Texas FIRST teams doubling in 2 years

[Rich Kressly]

The support is awesome. I'm hoping that the money spent will lead to sustained STEM programs. Like John, I'd like to see at least a portion of the funds targeted at embedding robotics in curriculum in a way that could lead to teams, but doesn't necessarily HAVE to become an FRC registration. I can't imagine the burden this may create for TX veteran teams, but I look forward to seeing the growth and how it all plays out.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

... and I don't understand why Texas, for example, doesn't have a more sophisticated program for supporting the goal of STEM involvement for youth.

If spreading STEM was really the goal, shouldn't Texas should be supporting all STEM programs and not just FIRST? This sort of narrowly-focused grant program is more disquieting than exciting.

Texas does have a more sophisticated program for supporting STEM education of it's youth. Governor Perry mentions it in this statement which can also be viewed on the YouTube video. The Texas High School Project which is supported by the Gates Foundation as well as the Dell Foundation. A month ago, they announced a doubling of the T-STEM high school funding from 46 schools currently to fundinig to support 92 campuses. The creating of T-STEM support centers in Lubbock, Austin-San Antonio and elsewhere across the state, Texas Education Agency support of Project Lead the Way which has a training center at the University of Texas at Tyler. The PLTW courses are fully articulated into Texas Education Curriculum and many of the T-STEM campuses implement. Programs such as the Alamo Area Academies, listed on the Governor's website, in which high school junior and seniors spend a half-day on a community college campus learning trades with the potential for paid summer internships leading to potential contiued employment, support of the National Manufacturers Association - Dream It! Do It! campaign to put mentors in schools working with students to pursue STEM careers in manufacturinig, TWC sponsorship of the Summer Merit Grant program which provides tuition assistance to students to attend summer STEM enrichment programs, ...
So looking at this one instance of funding and support and not seeing support for another program of preference does not equate to a simplistic and narrow focus by the State government on the STEM education program.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Texas does have a more sophisticated program for supporting STEM education of it's youth. Governor Perry mentions it in this statement which can also be viewed on the YouTube video.

Thank you for the clarification, Andrew.

[Cory]

Didn't Texas have something like 30+ teams drop out of FIRST that participated in 2009?

Seems like if you know that there's that much attrition it's a really bad idea to just hand a bunch of new schools $6,000 and say "Here, have it at. Go start a FIRST team".

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Cory

Didn't Texas have something like 30+ teams drop out of FIRST that participated in 2009?

Not quite 30,

1326 -
1867-
2157 -
2287-
2597 -
2664 -
2938 -
2991 -
3071 -
660 -
2721 -
2743 –
2948 –
2953 -
2981 –
3106 -
3035 –
3037 –
3043 –

Still a lot of teams that won't be back for 2010. This goes along with JVN's thinking.

[JaneYoung]

It's looking like it is around 18 but the number may not hold. We'll have to wait and see.

We are not the only state or region that has suffered losses.

One aspect of this that I'm interested in is the BEST teams who may be given more incentive to participate in FRC if and when the monies are made available. Several of the teams that I am familiar with could bring a lot to the competition, including experience, enthusiasm, and an understanding of the demands of build season and the value of time management. This could be a very exciting opportunity.

[Akash Rastogi]

@JVN

Were teams (and which ones) allowed to give some input into this initiative? For example, as you were saying there are better, and possibly more effective (VEX), ways to spend the money, it made me wonder if teams were inquired as to what exactly they thought of the legislation. My biggest concern as always- team sustainability via FRC.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

@JVN

Were teams (and which ones) allowed to give some input into this initiative? For example, as you were saying there are better, and possibly more effective (VEX), ways to spend the money, it made me wonder if teams were inquired as to what exactly they thought of the legislation. My biggest concern as always- team sustainability via FRC.

I can't speak to this, except to say that 148 was not "consulted". (Heh, as though anyone needs to consult with us).

In fact we were not told anything about the content of the press conference except that there was a "robotics initiative" being announced by Governor Perry.

-John

[JaneYoung]

418 hosted a visit with a group of public officials a while back and talked with them about our program. Some of those officials spent some time talking with our lead mentor, Mr. Bertucci. I can say that I have been told that it made an impact. I don't know first hand of other teams, perhaps some will post. Did we know about this initiative? No, I don't think so - but as Andrew Schuetze has said in his posts, this was an informed decision. Please read his posts over again, including the links, and read Governor Perry's statement.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Cory

Didn't Texas have something like 30+ teams drop out of FIRST that participated in 2009?

Texas added 46 rookie teams in 2009 (91 total) ,

(Early Estimates) 10 rookies & 6 veterans have dropped out for 2010
Roughly 20% of teams started are having trouble and this will only get worse as you stretch your veteran support thin.

As of now, Texas has 15 new rookies in 2010 (89 total teams)

How have other states dealt with rookie attrition and helping train large crops of rookies ?

[Alivia]

Originally Posted by Pjohn1959

I too would like to see more of this get applied to sustaining teams. While growth is good (and Texas has shown it has been leading in this for the past few years), being able to maintain a stable and sustaining team would be more beneficial to the FIRST community.

I couldn't agree with this more. I think it's great that Texas has taken such an interest in the program. However, quality is better than quantity, especially when it comes to FRC teams.

