Too large of a team?

[Beth Sweet]

Well, first off, the phrase "is our team too large" or "how can we reduce the size" indicates that there is some issue with team size. Are some of these students not doing anything? Maybe that may be the determining factor. Are all 140 of these students from the same high school? How many mentors do you have? These questions may help you into splitting into two teams. If you want to stay one team, then I would suggest 1 of 2 options.

-Option 1: Dismiss students who are not doing anything on the team. With 140 members (or the 80 some you said you had this year) I can't possibly imagine that all members are actively participating. Tell them that you are glad that they were interested, but you need to keep only active students.

-Option 2: Have a team where only juniors and seniors travel. If your issue is with travel budgets (which I imagine that it is) then this would help. Allow all kids to participate in the build season but reserve travel privilages for juniors and seniors or those who have been on the team for 2 years or something.

Good luck and congrats on establishing a team that so many students want to participate on!