Registration 2011

[Tarzan19]

I was wondering how Kansas City was looking on registration, if you dont mind.

[Mark McLeod]

Kansas City is more than half full.
36 teams have signed up so far. Two of them are rookies.

Teams are signing up at about the same as last year and they were pretty full then with only two slots left over.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

This'll be the first year in our team history that we haven't attended.

Except when you win Long Island

[Mark McLeod]

If the seniors want it badly enough maybe I'll still get to go.
We might see you at WPI too if things work out.

[eyu100]

How many teams go to the Championship from the waitlist each year? My team just registered today, so I'm wondering if we will get to go.

[Mark McLeod]

I'd be pretty sure you're 1st or 2nd on the list if you registered today and will probably get in. Last year they let in quite a few teams from the waitlist, because teams that signed up already didn't raise the cash, or dropped out for other reasons.
FIRST may not tell you yes or no until competition starts though.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Purely waitlisted teams don't show up, but the same teams were invisible last season...

FIRST's estimate of 2200 total teams is on the order of 580 new teams over and above vets (assuming the standard 10% dropout rate). That's about double the number of rookies last year, which would be great!

• Texas is supposed to explode because of state support and they've provided roughly 230 event slots for everyone (104 teams last year).
• Washington has possibly doubled their event capacity. But they don't show up on the registered list, so Washington's growth is unknown (59 teams last year). One traitor is registered for Oregon
• Israel is a known quantity and the event capacity hasn't risen from last season, so I don't see them providing a flood of rookies.
• Michigan can be estimated by the number of District events, so they'd need to add District events to increase over last year. They have room now for ~20 rookies.

Washington has 25 Rookie FRC teams pushing our total now to well over 80 teams...(hence the need for the double regional..) We also got great State of Washington support in FRC, FTC and FLL. FLL is over 200 teams....well up from last year...
We are looking forward to a great double regional..

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by maltz1881

MI has a unique opportunity for vet. teams. If we sign up and mentor a rookie team we get $1000.00 2 rookies we get $3,000.00 etc. Our team 1322 signed up 2 rookies yesterday. Linden and Hartland H.S. now have teams. We are working on 2 other schools to join us. This is a huge incentive to help out rookies.

It's sounding less and less like FRC and more like customized Michigan FRC - whatever that is evolving into. Are there going to be any guidelines and expectations in place for this? As you can see, it's the first I've heard of it and naturally, I began to wonder how any 1 team could mentor 2 rookies teams and have all 3 teams healthy & hardy by the end of the competition season.

But then, I'm not one to see common sense practicality implemented in the FIRST ways of doing things much.

Jane

[Chris is me]

So you're financially rewarded for starting a new team, but not saving a team on the brink... that's nice.

[maltz1881]

I was concerned about the teams who are in trouble as well. However the teams that I personally know that closed down, closed due to lack of student participation, not money. That doesn't mean that there aren't teams that closed due to lack of money, just that I don't know any personally.

In MI we were given this challenge months ago. Our team was successful in getting teams into schools surrounding us. As far as mentoring goes, yes we have to mentor and show up for some meetings and such. The teams we were able to get started however already have at least 1-4 engineers. Both schools are within 20 mins from us.

We are lucky in MI to have the system in place that we have. I know several other states are adopting portions of our system such as the bagging system.

My team had a budget of $1,500 last year so this will double it. I am grateful for this great opportunity not just for our team but the new teams as well.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

So you're financially rewarded for starting a new team, but not saving a team on the brink... that's nice.

Welcome to FIRST...

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

It's sounding less and less like FRC and more like customized Michigan FRC - whatever that is evolving into. Are there going to be any guidelines and expectations in place for this? As you can see, it's the first I've heard of it and naturally, I began to wonder how any 1 team could mentor 2 rookies teams and have all 3 teams healthy & hardy by the end of the competition season.

But then, I'm not one to see common sense practicality implemented in the FIRST ways of doing things much.

Jane

Jane,
I hear you and many of us that have been around FIRST for awhile hear you...
I won't comment on the idea that Michigan has its own little thing going.... I have posted about that before and I have been trying very hard to be positive and not negative on CD.

We have 25 new rookie teams here in Washington... last year we had a similar amount... and the year before we had 15-20.... The veteran teams here have been trying very hard to help the rookie teams out... Our team has done a special Rookie Workshop for the last three years....(with the help of other teams ....) Washington is also doing 4 separate workshops for all teams...

The teams and FirstWA leadership is trying very hard...

On the other hand... we got a huge pot of money from the State this year... but it is intended to start teams.... not to support the program in general... so few veteran teams received much money this year... in fact a number of them didn't get anything...those that did got less than $1000.

