pic: Team 237 at Board Of Education Meeting

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by Beth Sweet

Sounds great guys! I know how important the board of ed presentations are, we used to do them yearly on HOT. I'm trying to give my kids on 1504 reason to show up to their Board meetings but they're not going for it. Just thought I may be able to show them other teams that are doing it.

Reasons:
1. Potential money/funding/connections to business
2. To say THANK YOU for letting us do this
3. To tell about all the things students are learning
4. It makes everyone (kids/teachers/mentors/board members/district) look good in a public setting.

I know you have a young team there Beth, but I don't see how anyone wouldn't know how important this opportunity is. Almost all of the teams I know have done this. Most teams that enjoy solid relationships with their school do this on a regular basis. If you want someone's support you need to do your part.

Send any student who doesn't understand this my way, I'll fix em . In all seriousness this is an activity that is easy to arrange, easy to pull off, and pays big dividends in the long run. Those board and community members should already be on your email list and should get personal invitations to accompany the team to competition anyway.

Nice job 237!

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

In all seriousness this is an activity that is easy to arrange, easy to pull off, and pays big dividends in the long run. Those board and community members should already be on your email list and should get personal invitations to accompany the team to competition anyway.

I sent out a newsletter (that I have not been very good at doing these last few months) AND regular e-mails about the team and to invite them to join us. They went to the parents; each of our 5 high schools' school boards, principals, teacher liaisons, supt. of schools; sponsors; local politicians. Sometimes I felt as though they were going into the black hole of cyberspace, but it costs nothing to do but a few hours of time.

[Beth Sweet]

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

I know you have a young team there Beth, but I don't see how anyone wouldn't know how important this opportunity is. Almost all of the teams I know have done this. Most teams that enjoy solid relationships with their school do this on a regular basis. If you want someone's support you need to do your part.

Rich,

I understand exactly where you're coming from. To me, it's seemed obvious from the start. As I said, personally, I did it for years on HOT. Unfortunately, I have a heck of a time getting my kids to participate in events that aren't "fun". I know, I know, this is something to start a new thread for, but, as an example, we hosted the state of MI forums this year and out of an approximately 20 student team, we had 4 students show up to help out. They just don't want to do the things that aren't fun... Thanks for the thought and attention to my issues though Rich.

~Beth

[Barry Bonzack]

We did two presentations to the school board this year. The first was before the UCF Regional just to let them know what we have gotten started this year and to get their thumb prints on our "Thumbs-Up for Robotics" copper project. At the end of the presentation they said they wanted us to come back after competition to let them know how we did. I said we would

It is bad practice to break a promise to the school board. We went back the second time with a stronger purpose. After showing off our promo video from competition and our Rookie All-Star award, I told them about what the Championship event in Atlanta was like and how our schools could benefit from attending. None of the five teams in the county have attended, at least not lately.

Recently I read in the newspaper about a new project the Superintendents and school boards in the area are pushing. (once my scanner is back up and running I'll post it) They are trying to improve math and science in the county after getting the worst standardized testing scores in the state. This is a 10 year project, I asked if they could find a way to include FIRST in this effort. We thanked them for all their efforts this year, and then asked for continued support in the future. One of my goals is to have multiple Osceola County teams in Atlanta next year.