Selecting New Team Members

[apalrd]

Application process:

Returning members: At the end of the school year, returning members take an application packet, fill out the information required of returning members, and write a short essay summarizing their time on the Killer Bees, as well as their goals for the future. This is read by core mentors. You also sign up for an interview time. During the interview, one of the mentors talks to you personally about your time on the Killer Bees, and your goals, and may ask specific questions. Returning members are always prioritized during the application process, but must apply again.

Non-new students: At the end of the school year, students who already go to NDP but were not previously on the team can also apply, at the same time as returning members. The same basically happens, with a slightly different essay question. After the returning and non-new student applications are reviewed and members are accepted, they are now part of the Killer Bees and are encouraged to come to local off-season events.

Freshmen/New Students: In the fall, there is another round of applications for Freshmen/students who did not previously attend NDP. Same as non-new student applications. They usually join the team early enough to see the Kettering Kickoff.

Usually, all applicants are accepted. During the end-of-year applications, we always leave a certain number of spots for Freshmen. If there are too many applicants, then the mentors/key parents discuss if we can grow, and are capable of handling a larger number of people.

Going to competitions:
All students are welcome to go to all in-season and local off-season competitions. Students must pay an additional fee for travel to St. Louis. For the IRI, our only travel off-season, a select few are invited by Jim Zondag, and we ride down in a Sprinter van.

Leadership positions:
Competition positions are applied for during the build season and appointed by the council of mentors. However, student leaders almost always participate in OCCRA, and usually lead on their own, without a title. It is usually obvious who most of the leaders are because they are the ones who are the most dedicated. The competition positions which are appointed are comp team (driver/operator/hp), pit crew (4 members), lead scouts (2 lead scouts, runner, video), and chairmans presenters (3). Usually, the students who were drivers in OCCRA make up the comp team, the most dedicated non-driver members make up the pit crew. Any student not assigned a specific position is expected to scout.

Making build decisions: We have a quote on the wall that says "The world is run by those who show up".

[klmx30302]

Our team is open to anyone, but there are requirements that must be met to be considered "on" the team.

We have a meeting in early September that anyone who is interested can come to, then we explain the requirements to be on the team to the incoming students.

You have to attend at least 1/2 of all fall trainings, you have to be present for at least 6 hours a week during build season, and you need to be present at 2/3 of our Friday meetings after school. You also have to write a 250 word essay explaining why you want to be on the team and what you want to accomplish during the year. Also if a student is failing classes they can not participate / travel. This usually gets rid of anyone that doesn't want to be on the team that badly.

And new for this year, students who want to go to the competition we travel for (eg. Las Vegas last year) have to submit a travel application, and if the captains don't feel you helped enough during build season, or you weren't really "dedicated" to the team, you can't travel.
The travel application is still a work in progress as of now though.

We never really had a issue with too many students on the team, our team size has hovered around 50-60 for 3 years now.

[demosthenes2k8]

Originally Posted by klmx30302

Our team is open to anyone, but there are requirements that must be met to be considered "on" the team.

We have a meeting in early September that anyone who is interested can come to, then we explain the requirements to be on the team to the incoming students.

You have to attend at least 1/2 of all fall trainings, you have to be present for at least 6 hours a week during build season, and you need to be present at 2/3 of our Friday meetings after school. You also have to write a 250 word essay explaining why you want to be on the team and what you want to accomplish during the year. Also if a student is failing classes they can not participate / travel. This usually gets rid of anyone that doesn't want to be on the team that badly.

And new for this year, students who want to go to the competition we travel for (eg. Las Vegas last year) have to submit a travel application, and if the captains don't feel you helped enough during build season, or you weren't really "dedicated" to the team, you can't travel.
The travel application is still a work in progress as of now though.

We never really had a issue with too many students on the team, our team size has hovered around 50-60 for 3 years now.

Just a followup to this - the fall training, Friday meeting, and essay requirements were all created or updated last year, but I'm fairly sure that even people who were "on the team" last year still have to go through all of it again - all the veterans had to do them last year as well.

And yeah, it's been 50-60 for as long as I can remember.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by demosthenes2k8

Just a followup to this - the fall training, Friday meeting, and essay requirements were all created or updated last year, but I'm fairly sure that even people who were "on the team" last year still have to go through all of it again - all the veterans had to do them last year as well.

And yeah, it's been 50-60 for as long as I can remember.

Same with our team, with the veterans having to complete everything again. I dont know why exactly, or if there is any benefit to it. My brother didnt make the team in his gr 10 year, but he came to ever meeting and was the leader in gr 11 and team captain in gr 12.

How do you find work for all the people when you have 50-60 students? We have a hard time finding work for about 25-30. Are there a fair amount of people who dont come as often, and then a smaller group that are extremely dedicated?

[Taylor]

Will your being a member of the Robotics Team inspire others?
Congratulations, you're on the team.
Will you be inspired by being a member of the Robotics Team?
Congratulations, you're on the team.

[klmx30302]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Same with our team, with the veterans having to complete everything again. I dont know why exactly, or if there is any benefit to it. My brother didnt make the team in his gr 10 year, but he came to ever meeting and was the leader in gr 11 and team captain in gr 12.

How do you find work for all the people when you have 50-60 students? We have a hard time finding work for about 25-30. Are there a fair amount of people who dont come as often, and then a smaller group that are extremely dedicated?

Exactly right, we have ALOT of people, but out of those people, we have a smaller dedicated group of students. For instance, on average only 5-15 people have shown up to our summer trainings this summer. And during build season I can not remember a day during the school week where more then 30-40 students have shown up. But on weekends during build season especially on Saturday, almost everyone attends.

And as for the extremely dedicated group, we have one of those, but we lost a good portion of that group this year do to graduations. But that group is generally the group that puts in 30 hours a week during build season and rarely misses a meeting.

[Dustin Shadbolt]

Sure wish we had enough kids to do an application process lol. We are lucky to have 7-8 kids. The year we won BMR we had about 20. Now we just have 4 signed up, but some recruits might be coming in. As long as they want to be there and want to learn, they have a spot.