2009 New Zealand Regional Cancelled

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by BrentJ

It would also depend if First holds an official kickoff here.

Organizing a kickoff event is not much effort, unlike a full regional (where you need [experienced] judges, referees, etc...

Originally Posted by BrentJ

Do you have on your teams, students who have basic metal working skills such as turning metal on a lathe, milling machine operation etc.

No student so far has had advanced metalworking skills like lathe or mill experience, but some start out good with drills, saws and hand tool skills from home. We are fortunate to have a lathe, and so I teach the 2 or 3 kids each year who express an interest. Except for the rare precision work, they do it all.

The rest of the kids, we teach them at least one level of tools above where they are when they start each year (more or less). So from nothing, they go to hand tools, then to basic power tools, then to big saws, grinding cutoff saws, lathe, etc.

Some kids do know how to weld when they start, or they learn over the summer on their own. We don't have a welder, that's the only thing we farm out to a local sponsor.

Don