Question of the Week!!! (9/12/04)

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Don't forget FLL. After mentoring FLL for many years, my first 5th graders are now freshman.
There are so many FLL teams in town (10+) that when they get to high school, they are already interested and know basic mechanics.

[Jaine Perotti]

In addition to what I said earlier ---

I am also somewhat worried about recruiting too well and making the team grow too large. We have a small team, which makes the whole experience much more personal and relaxed. We are much like a big family. I don't want this to change.

To solve this problem, we could limit the size by making students apply to be on the team and then select who we want. I know a lot of teams do this.

However I would be concerned about doing this because it would make being on the team more competitive and less relaxed, and might eliminate some of the students (in my opinion) who could benefit the most from robotics but might not necissarily be the most appealing on an application form. These students would include those who really haven't found a direction for their lives yet, get in trouble because they have no outlet for their talents and have not found a way to make a contribution to society, or who aren't at the top of the class.

I know that robotics has "saved", so to speak, many kids who would just be sitting in front of the tv all day and not doing anything. It has been life changing to those who have needed to learn how to be gracious and professional. I would like the robotics team to continue to affect people's lives in this way, but how do you include "everyone" in the robotics experience without losing the benifits of having a small team?

If we had an application for the team, what sort of questions would we ask to determine who would truly benefit from the experience the most, and giving the kids who are less than stellar a chance to change their lives? How would we distiguish between the kids who would truly be non-beneficial to the team and the kids who would grow into the team? If you have one, what sort of questions does your team put on an application and what does your team look for in a student?

[Kyle Love]

45 has a call out meeting at the high school. Then, we take some of em' to FSR. We also hold some shop time so that they can learn to use the machines. We just need to know how to recruit more girls.

We also have some team building activities. Like paintball, bowling or go-karting. It's great fun!

-Kyle

[dubious elise]

We hold a Monday meeting after school every week and have announcements for the first few weeks of school over the PA system to recruit kids that aren't in a tech-ed class. The kids in tech-ed classes like electronics and tech drafting get applications and "sales pitches" (if you will) from the teachers, who also run the robotics team.

Students themselves also promote the team by seeking out interested students, especially in their science and math classes. Compliments of Ricky Q. and at least 4 other team members in my first semester physics class last year, i was able to join team 269.

Great timing on their part and mine since we have handed out nearly 100 applications this year alone to fill just 15 open spots on the designated "team" (though we always encourage interested students to assist in fundraising, attend meetings, and come to learning sessions for driving, designing, and 3D modeling since every little bit helps!)