If I had to critique the FIRST program, probably one of the first things I would say is too much effort is being expended on getting new teams started and not enough effort making sure formed teams stay afloat. Case in point: FIRST team numbers now stem into the 3000s. Why doesn't FIRST have that many teams competing in a season? According to the FIRST website, the projected number of FRC teams in 2010 is 1,800. Where did they all go? Yes, some have merged, some may have folded and started anew, and some may have fizzled out due to lack of members. But what about the rest? This means that almost half the teams ever started are no longer in existence. There's got to be a reason behind this, and I'm actually surprised there hasn't been more research as to why all these teams seem to be disappearing.

I personally would like to see speeches during this year's kick-off/at Championships that revolve around sustainability of formed teams, rather than ways to get new teams formed. FIRST is like a huge extended family, so why aren't we taking care of our own?

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by lynca

How have other states dealt with rookie attrition and helping train large crops of rookies ?

Thank you Andrew L. for getting back at the meat of what type of discussion is needed. Let me say thank you TWC for $1,000,000 of team support to grow FIRST in TEXAS

Now with this tremendous amount of support, WE - veteran teams, mentors, other folks working on this effort, need to start brainstorming ideas on how to support these new teams.

Who has ideas on which regions might be ripe for starting new FRC and FTC teams? We will need new folks to step up and host FTC events as the two championship tournaments in Texas can't handle the increased capacity alone. The tough part will how to handle team growth in new regions. We will likely need FRC types to consider hosting FTC events. FTC veteran teams will need to step up their game in terms of mentoring. It might be due to smaller team sizes in FTC and it's young age in terms of FIRST but I've not seen as much FTC work in the area of the Inspire award area. Maybe that is my FRC background and newness to FTC.

Who, Where, & When can a group of folks host an off-season event to invite potential new teams to shadow or get a glimpse of FIRST programs.

Start thinking who you need to invite from these new regions that may be forming FTC and FRC teams and hosting events and get them to a FIRST event this year. Maybe your team uses extra seats on your bus to a tournament to bring some of these new organizers or pre-rookies to the event you are attending.

WE need ideas so that a plan of action can be made. Texas FRC regional directors and FTC affiliate partners along with our newest FIRST Senior Mentor will need to put a plan together so yesterday would not have been too early to put some ideas on paper and email them to an RD, AP, or FSM.

I am not saying that the above folks don't already have some ideas or plans aren't being formulated. Nor am I saying that all ideas submitted will be included in the final plan of action. What I am saying is that ideas are needed and welcomed and will be considered.

APS

[gblake]

1st) - Hooray!
2nd)

From what I understand it will be used two ways:
1. Pay the entry fees for new teams.
2. Pay the Championship Registration fees for any teams that qualify to "represent Texas".

This was just what I heard while we were there. I haven't seen any details of the roll-out.

Basically -- $1 million will go straight to FIRST as registration fees. We will have 100+ new "one kit wonder" FRC teams. ...

I'm out-of-state, but I'm curious. Is it a foregone conclusion that the start-ups have to occur at an unsustainable pace?

If the money is truly for rookie teams' first year registration fees, maybe someone clever will find a way to start 10-20 sustainable FRC teams per year, for the next 8 to 15 years?

Invest the money at 6% (net) and you can get the registration fees for 10 start-ups per year without even touching the principal...

Blake
PS: By the way - "Yes", I know governments rarely invest money into endowments; but it is an interesting thought.

[James Tonthat]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Who has ideas on which regions might be ripe for starting new FRC and FTC teams?

(Speaking on FRC) Currently, we have two regionals in the state, both of which, are full to capacity (I believe.) I'd like to see more teams start out in the El Paso and Pan Handle area as they have regionals outside of the state they could attend. At the same time, it makes it harder for the veteran teams to mentor them. Houston/Dallas area wouldn't be a bad area. I'd even recommend them signing up for small regionals outside of Texas, such as Bayou, which is a smaller regional with less competition. It would be a good way to get them started and going out of state to compete makes it seem a bit more exciting and inspirational (in my opinion), which might cause teams to stick around longer. I'm purely referring to these 'one kit wonder' teams, and I'm making this assumption based upon a team gets their registration paid and a kit of parts while the state says "Go!" I've met one of these teams at regional last year, and if we as the more established Texas teams could help them in any way, we should do everything that we can.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Who, Where, & When can a group of folks host an off-season event to invite potential new teams to shadow or get a glimpse of FIRST programs.

Last year we hosted a small offseason-scrimmage during the summer, it was a great opportunity for us to train new drivers. A lot of the issues that came up from attending teams is that students weren't able to go or that the school district wouldn't let them. If we could "borrow" robots and have these new teams run robots during an offseason, it'd give them a good start of what the competition is like.

Does anyone know when this $1,000,000 is for? 2010 season? 2011 season? I'd be inclined to even start them on VRC, it's the cheapest, and closest approximation of FRC, in my opinion.

[JaneYoung]

It's my understanding that it is not for the 2010 season.

Texas is big with a lot of potential. I think we'll see a 3rd regional in the near future, especially with this news. What we don't have are a lot of teams, including veteran teams, that understand the importance of networking, supporting each other, and working together. I think we saw that earlier this year when we were trying to put together an off season. James, thank you and 1477 for putting the scrimmage together so quickly when the other one(s) didn't work out. We need more of that. The veteran teams are going to have to pitch in with their experience, their know-how, and be willing to work to build a stronger network of support and communication in Texas. The potential to build something amazing involving all the areas of Texas, the teams, the sponsors, the FIRST leadership, the schools and communities - is incredible. This could include supporting or enhancing curriculums that are established or will be established in schools and communities.