word out to start the team we had nothing, so we instinctively latched onto anyone who gave us a second glance. And I think that just kept on going and turned into what it is now.