Fans

[Koko Ed]

I heard team 1241 brought 700 kids from their school to GTR a few years ago.
The problem with that is not everyone is going to be down with FIRST etiquette and will be rude to the other teams because they are not used to the alliance structure and think they are working against the other team sand not sometimes with them.
We have some IB groupies who are friends with some of our X-Cat kids and come to FLR on day 2. As well as parents and some teachers. We don't advertise openly in the school or at Xerox to come to the event though maybe we should.

[AndyB]

Kids from our PLTW and Physics classes received extra credit I believe for attending the Milwaukee regional a couple years ago.

[Betty_Krocker]

Well I go to a school where they care more about football more than anything else. Nobody except the engineering students even know or care that we exist, so we really dont have the problem but we wish that we did.

[EricH]

The team I graduated from (330) has a standing invitation to the school and church to come watch us compete at the regionals. Not many take us up on it, though. Typically, those that do are alumni. We've never had a problem.

Not sure about 1135.

[Elgin Clock]

I loathe the teams who bring in their school's cheerleaders on Fridays and then go on to win the spirit awards...
That's like farming in extra engineers to work on the robot during the competition, and winning quality awards. Idk...
That just rubs me the wrong way most times.

Anyways, that rant aside, we have had a (small - less than 30 students) group come to the regional in the past.

The school treats it as a field trip, and it was ok.. I guess... The students didn't really get into it that much, but that's the same with any field trip I guess.

It was good to have some (more local) fans there for our team that day (Friday) and they did cheer us on when we were up for matches which was cool.

Every little bit of (positive) publicity & exposure from your hometown helps.

[Cow Bell Solo]

I think it would be a good idea, have it announced over school announcements(if you have them), put it in the neighborhood/city newspaper about it and have a small fee, but probably mention that it is free to get in to the competion.

Don't forget about Dean's Homework Assignment

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

I loathe the teams who bring in their school's cheerleaders on Fridays and then go on to win the spirit awards...
That's like farming in extra engineers to work on the robot during the competition, and winning quality awards. Idk...
That just rubs me the wrong way most times.

I've never seen teams that bring in Spirit Ringers win a Spirit award. In fact i figured it doomed them to losing it. They want to see teams do their own spirit not have others do it for them.