How to keep new students entertained?

[EricH]

With regards to fundraising, pair up experienced students with new students when you do it. The experienced student can offer what the team has done; the new student can observe and offer what they think the team is about.

The same goes for all the other things. Pair up veterans with rookies in whatever ratio is appropriate. Rookies learn. Veterans learn better (nothing like teaching something to learn it!).

Another great idea: Take any random old FRC game and sit all the students down in groups. Their objective: develop a strategy and design a robot to win the game. No, they don't have to build it, but it would have to be buildable. (Would also work with FTC and VRC games. Caution: before 1999, FRC games tended to be 1v1v1.) When January rolls around, the entire team benefits as they do the same thing. You could also develop your own game, but that might be a bit crazy.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Entertained is not the word you want. Enthused, active, productive, inspired - try those on for size.

Engaged is a good word, too.

Have a MOE scavenger hunt. Assign the MOE website for pre-season reading - with a deadline. Have them look at/investigate different sections, including the MOE Program and MOEmentum sections, for ideas/thoughts/suggestions as to a fun project or two that they would like to do. It is a way for new-ish mentors and teams to explore the possibilities of infinity and beyond.

Check out other websites of teams that you admire/respect and see if they offer any suggestions on what to do with off season and pre-season. MOE has one of the best, in my opinion. They have developed a very strong program and continue to strive for excellence in ways from which others can benefit.

Jane

[Clem1640]

We're active year-round now and run a summer program. Generally we focus on new technology areas which we feel will be useful for the team to understand better. We prototype & test our ideas and then document this work and the conclusions. This is a good intro for new students joining at the start of the summer (we always have a few).

In the fall, we've got a few things going on:
1) Fundraising (never stops)
2) Community outreach (local town festivals - sponsor demos - etc.)
3) Training - especially tool use and safe working processes
4) Training - CAD; drivetrain basics; pneumatics basics
5) Driving practice and try-outs
6) Offseason competitions - we do two fall competitions each year (Duel on the Delaware & Ramp Riot)

Hope this helps.

[3195mentor]

Originally Posted by Clem1640

We're active year-round now and run a summer program. Generally...

Thanks, I will keep those activities in mind. I'm actually thinking about bringing the CAD teacher at this school aboard (hopefully)

[lehua768]

In regards to education, this can be a valid exercise, but needs to be implemented correctly. In my experience, if you (or your mentors, or ...) lecture at the students for more than a meeting or so, the students will start to wonder why they've signed up for another class. Some may like this, but there's a good chance many won't. Try the one-on-one (or up to about one-on-three) approach instead.Specific ideas: Try having the some kids work on CAD (if you know it) as all this requires is access to a computer lab and they can create as many designs as they want. Having some sort of hands-on activity is critical, though, as many students (esp. freshmen) will not have the patience for CAD. VEX has also been mentioned, which is excellent if your team has $700-$1000 to spend on it (I believe this is about the price range actually needed). Also, try asking veteran teams in your area if they have any extra parts and material you could use if you can't afford your own (no matter what type of robot you build). Try to stay away from some of the more crafty hobby kits that are available or more DIY-type projects, as they usually require a fair amount of precision to get working and if you have a whole room of kids competing for your assistance, neither they nor you will be happy.

[3195mentor]

Originally Posted by lehua768

In regards to education, this can be a valid exercise, but...

While I appreciate the effort, copying and pasting a previous poster's reply doesn't really help much

[CENTURION]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this:

Look around and reach out to local engineering companies or machine shops. We have the good fortune of living in the same city as a great company known as Isthmus Engineering & Manufacturing Co-op. They specialize automated machinery and construction, which is what we do in FRC, they just work on a lager scale.

We recently took a tour of their workshop with some of our newer students, and it was a great learning experience, as they had some great machinery to show off.

[EricH]

That's actually a good idea for a "Wow, I could end up doing this someday" trip.

Contact your local major engineering place and see if you can get a field trip of their plant. (I know Northrop and a few other aerospace companies have stuff down there, but I'm not sure what else there is or what exactly they do.) Take the entire team. Not only do you get a wow moment, but you can pick up some useful tips if you pay attention.