Quebec FIRST

[Levin571]

I am currently a student attending McGill University and while I was looking through the FIRST website, I noticed a severe lack of teams in the Quebec region and to be more specific, there is only 1 team in all of QC. Meanwhile Ontario has 59 teams.

What can explain this drastic difference and how can it be resolved?

[Alex Cormier]

the crazy summers are to blame.

oh and other factors as well?

[Jonathan Norris]

FIRST grew like crazy in Ontario first because of how successful the GTR event became, quickly becoming the largest regional in FIRST. I can't speak on behalf of the Quebec FIRSTers (296), but I imagine now that 296 is a World Championship Winning team we should see some growth in Quebec. I also hope to see some growth in Western Canada soon, the need for more engineers out in Alberta is HUGE right now.

[dtengineering]

Yeah... the GTR makes a huge difference. Not only does it mean that a good chunk of Canada's population can drive to the competition... and in many cases drive home at the end of the day... but it also gives sponsors and supporters a chance to get involved and see just how valuable their support is.

I have great admiration and respect for those who brought FIRST to Ontario and nurtured its growth there. With luck, we might do the same here in BC one day.

See you in Toronto again,

Jason

[Pat Fairbank]

One reason for this that I'm aware of is that there is a local robotics competition (called "CRC Robotics", or something like that) in Montreal that a large number of high schools and CEGEPs participate in. I know that a few high schools have looked into the possibility of joining FIRST, but with the nearest regionals being five to six hours away, and with the extremely high cost of starting a regional of their own, they decided to go with the much cheaper local alternative.

There used to be a second team in Québec (1129, IIRC) but they only stuck around for 2003.

[Martinez]

1) Toronto Regional
2) Veteran Team Mentors

These are the two largest factors torwards explosive growth in teams. Typically new teams don't want to drive less than 3 hours to a regional, and its even better right in their backyard. Getting the word out along with Vets who help along the way always helps. Same thing happened in Rochester when the Fingerlakes Regional was created. X-cats, Division by Zero and a few few others were really it for the region up till that point.

On that note: I really don't think we will see much growth of teams in Europe until there is a european regional. I'm waiting till that point before I propose FIRST to the Department of Defense Schooling.

[Rick-906]

Im workin on this dilema, cause who wouldnt love a montreal regional?
we have tons of high schools with robotics teams, but all in the local league.
shame actualy, so many good sponsors around here too...
i'll be filming a video at competitions, a sort of advertisement...
send it around to the local schools so they may see the error of their ways

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

the crazy summers are to blame.

oh and other factors as well?

I guess the answer above really answers the question asked. I could not of said it better.

[Steve W]

Besides the hard work and dedication of Mark Breadner who lead the charge for the 2002 regional, the biggest part of FIRST starting to grow was the Toronto District School Board. They help to sponsor 20+ teams and provide funding for the Regional Director. There are areas outside of Toronto that have tons of schools but it is hard to get the school boards to buy in. The GTR is held in Mississaugua but there are few teams from that school board.

I am a firm believer that the best way to get teams is to get the school boards. Politics and funding are key to any venture. If teachers see that the board is behind a project then they will more willingly buy in. You still need the Mark Breadners to get it started but once the board sees the value of FIRST things will begin to grow.