In appreciation! [shout-outs]

[Brandon_L]

and teachers/mentors!

Speaking of parents, we just had our first parent meeting of the year (first since '08) and I just realize now what a untapped resource these wonderful people are.

[Bethie42]

School support is SO amazing. Today I was thinking what a great support network we have at school: my dad is both our coach/facilitator and a teacher at the school. When something needs to be arranged with the school, or an email certified, or a permission granted, he can take care of it.

Our school can't afford to fund us very much, but the support is there, it is just untapped. Our admissions officer wants to do some sort of press release on our entire robotics program [FRC, FLL and all]....it is great publicity for them but it is just as good for us. I know a team that is in their fourth year and is only now getting a room at their school to meet in: our robotics lab is small, but exponentially better than not having a room! Thank you, Santiam Christian Schools.


And now, the biggest shout-out of all. Our team has had a very tough year financially, despite frantic and extensive work on the team's part. Basically, we were looking at not being able to afford registration fees.
With less than three weeks to go and $1600 to raise, I cannot tell you how worried I was.....we had tapped almost every resource in our town, it seemed.

Today a check arrived in the mail for $1600.

An almost-anonymous donor halfway across the country, who reads my frequent blog-posts about FIRST, wanted to contribute. I have never met this person, didn't even know his real name.....I guess I gave a good testimony about FIRST on my blog, hehe. It is mind-blowing for someone to support a cause they only know about from another person.


So, thank you: to someone who cared about us. Who cared about FIRST. Who cared about tomorrow's engineers, corny as that sounds. THANK YOU.

[Garret]

And now, the biggest shout-out of all. Our team has had a very tough year financially, despite frantic and extensive work on the team's part. Basically, we were looking at not being able to afford registration fees.
With less than three weeks to go and $1600 to raise, I cannot tell you how worried I was.....we had tapped almost every resource in our town, it seemed.

Today a check arrived in the mail for $1600.

An almost-anonymous donor halfway across the country, who reads my frequent blog-posts about FIRST, wanted to contribute. I have never met this person, didn't even know his real name.....I guess I gave a good testimony about FIRST on my blog, hehe. It is mind-blowing for someone to support a cause they only know about from another person.

That is great news.

Parents are a great resource for teams. I the case of my team they are all we have. Considering up until this summer we had little to no school support and have built out of a garage since before I joined the team.

One of newest and most active mentors is one of the team members dads. He has helped our team restructure and develop a business format that has helped us to recover.

My team exists today in large thanks to my dad who has not only provided us with technical expertise but most importantly he pulled the program back from the brink by stepping in and filling the vacuum created when our mentor for 8 years had to pull back. He has devoted literally thousands of hours to my team over the past two years acting as the administrator, coach, mentor, and advisor. His efforts are what held my team together; and now it looks like my team is finally back on its feet again. He is one of the strongest believers in the goals of FIRST I have ever seen.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

and teachers/mentors!

Speaking of parents, we just had our first parent meeting of the year (first since '08) and I just realize now what a untapped resource these wonderful people are.

Encourage the parents to join NEMO (non-engineering mentor organization) http://www.firstnemo.org/finding.htm Lots of parents in the group.

Also check out the resources page. There is even a section devoted to ways parents can help.