How much does your school support your FIRST Team?

[Vermeulen]

Since we're not tied to any specific school, and just the Madison area, We don't get monetary support as far as I know. We do get a sizable display case where we keep our 2008 robot and a sit-ski, but the majority of our funding comes from sponsors and the summer camp we run.*



*Disclaimer: I'm not involved with team finances.

[MarcD79]

I have been a parent helping the team for 8 years & now do it as a volunteer & Mentor. The team is split between 2 schools. As a lot of you know, we host the FIRST preseason Suffield Shakedown scrimmage. Suffield is gracious enough to supply the Gym & most of the school for the scrimmage. We totally take over the school on that Saturday, filling every available parking spot on sight. Janitors are supplied for both Friday night set-up & all of Saturday. The team regularly post messages on the Marque in the Cafe Commons area keeping the school up to date. Windsor Locks supplies classroom, a dedicated machine shop & practice room, and access to the comp lab & wood shop. They also help fund bus fees and other expenses. Mind you it is an ongoing battle to keep them in the loop & interested in the team. One day my goal is to have a sign erected at each school showing support of the teams. Last year, the computer science teacher retired after serving over at least 35 years in Suffield. It was touch & go as to whether there would be a Suffield teacher representing, but it was fulfilled & the teacher is a willing & energetic mentor.

[hyperdude]

I'd like to say our school supports the team quite well:

- Our coach is the only engineering teacher at the school
- Our room is his classroom, where we have access to the school CAD lab (not the most powerful computers, but they all come with the software on them)
- The school helped us convert the old photography darkroom into our workroom
- We've got virtually unlimited access to the school's metal shop, woodshop, and welding (the welding teacher helps us out on occasion too)

The only thing we're actually lacking from the school is financial support and widespread recognition throughout the school.

[synth3tk]

We almost didn't have a team this year due to a lack of financial sponsors, and now we've got more support from the school than we've had since I joined the team 4 years ago. Most of the administration is aware of our presence and needs, the school district's foundation has given us money, and will continue to do so, the school has promised to work more closely with us. They even want us to meet year-round and do other non-FIRST projects, such as working with the middle-school to gain interest or showcasing robots at community events. Even the janitors are working with us more than before. With the unfortunate cutting of most of the school's vocational programs, we have access to more rooms (though we lost access to a few due to district storage taking old rooms).

Overall, we're starting to get the support from our school that we need to promote and expand the robotics program, and we're really excited for it.

[robert2.0]

my school woodlawn high does not support the team till the team wins a competition. they then support us with transportation.

[The Last Don]

NOne what so ever.

[dantheflipman]

Sadly, our school district does not fund our robotics team in any way shape or form, I think that the only people that get extra money during the robotics season are the maintenance workers that stay later than normal.

[ehochstein]

At our school, we barely get a room some years we have a room to build in, but at the end of everyday everything needs to be taken out of it, otherwise some of our build parts will be stolen by the class that is in there the next day. We only have support by one of our science teachers at the school, and we just got a new Engineering teacher this year, and he seems to be a little enthusiastic about robotics. Our school officially gives us nothing, yet seems to come up with 10k for the debate and speech teams, yes that means both of those teams get 10k each for a total of 20k... Even after we won the Minnesota regional, the school barely acknowledges us. We got some certificate and then we were pushed back off into the corner again where we don't get any support. They tell us "We want you to be part of our school, but we don't want to give you anything you are completely on your own, as a matter of fact we would rather use your money for other programs." When they told our sponsor that, we almost didn't have a sponsor this year because they were deeply offended by almost not getting to choose where their money goes.

[onecoolc]

Our team doesn't really get school recognition. We've used our 'bot a couple times during school assemblies, but the school is quite frankly more interested in sports. The administration doesn't quite understand the joys of robotics, except a few choice teacher's who support us and think we're a "cool idea". We get no monetary support what so ever.

What we DO have, and what we are INSANELY LUCKY to have, is an amazing mentor/coach who also happens to be be the robotics teacher at the school.

Sal puts in countless hours of his own, and during build season his class room and metal shop basically become our headquarters. This is to the point that at the end of the day he has to remind us, "Hey, I teach a class in here, too! Clean up after yourselves a bit." But because Sal puts so much time into FRC, we can usually stay at the shop until late hours of the night (being nine, ten, my-wife-just-called-you-have-to-leave), and we would never be able to do this without his commitment.

Sal does everything he can to get us school recognition. The school doesn't really like it, but after a year and a half of rallying for it Sal got it so we can get a Varsity Letter in Robotics! It's awesome.

[V_Chip]

Team 175 Buzz Robotics is completely independent from Enrico Fermi High School financially. We must use and purchase our own equipment, however we have been given a classroom for our use. Other than the use of the facilities, the school does not support us at all financially, along with the fact that no one is aware of us.

We are solely supported and sponsored by Hamilton Sundstrand.

[Drivencrazy]

Our school district, Lee's Summit, is a fantastic supporter of FIRST. Every elementary school had an FLL team this year and there is a bond issue coming soon that will fund a facility for two of the three district robotics teams including an addition to house a full field and access to the wood and metal shops.

Our team also has a display case in the school and several bulletin boards. In addition to participating in our school's assemblies our principal even flew out to Atlanta last year.

I feel that our team is really privelaged to have this much support.

[1986titans]

Echos post above (same district)

Our school doesn't do bulletin boards, but we got the display case at school for the first month of the year. It's basically a glass-walled classroom-sized room that everyone going in the front entrance sees.

The district also seems really good about providing teachers as mentors.

[Alex Chambers]

Our school allows us to use the metal shop and tools. The school system is suportive, however we recieve little recognition from fellow students, outside of our friends not much is known about our team exept for the odviuse towering robots in the tech department, and the fact that we have a giant robotic arm (no idea where it came from but its realy cool, we took out the sealing once).

[gbf1991]

Our school provides a small amount of money, a great tech lab that we can use whenever we want (it's our Team Leader's classroom), and we are well known amongst the students and faculty, even if it is only because we hold food sales to raise funds. All-in-all, I would say that we get a good deal of support for our Team, but we're still working on getting more recognition.

[machetemonkey]

I'm really not sure how to feel about the support our team gets.

Our school is small (~260 kids grades 7-12), and the administration has been helpful whenever we need it. Although not financially supportive at all, our director has been supportive throughout, helping us contact other schools for potential team members and helping us figure out how to be financially independent, keeping track of our own finances as opposed to going through the school (which becomes very beauroucratic). Our teachers have been supportive, with one mentoring us (his mentorship is no longer hands on, but he continues to help greatly with organization and networking), and most teachers acknowledging the challenges of the build season and helping us out (extensions on assignments during the final build week, etc).

However, as far as student support goes, our team is next to nothing. Everyone in the school is well aware of our existence, yet doesn't give us a second thought. The school is well on its way to recognizing FRC as a sport within our school community, however the students don't care. Our cheerleaders, despite our reminding them of how FRC is technically a sport in our school, or on a same level, have flat-out refused to cheer at our competitions, because we're viewed as too geeky or nerdy for them.

Oh well. I'm incredibly grateful for our administration's support, especially in helping us become more independent of our school specifically and work more as a collective of different schools. As for the student body, they'll come around with time.