I see a huge push for numbers... and if this is the intent of FIRST they are succeeding...
I am much more conservative by nature... I see that veteran teams working with rookie teams are the best way to grow FIRST and make it self-sustaining. Without support these veteran teams simply don't have the resources to do that..

On our team this year we will spend $2000 - $3000 in helping other teams... in one way or another...
We do have a strong parent group and we work very hard on fundraising for the whole year.
This is part of our committment to FIRST and to growing FIRST.

We learned how to fundraise our very first year when we did not receive a NASA grant...
(You may remember that.... you helped us...:0).)

The fact remains that we were the 16th team in the State of Washington..
We are going into our 5th year...
This means that the state has added over 60 teams in the past 3 years...

This is tough to sustain... and when dollars are spent by the State... they MUST include real $$ support for the teams that they have created...

I actually like the model that Michigan is providing in this regard... Give money to teams to help Rookie teams... at least in this regard they are supporting these other created teams.

I do think that we need to see more support from FIRST in the arena of Fundraising.
i remember that last year it was a big deal at Kickoff... to date... Where are these programs?
I haven't seen anything of substance yet... I had thought we would have some kind of
"Green" fundraising activities fleshed out by FIRST and presented by now...

FIRST needs to find ways to help veteran teams raise money... Rookie teams seem to find a way of coming up with the necessary funds and so many of the grant programs are earmarked for these new teams...

I hope to see some real ideas from FIRST on how to SUSTAIN teams and not just how to
CREATE teams...

It is fine to create teams but what is the audience for what FIRST does?
It IS a numbers game.... the NUMBER of students involved.... but not just for a year or two..
A mature FIRST student (3 or more years in the program) has a much greater experience and will want to go into STEM related fields...

If FIRST is talking about fielding 2200 teams this year it doesn't take genius to look at the team numbers and know that we have 1500- 2000 teams that are not active any more... One could look at that and say that this is not a very successful program... or one that schools are not willing to support.
Now I know there are as many reasons for a team to stop participating as there are teams... but I think that this is an issue that we tend to bury ..
Oh... its ok to lose 10% of the teams each year... is it really OK for those teams.. for those kids too?

We need to train teams from the very beginning to become self-sustaining...
so we can offer a full experience to FIRST students...

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

Jane,
I hear you and many of us that have been around FIRST for awhile hear you...

I'm probably sounding negative, Bob. I realize this. One reason is because I live in Texas and I know a few veteran teams who are going to be working very very hard to help the many rookie teams and 1st year/2nd year teams that will be struggling this season. There is not enough built-in support for this. There is also not any financial incentive or support (like what has been mentioned) for the veteran teams, the teams struggling to survive, or the young teams that still need a lot of help. There are also many teams in Texas that don't have the benefit, rookie or veteran, of having several engineers on their team.

So I'm looking at the future of the region where I mentor - not just my team - but other teams - as best I can - and it's one tough job. And that's for a NEM, not a technical mentor. If teams are paid to mentor - in my opinion, they should be covering all of the areas it takes to run a team. That helps build/grow stability and stability is what helps determines sustainability.

Show me on paper where FIRST is being proactive in areas of sustainability, balancing that with the keen interest in starting new teams. Show me on paper where FIRST has worked with their wonderful sponsors and supporters and shown them how critical sustainability is to FRC teams. Then I'll stop questioning how we're going to be successful in Texas and find that all the teams worldwide will want to come help support us and compete in our competitions because we have developed into such a strong and powerful region due to short term and long term planning and goal-setting in areas of sustainability and development by FIRST in working with our region.

Jane

P.S. Bob, I loved your last statement in your post. It is awesome.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by maltz1881

I was concerned about the teams who are in trouble as well. However the teams that I personally know that closed down, closed due to lack of student participation, not money. That doesn't mean that there aren't teams that closed due to lack of money, just that I don't know any personally.

I agree. 1276 did not disappear from a lack of funding. No infusion of cash would've kept the team running. We just ran out of people. I'm sure there are some teams that drop out due to a lack of funding, but I'm willing to bet the majority run out of people to run the team. I'd be curious to see when a team is most likely to disappear, I'd be willing to bet that it is after the 1st, 4th, and 5th seasons.

[kstl99]

10% of teams drop out? That's kind of depressing. I can see money as an issue but I wonder how many drop out due to lack of interest. Maybe we are just lucky but in my first year I only saw one or two kids that were not fully involved and enjoying the experience each time they were there. I hear we have a number of new recruits which will replace the 5 seniors we lost.

I just hate the thought of students getting a taste of FIRST then losing the opportunity.