Meeting Length

[drewcampbell]

I was just wondering, how long do other teams usually meet - and on what days? Also, where do you usually meet? Do you have a special room or place at your school?? Or your own building?

ALSO - how many do you have on your team?

Our team, DART 1284, meets Mon - Friday from 3:00 to 6:00, except on Wed. and Fri. we meet from 3:00 to 5:00.

Thanks for the feedback

[Elgin Clock]

M-F 4-8pm

Last two weekends from like.. 9am(?) till about 9pm(?)

We have to pay to use our school on weekends.. so.. ya know.. that's why we don't use it that often.

But, other clubs and activities don't have to pay... so...

We go from 5-9 on weekdays and 9-5 on saturday. However, many adults cannot make it to the weekday meetings until 6-6:30 because of work.

We meet in a tech. room in school for this period. On weekdays, many students choose to stay at school until 5. The district requires us to have a certified adult (teacher) to watch over us when we machine things.

[NoodleKnight]

Every Thursday @ 7:00PM we have a general team meeting (usually lasts for one to two hours) - this meeting happens every week, no matter what season (unless it's cancelled due to some circumstance)
During build every day is pretty much a work day, weekdays: 3-6PM, weekends 10-3PM.

[henryBsick]

M-TH: 6-whenever (8:30-9:30*)
No Friday*
Sat: 9:00 till whenever(6:30*)
Sun: 10:00 till whenever (6:30*)
* Average times/ Days

-Henry

/edit:
Once the deadline approaches, like in the 5th week we stay MUCH later.

[drewcampbell]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

M-F 4-8pm

Last two weekends from like.. 9am(?) till about 9pm(?)

We have to pay to use our school on weekends.. so.. ya know.. that's why we don't use it that often.

But, other clubs and activities don't have to pay... so...

That is CRAP! You have to pay to use your school? If you don't mind me asking, how much?? and why???

We don't... thank the lord.

[Lisa Rodriguez]

RAGE has all team meetings on wednesdays from 630-830 (usually people are there till 9 or so) other than that committees have thier own scheduled meet times, like spirit meets once a week, programming 3 times week, and build every day (not right now, but soon) We meet usually at our facility in East Hartford (gradciously donated by a realtor in EH because no one wants to rent it and there's a billboard used for income on the property, for more info pm me) But the robot is built at Rockville High school, because we have a machine shop (half machine shop half closet? used to be the whole school's machine shop but it's not anymore) and most of the kids on build are from RHS and not EHHS (kids' choice, not determined by school)

We are in the school until the janitors leave (kick us out) around 1130, and on weekend, we stay as long as there are janitors there (wrestling meets, rec basketball, etc) which is usually from around 9 am to dinner time or sometime after (the janitors like us, we descibe what we're doing, some came to the local compeition last year)

We have an almost full sized playing field at our faciliy in EH, we love to share it, if you're in the area and want to come, pm me

[Marinesniper77]

We are only a second year team and meet only monday-thursday after school. The 'meetings' last from 3:15ish until 5ish with only a few people doing some menial tasks. I am the president and even i don't make it every night. We barely have access to any shop rooms so our robot is going very slowly. [/rambling]

Anyways it sounds like everyone is doing alright with time.

[Philip W.]

Team 188 seems to spend the most hours on their build season so far. On weekdays, we work from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM, 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM on Saturdays and 1:00 PM to 9:30 PM on Sundays. That's a total of 57 hours a week. Not all members stay as late as 11 PM but only the most dedicated ones of course. Waves of 30 members may come in afterschool, but tend to leave at around 6-7 PM (after dinner...hah) leaving around 6 members that stay later, and even less that stay until the doors close.

Working at these hours is very tiring I very well know because I've been at every meeting for every second, but it's definitely well worth it. With no doubt it's fun, and also, the results from team 188 seem to be largely because the time we put into it (as well as other things) that compensate for our lack of resources (e.g. no CNC machine). We cannot appreciate enough how much time mentors spend dealing with us students.

[Anchi]

Originally Posted by drewcampbell

That is CRAP! You have to pay to use your school? If you don't mind me asking, how much?? and why???

We don't... thank the lord.

our school got mad when we asked for some money to enter. i dont see them complainign about the 40 kids on basketball teams per highschool. each member casts them $1440, football players cost them $739 each. they needa get their head outa their a** and realize we are more important that some meatheads. the district spends 21million a year on sports, five us a few k.....

[Koko Ed]

A reminder:
Search before you post!

[Petey]

Originally Posted by Anchi

our school got mad when we asked for some money to enter. i dont see them complainign about the 40 kids on basketball teams per highschool. each member casts them $1440, football players cost them $739 each. they needa get their head outa their a** and realize we are more important that some meatheads. the district spends 21million a year on sports, five us a few k.....

Nice attitude.
"Some meatheads".

This is exactly the kind of cliqueish nerdyness that, if it continues to prevail, will eventually bring FIRST down.

Our school gives us very little money. Do not forget that FIRST is a new institution. FIRST has not the cachet nor the background nor the alumni of school sports. These things will come in time. Schools will come to realize the importance of FIRST. I share your frustration.

But to scoff at sports players and call them "some meatheads"? That's just B.S. Do not believe that FIRST prepares you as a well rounded person. FIRST, for all its qualities, skimps heavily on the need for physical fitness. The human player role, with the exception of last year's game and games like it, is that of a glorified switch. Even last years game could hardly be considered physically active. And what did we see? Complaints that now basketball stars were going to overrun FIRST. Frankly, I'd like to see more of that, and I'd like to see more FIRSTers overrunning basketball teams. Last year, my brother and I were two of only three kids on our FIRST team who played a school sports. We both played football. The other kid ran track.

This is absurd. This is the attitude that brings FIRST down, and is my single greatest dislike about FIRST and the FIRST community. I am seeing this attitude in action on my team. Some people on the team are very cliqueish. When one my friends--a girl who is president of the senior class, popular, etc--showed up at a meeting to see if she'd like to join, one of my teammates went up to her face and sneered "What are you doing here?". My friend hasn't been back to a meeting since. Our team is going to have about 8 people next year, because some people on the team are so determinedly exclusive. This post is an exclusive post--rather, it showcases the inherently exclusive attitude of the poster--and I think it perfectly demonstrates a problem in the FIRST community.

--Petey

[Mike]

Originally Posted by drewcampbell

That is CRAP! You have to pay to use your school? If you don't mind me asking, how much?? and why???

We don't... thank the lord.

We have to pay about $2,000 a year for our school, yet we do NO damage whatsoever, everything is put back better then when we came. And yet the town spends millions on a new football field...

[suneel112]

5 to 9 Monday to Thursday. Friday didn't have any meetings the first two weeks, but now it is 4:00 to 11:00 pm. Saturday has meetings from 10am to 5pm and Sunday has meetings from 1pm to 5pm. From a chart I did last year for health class (what you did during one week), Robotics was 33.5 hours (more than, surprisingly, school for that week). The chart was made closer to the end, but it is pretty accurate to this year's attendance.

[Madison]

The schedule of each of the students on my team varies pretty significantly and it seems almost as if we work in shifts sometimes. My schedule is pretty consistent, though, and is as follows:

Monday --
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM -- Work
6:30 PM to Sleep -- Robot Design
Tuesday --
8:30 AM to 5:30 PM -- Work
5:30 PM to 11:00 PM -- Robotics Meeting at Microsoft Campus
Wednesday --
See Monday
Thursday --
See Tuesday
Friday --
See Monday or Wednesday
Saturday --
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM -- Robotics Meeting at Microsoft Campus
Sunday --
Day of rest (except for when I'm doing robot design)