MARS 1523 is Facing a Problem....

[Akash Rastogi]

One thing that we are planning on doing this summer is having a few seniors teach the students in their specialized subgroup. Our normal teaching program, MORT U. is not within the reach of the seniors leaving for college so we want to have a good start on the learning process beforehand this year. Something that we want to do this year is have each student know how to do more than just one thing really well. We believe that being on drive train or end effector should go hand in hand with being great at inventor or other CAD. Basically, you'll be surprised by how much the underclassmen can step up. Like Brandon stated before, we've had similar problems like that in the past and came out stronger from it and it looks like something similar is happening this year with around 17 of the most brilliant people I have ever known leaving from the team not to mention a mentor who is retiring from teaching. Those are all heavy hits on a team's morale and spirit, but just remember to take it in strides and still be confident in the students.

Originally Posted by Salbert

Does anyone have suggestions about dealing with a lack of computers/nessesary software?

I'm not sure about it, but check Microsoft's site about software grants like free copies of Windows and stuff..its always good to check. Also, ask around if any companies, schools, or libraries are throwing out or planning on recycling old computers. If it comes down to it, just ask people around town. We always have people willing to donate computers, if not forever, they let us use them for build season and return them afterward.

Best of luck to you guys

[Jetweb]

Originally Posted by Salbert

We have a packet of triumphs and stats, it won us the Chairman's Award. We already have a bunch of little sponsors and are good money savers. But one problem is that a lot of mentors have kids who are graduating, many seem very dedicated so maybe they won't leave with their kids. If MARS loses school affiliation, it'll be harder to recruit, but we'll manage. Our workspace had tons of computers with expensive Autodesk software, so our Animation crew will have difficulties if we lose our workspace. Does anyone have suggestions about dealing with a lack of computers/nessesary software?

FIRST gives out the AutoDesk software every year as part of the KOP (I think like 10 copy's of both 3ds Max and the AutoCad Suite, correct me if my # are wrong) and i bet if you ask the students they have laptops capable of running these programs they are willing to bring in. 100% of our animation and Cad this year was done on personal laptops and it worked out well (plus they can work at home with this method)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Salbert

Does anyone have suggestions about dealing with a lack of computers/nessesary software?

Talk to big companies. 330 got a bunch through Lockheed a few years ago. Often, companies will have some way of getting old functioning computers out to people that need them. You'd probably end up with a 3-year-old computer needing an operating system, but you'd be able to choose your system and it'd have enough for text, Inventor, animation, and programming. Free.

[thatmorman]

we had this happen, but it was more like 75 percent of our team left and we didn't have our shop or workspace pre-season. we got 14 rookie members, but didn't have anywhere to train them before hand, so we kinda through them into it and told them to watch us... it only took them longer to learn everything, and only two people were involved in designing the specifics on the robot and knowing kinda how to do it. so my advice is find more members, even start looking now, and train them early. as for the work space, look for a local community college, or any type of semi-industrial buisness park to set up a small camp, and as for the money, if you have any intel plants nearby, you get 10 dollars for every hour they mentor... thats all i can say

[thatmorman]

we had this happen, but it was more like 75 percent of our team left and we didn't have our shop or workspace pre-season. we got 14 rookie members, but didn't have anywhere to train them before hand, so we kinda through them into it and told them to watch us... it only took them longer to learn everything, and only two people were involved in designing the specifics on the robot and knowing kinda how to do it. so my advice is find more members, even start looking now, and train them early. as for the work space, look for a local community college, or any type of semi-industrial buisness park to set up a small camp, and as for the money, if you have any intel plants nearby, you get 10 dollars for every hour they mentor... thats all i can say

[Brandon Holley]

Believe it or not, this is a blessing in disguise.

Your team will come out of this stronger than it went in. My junior and senior year were a tough time for my home team. The senior class that graduated ahead of me was very successful, and my senior year we lost our big sponsor (10000+ a year). We found out soon that the underclassman were more than capable of filling the shoes of the seniors that had left, and we sent out a bunch of letters to companies in the area. The result? Our first chairmans award, more sponsorship than we had before, and a much stronger team as a whole that was able to adapt to its environment (survival of the fittest )

As long as your team is willing to work hard, and work together, you will be fine.

[Cynette]

Start recruiting new students, NOW! Spring is a great time to recruit for the fall!

We were impacted this year by a large number of Seniors graduating on 2007. The team "recruited like crazy" and around 40 new students started this fall. By the time build season rolled around we still had 18 new students, all of them engaged and essential to our team.

Some of our recuriting lessons learned:

Try to get twice as many new students as you need. Once school gets rolling in the fall, many end up choosing alternate activities, especially when you clearly communicate the time requirements during build season.

Don't forget to recruit from friends of current team members.

Recruit from other special interest groups - don't overlook the need for artists, presenters, business types, etc.

Do specific activities to acclimate / assimilate new team members to make sure they feel that they belong and to make sure they know what will happen during build.

Don't forget to get their parents on the loop too!

[vivek16]

I am going to have to agree with Holley on this one. It seems like this is a great opportunity for the underclassmen to take the brunt of the load. We had a team of 5 people in '07 and I got to take a role that no rookie freshman on a more experienced team would take.

-Vivek

[Akash Rastogi]

Just had another idea:

If you guys will be at Mission Mayhem, ask teams to come for an open discussion or help session for your team. Its better when you can talk to the teams who are close to you on a one on one basis. Ask them to bring examples of their best sponsorship letters and just ask for help. It works better when you can actually talk to more than one person at a time b/c ideas develop better that way. And who knows, maybe some other team is having the same problems?

+$0.02

EDIT: Here is the team list with their websites and such (Not 100% sure if that's for 2008). Try to contact some of them beforehand and ask them to bring examples of their best work for you guys. I'm sure they'd love to help.

[smurfgirl]

You've gotten a lot of great advice for what to do to help with the current situation, but I have a suggestion to help you for the future:

Always make sure you have someone to replace your graduating members; have a senior member train an interested buddy to step into their shoes when the time comes. In the past, our team lost about 2 seniors a year, and this year, it's losing 11 (about 30% of the team). While this is a huge loss of talent, wisdom, creativity, and knowledge, the team is still prepared for next year because they will have people to replace the graduating seniors. Also, start training your freshmen early!

Good luck, I wish your team the best.