pic: G.R.R.'s Rookies (and WFA Nominee)

[rachakate]

Rees will better answer this, but we have a large tech wing at the school. Both teams worked there. There was some back ups at the mill and welder, but other than that, there was plenty of room.

For the money, the rookie team only does the local regional. By taking a smaller group of kids to Nationals, the money was close to being a wash.

[rees2001]

We actually spent about $6000 less this year than we did last year. As Kate pointed out not taking 45 kids to Atlanta is saving us money. We probably could have made one team, one smaller team, and gone to multiple regionals and championship but that's not what FIRST means to us. We are about the process not the results. The results were pretty good though.

If you are interested in how this worked for us I will start working on a white paper. I have everything to put it together.

[Mike Starke]

Originally Posted by Carol

The biggest issue around splitting isn't manpower but money and facilities - how did you handle these?

Very Carefully.

As Kate mentioned, the biggest problem was the lines waiting for the mill and the welder. But, we did make a sign up sheet posted next to both so students could sign up to use them.
We actually had 3 teams in our school at once. Team 73 was there most Saturdays working along side of us.
340 is pretty student self sufficient. We only had a few mentors working with us, while the rookies (424) had most of them. So the mentor man power was pretty evenly split up.
As far as money is concerned... Bausch and Lomb. They have repeatably been a blessing to our team. They have helped us to become what we are...