Shelf Life Of A Team

[MichalSkiba]

This is our team's 3rd year in FIRST, and 5th in a robotics competition.

As a exec member hows been there from the day the team/club was created, I would definatley agree that nothing happens without people, and particularily team members. Dispite our increasing strength (in our rookie year, 2 years ago, we were 35th at the Canadian Regional, and last year we attended Houston) we are loosing people. Our school has an exceptional reputation for academic and athletic achievement, not techinical. Most of the school's focus is on social sciences, pure sciences and music. Many students apply to our school for that reason, not robotics. As a result, our manufacturing classes have shrunk. Two years ago we had 3 different courses. This year we only have a single grade 10/11/12 split of about 30 students. All of the senior members of that class are exec members. I guess the course is still staying alive because of robotics [which our teacher had incorperated into the course].

We have about 30 registered members, of whom 15 are active. Several years ago we had as many as 30 active members. Part of the problem is that the club is seen as something between friends (all of the exec member are close friends as a result of our dedication to robotics), and not something open to them. The other part of the problem is that many potential members are turned away by the complex machinery [lathe, CNC mill, welder,...] or the amount of time that is required of them to dedicate. Most of our new members drift to non technical elements such as programming, web page or animation.

We have little sponsorship and only a handful of mentors and one staff advisor. The team is completely student run; which in a sense is a problem because our staff advisor won't be able ressrect the team after a dorment season. This year most of the exec member are graduating and the team next year will most likely be even smaller.

Hopefully, with another successful season we'll be able to lure a few more students.

WE NEED A TEAM HOTTIE!!!!!!