Student lettering in FRC

[MARS_James]

None of our schools allow for letterman jackets to any group who is not a sports team (our rugby team doesn't get them cause they are a "club") so we do not get them.

This being said we made them ourselves with our team colors, our logo, their name, and graduating year

You do not get them until the end of your senior year as a last present from the team and you qualify in several ways:

1. Be a team member for 4 years
2. Achieve a leadership position on the team
3. Be a member of the field team
4. Be a First (Last year we had a rookie from a school who was a senior thus she was the first graduate from the school on our team)
5. A vote of the alumni for if you have received enough merit in your time to receive the honor.

[dcarr]

Because we are a younger team, our requirements are not quite as stringent...you can see them in our handbook here in the Varsity section.

[Jon Stratis]

We have a list of requirements... unfortunately, I don't have it in front of me right now, though. It's basically centered around the goals of the team:
- attend a certain % of meetings (for the build team, this applies during build season. For PR, it's all year)
- Attend our competitions (there's some wiggle room in there for attending off-season versus regional events, for those students with unavoidable scheduling conflicts)
- Participate in our outreach and fundraising events (this goes towards our Chairman's efforts)
- Be a member for at least 2 years (We want to see continuity, as students are typically much more prepared and skilled after they've completed a season)
- distinguish yourself on the team (we have a number of leadership positions available, as well as positions with additional responsibilities for students to take on, all outlined in the handbook)
- Attend all required meetings (kickoff, recruitment meetings, end of the year clean up day, etc)

Basically, everything is designed to help the team run smoothly, constantly improve, and increase our ability to achieve our team goals. It's also something that active participant who is excited about the team will achieve without even thinking about it. I don't think we've had any student really pay attention to these rules, and almost all of them have earned a letter after 2 years in.

[MARS_James]

I realize now that the list I posted could be read as you have to do all the things you only need to do one of the 5 to qualify

[FrankJ]

We are registered at our school as a competitive academic team. Makes us eligible for Letters. A club would not be. The point of the school is to educate. Not to be able to letter in an academic competition is just silly. If your school does allow it they need to be sold on the idea STEM. Which is one of the missions of the FIRST team to begin with.

Anyway here is our letting requirements

Walton Robotics Lettering Program

In order to letter this year, students must have:

75 hours of participation
20 hours of community service
5 hours of community outreach
2 community outreach events
1 business event
Safety Training
3 other training sessions
Attendance at a regional competition
Recommendation from the team coach

I do not have anything to with it. I am just the robot mentor.

[Ravage457]

Hmmm i see....im trying to help our team manger (Lead Teacher) to convince our school to allow our students to recieve letterman jackets, just as the school Drama club recieve them and we can also use it to encourage our kids

thanks for the advice, and please any other teams that recieve letterman jackets, please feel free to give your input, all the help is appreciated

Also do some teams do a point system or merit base system to determine who gets to go to the regionals and championship travel team?

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Ravage457

Also do some teams do a point system or merit base system to determine who gets to go to the regionals and championship travel team?

If you make 50% of Build Season meeting times, and do not receive any reprimands from leadership or mentors than you get to go. Though if we stay in a hotel the students have to split the costs.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Ravage457

Also do some teams do a point system or merit base system to determine who gets to go to the regionals and championship travel team?

Yes. Ours is based on attendance - the attendance requirement for lettering is higher, though. Also, there are different attendance requirements for build versus PR, due to the different schedules the two parts of the team are on (although there is some overlap). A student on the build team can "make up" excused time missed through participation on the PR team as well.

[Ravage457]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Yes. Ours is based on attendance - the attendance requirement for lettering is higher, though. Also, there are different attendance requirements for build versus PR, due to the different schedules the two parts of the team are on (although there is some overlap). A student on the build team can "make up" excused time missed through participation on the PR team as well.

If i may ask what is your teams requirement to letter?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Ravage457

If i may ask what is your teams requirement to letter?

Already answered.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

We have a list of requirements... unfortunately, I don't have it in front of me right now, though. It's basically centered around the goals of the team:
- attend a certain % of meetings (for the build team, this applies during build season. For PR, it's all year)
- Attend our competitions (there's some wiggle room in there for attending off-season versus regional events, for those students with unavoidable scheduling conflicts)
- Participate in our outreach and fundraising events (this goes towards our Chairman's efforts)
- Be a member for at least 2 years (We want to see continuity, as students are typically much more prepared and skilled after they've completed a season)
- distinguish yourself on the team (we have a number of leadership positions available, as well as positions with additional responsibilities for students to take on, all outlined in the handbook)
- Attend all required meetings (kickoff, recruitment meetings, end of the year clean up day, etc)

[Graciebot]

We had to apply for it through our school, and were only successful after we convinced the athletics/administration that we put in as much work and dedication, if not more, than any varsity sports team. As for the actual process, we just shot an email to the principal and copied the athletic director, and they told us what we needed to do. We also had to demonstrate that we had requirements for participants that parallel those of varsity sports- GPA requirements, attendance, etc. and send that document to the administration. We were finally granted varsity letters this past fall and we only award them on the FRC level.

[wonder-weasel]

I know that we do, although I'm not sure how they did it because we aren't associated with our school. We have strict criteria to get it, it accounts for number of team, volunteer, and fundraising hours you have.

[VexisDarksteele]

We started handing them out last year. Our requirements are based on task card hours, fundraising quotas, community service hours, and volunteering hours. It doesn't matter what grade level/participation year the student is in. We had a Freshman member earn her letter within one year of dedicated work on the team.

As for how we got the school district to approve varsity robotics? I'm not entirely certain on the specific process our coach had to undergo for that, but I do know that our team has left a very favorable impression on the administration. We did a presentation to the school board a couple of years ago, and our principal and superintendent frequently visit the team's competitions and events. I'm sure this kind of experience helped persuade them in deciding whether robotics should be a varsity activity...

[robomarcher]

Originally Posted by Hallry

I know numerous teams out have tried, but how many teams have successfully gotten varsity letter recognition from their school(s)? If you're one of the ones that has, how did you do it/what process did you have to go through?

my school gives us varsity letters for robotics

[Team 2016]

This year will be our first year getting a Varsity letter. It took four years to get it. Both our school and the Deaf School can get the letters. For four years we went through the principal waiting for a response. We waited year after year. Finally we made a formal request of the School Board. We had to send a written formal request to the principal and the athletic director on behalf of the team and the school board, then our request was finally granted.

Not everyone can get a letter just because they are on the team. Several requirements must be met.