Our F.I.R.S.T. Experience

[Nick Babion]

My name is Nick Babion and I represent the Loveland, Colorado - Surrey, North Dakota teams #1977 and #1101 respectively. Our combined team came together this year through one man that was first a mentor and North Dakota then came to Loveland high and brought the idea of FIRST with him. Together we have created the team Virtual Commandos and shared allot of responsibility across the country using the Internet and allot of phone calls. While the building was done in Loveland, Surrey did allot of the behind the scenes work of proving mathematically that we could do certain things as well as allot of the stuff most participants don't want to do, i.e. paper work. Together with this team we created Loveland's first and Surreys fourth robot. Nicknamed the jumping jukebox we accomplished what we thought was the best example of KISS imaginable. With a front mounted roller to pick up and shoot balls in the easier to score in lower goals we didn't have a whole lot of things to worry about. And after a couple weeks we added what was probably a very good design element, our opening/backboard at the top of our robot to try and catch what we could from the more advanced shooting robots.

With our crated robot on our minds we headed to the Colorado regional in Denver and met up with our Surrey counterparts with whom we bonded instantly. After unpacking and fixing up all our loose ends (and missing our first practice round) we began to look at those around us. Amazed, as we went around the pits, at these engineering masterpieces we knew we were in for a tough first year. When our first practice round came up we got psyche up and headed out there with allot of reserve. "How are we going to do this? Are we even going to be able to run?" were just a couple of the questions that managed to be asked in between the constant "oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez" rambling though our heads. The things we learned from that match were probably nothing more the affirmations of things we tried to design but it also told us, Yes, we can do OK at this, i think we have a shot. The rest of the day went without a hitch pretty much. We discovered some flaws that were not accounted for in our limited testing but they were fixable and we headed into the next day anxious for the qualifying rounds. Our first two matches went exactly how we wanted, despite our same weak points creeping up again, our alliance was able to take it. The next two matches were probably the most important of the day. The first we learned what we thought was just a weak point, could potentially cripple us, as i don't think any one really wants to throw a chain repeatedly. The second was the respect that we already had for our other teams increased ten fold. We found out that even though you tried your hardest sometimes things just don't come out. And while sometimes in other sports you see people give up, or throw a fit, or even start a fight, everyone in this competition smiled and said "what can we do to get back out there." This level of enthusiasm and dedication to a competition such as this where the potential for allot of negative things happening is just amazing. As for my self through the blur of the past 3 days, i know it was one of the happiest and most tense things i have done, and i would not trade it for the world. The experience i and my team mates gained and will be second to none through out my life. i would gladly give all that i did this first try ten times over to do it again.

This brings me to one of our major setbacks and faults during our building phase. I cant speak for everyone when i say this but i generally think allot of people want to work with their hands before they want to work with a telephone. So not realizing just how much money it takes we set forth with our hands and not our phones. We had to crunch every little penny to get what we could for this robot and even work around not being able to get it. This was our major fault. There is no one to pin this on but ourselves. We were the ones that thought we could do it with what we had and tried to, but we soon learned that things always cost money. The second time our money issue came up was the final day of competition in Denver. We came in this thing with solid hopes that we could compete and have fun. What we didn't realize is that we ended up having what it took to not only be picked for an alliance in the finals but to do everything we could to help our alliance members compete to the best of all of our ability. What the end result was will be something that i and my team will remember for a life time, looking up from our damaged robot on the third and final match and seeing our alliance win our very first competition.

What i wrote this message for today was what we remembered after our celebrations and packing up. We never did raise that much money for our robot let alone the amount its going to take to get to finals. We seem to be in sort of a tight place as of the moment and need to do all we can to try and be in Atlanta. My thought was to come here and ask for suggestions and help. What I and my team are looking for is not charity and we are ready to accept the fact that because of our negligence in fund raising we might not be able to make it to the championship. What we are looking for is some help and ideas on how we can get this money. What we are looking for is all the information and possibly even contacts we can get to try our hardest to get there. Again i am not trying to gain as much pity as possible and i know one less team, albeit a rookie team, is less competition. But this has been one of the most exciting times of our life's and we wish to do everything we can to try and make it last as long as possible. Thank you for listening to our story and thank you to all the teams that helped us and thank you to all the teams we might get to meet in Atlanta. I hope F.I.R.S.T. lasts longer and get bigger than even Dean dreams himself.

Nick Babion team #1977

My E-mail - IllicitAgency@gmail.com

Our Team Website - http://lhs.thompson.k12.co.us/vc/home.htm

Our Team Message Boards - http://lhs.thompson.k12.co.us/vc/phpBB/index.php

Our School Website - http://lhs.thompson.k12.co.us/index.htm

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Dear Nick,

Your time is valuable before Atlanta, so I shall be concise.

Rake your community for funding. Go and demonstrate your robot every chance you have. Go to businesses, stores, banks, everywhere. Remember, you are effectively raking two communities for aid. A rookie team in our community last year raised enough to go Atlanta very quickly, you can do the same. Good luck.

- Genia G

[JaneYoung]

This might help.
Write a brief but friendly letter to your 'friends and family members' stating what F.I.R.S.T. is, how on fire you guys are, and what your current situation is. Ask for their support, anywhere from $25 - $2000 - giving that as a suggestion leaves room for their amount they choose to donate yet also shows that a large donation could certainly be beneficial.

We send out a letter every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some of the team members ask for a donation rather than a gift under the tree. (I rather think they usually receive both )

This can happen fast and in your case, you have a definite deadline so put that information in the letter. Get your parents involved helping and make it is as easy for the donor as you can. Enclose a self addressed stamped envelope with your request. Each team member gets 3 to 5 letters depending on the size of the team. Last year our team was smaller so they got 5 letters. This year we are a little larger, so each got 3. Then we made extras in case any team member had a bumper crop of potential donors. In this case you may want to make it an email request to expedite things but in the future, go the letter route.

Wishing you all the best,
Jane

[KathieK]

It is very difficult to raise the money in such a short time... check out all the ideas in the fundraising forum. There are some good ones there that can be accomplished in little time with little resources!

[irishninja]

I believe somebody had asked for ideas about money already in a different thread but oh well. Lets see um bake sales, garage sales, candy sales at school, Ask your schools, your families, companies in the area, possibly just get everybody on the tema to donate ten dollars. Even that will help. Ask people to donate their change, write letters to councilmen. Raffle things off, sell tickets to let people drive your robot, get people into the lab, hold a mini competition, write more letters, ask more companies in the area.

Personally I know of teams that have lots of money. I think that FIRST should set up some form of Nationals account to help teams such as yourselves. I'm sure you will get there. Your story shows your determination. I wish you guys luck!

Sell the dvds mentioned below.

[MrForbes]

See if you can put together a short video of the final rounds of the competition, and some other interesting stuff about the robot. Schedule presentations with as many local organizations and business as you can find, that might have some money to give. Also contact the local newspaper, and let them know what you've accomplished, and what you still need to do to get to Atlanta.

We have been amazed at the funding and positive publicity we have recieved in the past week since returning from the Davis regional....small towns seem to really like a winner.

Good luck, hope to see you in Atlanta!