Multi-school team help??

[tim_reiher]

Team Paragon began as a one school team in 2001. In 2004 and 2006, new schools were incorporated into the team structure, the first being after a team at our public school disintegrated. These incorporations had made our team one of the, if not the only, teams with a private, public, and magnet school as members of the team. We now have 10 returning public school members, 17 returning magnet school members, and one new home-schooled member, after the exit of our private school.

One thing playing to our benefit is having a build space separate of the schools involved with our team. This removes any feeling of one school being superior, or the "primary" school of the team, while also giving us a larger space than any other school could accommodate. Though this may have created some travel problems for students, it also means that we don't need to rely on school schedules for access to our build area. We help those students with transport problems as frequently as possible, also. Over all, the larger build space has been beneficial to our team, in my mind.

Back to the multi-school team, though- unfortunately, due to reasons beyond the team's control, one of our schools is leaving and focusing solely on being a vex team next year. This has rocked our team foundation in a way, but we will still survive, mainly due to the strong support that remains from our other two schools.

I guess my point in writing this is that, yes there are difficulties in having a multi-team school. Sometimes, a school may drop out of the team, costing the team mentors, students, and financial support. Also, it may be difficult to coordinate all schools involved, and to find a build space to accommodate three schools worth of team members. In the end, though, having a multi-team school is definitely worth it. Having multiple schools gives the team a larger student and financial base, and adds diversity to the team. Team members can meet new friends, and interact with other students they may never meet otherwise. Also, adding another school to a team gives that school the opportunity to participate on a FIRST team, when they may not have the resources or support to begin a whole new team. Just make sure your team is prepared and able to incorporate the new students that come with a new team. If this is done, then you should do great. I'd recommend incorporating new schools highly, as it could work to strengthen your team for the future. Your team will be changed, and may have something of a new identity, but will likely be all the better for it.