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#1
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[FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
Posted on the FRC Blog, 10/14/14: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...g-Rookie-Teams
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Last edited by Hallry : 14-10-2014 at 13:11. |
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#2
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
In the past, I recommended many schools to start FRC teams. Now I am much more cautious and ask many more questions.
Questions for potential FRC rookies: 1. How long has the program being doing STEM activities (FTC, VEX...) ? 2. Is the teacher willing to commit for multiple years ? 3. Does the team have mentors in place ? 4. Will the team be able to have sponsors for year 3 and beyond ? Are there other questions that need to be asked before schools consider FRC ? |
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#3
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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#4
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
Are the students willing to dedicate significant amounts of time to the team?
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#5
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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How much parent/guardian involvement/interest do you have? |
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#6
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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And the reason for that is this: If one of the other aspects fails, and the parents are behind the team, they can and will do as much as they can (and/or assist the students to do as much as they can) to keep the team alive for another year. If the parents are not involved, the team will fold very easily if one of the other legs (mentor or funding) is yanked. I am willing to bet that of the FRC teams that have folded over the years, the vast majority did not have their parents supporting them. Probably most of the rest had "minimal support" and a shallow mentor base. |
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#7
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
Students are awesome, they love it once they get involved. Dedicated teachers and mentors are the core of a team and lack of them is a killer. Maybe teams with good mentor situations can do a lone-a-mentor-ish type of thing. We talked about that in Texas one year and I put my name in the pot but got no calls.
Perhaps FIRST could facilitate a more structured effort? |
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#8
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
Eric is right. Committed parents will step into whatever role is necessary to sustain a team -- I know several who have remained committed long after their kids graduated. Some become mentors, some become key volunteers, some sustain booster organizations. Generally, I think these key parents become committed because they get the FIRST vision.
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#9
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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I guess what I am trying to say is, its the parents who are the most influential in keeping a school's FRC Team successfully running. They can get the school boards to allow and push the program through. They are the ones who are care free about the success of the team, only driven on the success of the kids because their kids were there. |
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#10
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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I agree that people are not nearly as cautious as they should be when starting FRC teams. I think this is in part because FIRST themselves do not do a particularly good job of indicating just how difficult it is to get a sustainable team running. There's a bit of conflict-of-interest there, I think, as FIRST clearly wants to see as much growth as possible, but there are drawbacks when large numbers of rookie teams fall through the cracks and disappear after their first year. I also think there needs to be more emphasis on developing robust, distributed organizational structures that are resistant to turnover and mentor loss. I do not think the "one or two passionate mentor(s) holding a team together" model is a fundamentally sound one, and there needs to be some hard thought towards how to avoid it. Last edited by Oblarg : 14-10-2014 at 14:55. |
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#11
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
Maybe rookie registration is low this year because we're running out of schools to bomb with a few thousand dollars and then leave alone until they either survive or crumble?
You know what's hard? Starting a rookie FRC team. You know what's harder? Keeping an FRC team alive for 4 years. You know what's seemingly impossible? Trying to restart an FRC team somewhere where it failed but should not have, years after it folded. |
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#12
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
I totally agree with these statements. There are many teams in MI that couldn't survive. Resources is one big hurdle...student's time commitment is another. The lure of scholarships is not so attractive, the big $$$ amount looks good, but only a handful of students from 300+ teams in MI get any scholarship.
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#13
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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#14
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
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#15
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Re: [FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams
My first team, 3677, survived two years due to financial issues. It is hard, especially in lower income areas to secure recurring funding. Folks that make big donations want to see big results. If all you have is a "box on wheels" they're unlikely to continue financial support.
There is also the issue of teacher support if the team is housed in a school. If the teacher can't put in the hours, the team can't compete on the same level as veteran teams. |
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