I got to wondering the other day about something. It seems like most team have your standards duties for team members: drive team, animations, etc…my job on my team can be simply put as whatever no one else wants to do. Mainly, I do my team’s newsletter. Do other teams even have newsletter and, if so, who writes and creates them? I just wonder if maybe I’m the only student with this job. If any other student does work on their team’s newletter, let me know. I often have no clue as to what to include in it. Thanks!
~Angela who got chosen to do the newsletter b/c she got a higher grade than Ben in her one semester of journalism this past year
Our team does not have a newsletter. We do, however, have individuals with unusual team tasks. For example, as far as I know, I’m the only guy in the entire FIRST program whose job it is to show up at every meeting and stand around cracking wise until one or more of my team mates feels compelled to injure me with any of various shop tools.
Like Karl said, our team doesn’t have a newsletter. It really depends on how large your team is to have a newsletter. Most of our people show up consistently and we know whats going on. If not, we just fill them in when they come back. If they are gone for a long time, thats just tough for them, they catch up on their own. Karl, you make funny wisecrack jokes that bring humor into the program. If it weren’t for that, we probably would have had horrible moods all the time. Everyone who shows up has a part in all teams. There is a lot to do. Just one’s presence can make a difference. If you don’t, find something to do, that goes for every team. Please don’t be on the team just for the trip. That was one of the reasons I joined, then I got hooked to it and love FIRST, thank God I have two more years of it. Thats why I stay on ChiefDelphi all the time, I have no life. Is anyone else that way?
Our team has an email newsletter, it’s written by one of our advisors. It comes out basically every week summarizing what is going on. We have emergency editions such as-
“ALL HEAR THIS: at 2AM the robot was handed to the drivers for testing…that is all”
Another weird job on our team is that of the HSG.
Head-Senior-Guy… this is just an honorific (unofficial) title given to a High School Senior on the team… Usually someone who just eats/sleeps/breathes FIRST… You get the weirdest look when you put that on a resume…
~John V #250
Our newsletter isn’t really for our members…more for PR purposes in the community. I guess it is needed to show our sponsors that we really are up to something all of those weeks spent in a building of power tools, computers, and crazy engineers and students. Any announcements for team members are done via email and those who don’t have email just kinda find out from their friends at their school (our team has students from both of our high schools in Martin County).
*Originally posted by Anthony S. *
**Thats why I stay on ChiefDelphi all the time, I have no life. Is anyone else that way? **
All I have to say is —
Life == FIRST
~ lora
FIRST-a-holic for life…and prolly after death too
*Originally posted by Anthony S. *
**Thats why I stay on ChiefDelphi all the time, I have no life. Is anyone else that way?**
My morning goes like this: check my email, check Chief Delphi, check the hits on our team’s website, then look for updates on the FIRST site. I have a bock of student assistant with our main teacher sponsor and all we talk about is cows and robotics. My friends outside of robotics get angry cause all I do talk about robotics. I think that the true FIRST-a-holics, like me, have NO LIFE!! And I’m proud of it.
*Originally posted by Karl *
**as far as I know, I’m the only guy in the entire FIRST program whose job it is to show up at every meeting and stand around cracking wise until one or more of my team mates feels compelled to injure me with any of various shop tools. **
what a coincidence! i have that same job…me and my cronies all do that: me, mike corliss, jeff wong, joe cronin, andrew kostka.
its funny: cuz of that people dont take us seriously…like when our group of friends came up with the concept and design of rambot 2001, the wedge and stuff people were just like no thats a bad idea bla bla bla
yeah me either…im on cd wayyyyy too much…
chiefdelphi is my life too pretty much
No one on my team has your job at the moment. However, now that you mentioned the idea of the newsletter SOMEONE will next year. Any volunteers?
Actually, I’m thinking that could be a good job for the high school student leader of the team (who we need to pick at some point in the near future…). Thanks for the idea Angela.
Matt who’s team is going to hate him after he comes up with all these new ideas for stuff to do…
Littlefish and other posters-
I don’t consider having all the unusual tasks such a terrible thing. I have always felt like the band-aid- or what Norm on my team calls me- the “X-Factor”. I just kinda jump up and do whatever anyone needs help with. Even when I was captain in 2000 I was putting tape on the rumble sticks, showing other teams our animation and finding misc. parts from other teams. Sometimes being the band aid can be a team’s lifesaver. And oh yeah, I tried doing a newsletter after 2000 and then I just gave it up…there was just too much else to do
We have a team full of those!!!
most of them are the most unassuming people in the great and then they have therese awesome falshes of brilliance and stun the living bejesus out of the team and we look a t them for the rest of the comp- day ect with new respect and awe
i however am still wainting for that moment
dahl
We had a newsletter like what you describe in '98. We distributed it to all the team members as well as to important people at the school and our sponsors. Each week we had a seperate student write it. This required that everyone know what was going on for at least one week
We haven’t done it since then, but I don’t know why.
We have a newsletter for PR purposes and it is written and published by our Chairman’s Award group.
They put in FIRST’s mission, then it gives the community an update as to what is going on during the Six Weeks of Hell. Thats our newsletter (well…the last one I’ve actually read :p).
Hm… newsletter… good idea. Too bad we were so increadibly unorganized this year, we barely even had a contact list for the team throughout the year. This is the first year the team has been at Bellarmine and we only had 2 students who had been on a team before, it was just nuts. Anyway, a newsletter sounds like a great idea, not only to inform team members about important dates but also to advertise our team in our area and school. We haven’t really had a chance to do much of that.
*Originally posted by littlefish180 *
**I got to wondering the other day about something. It seems like most team have your standards duties for team members: drive team, animations, etc…my job on my team can be simply put as whatever no one else wants to do. Mainly, I do my team’s newsletter. Do other teams even have newsletter and, if so, who writes and creates them? I just wonder if maybe I’m the only student with this job. If any other student does work on their team’s newletter, let me know. I often have no clue as to what to include in it. Thanks!
~Angela who got chosen to do the newsletter b/c she got a higher grade than Ben in her one semester of journalism this past year **
I think every position is important in a FIRST team, so don’t say writing a newsletter isn’t a “standard duty” for you team. There are all kind of position in a team: from the people who work on the robot such as the different components team, to the electronics team, to the animation team, to the chairman team, to the organization and public relation team… etc.
There are all kind of people who have important duties. Even if they are only cleaning up the shop by picking up nuts and bolts or only designing signs and banners for the team, or photographers who take pictures of the team, and even news letter writers such as yourself have something important to contribute to the tea.
So don’t think your job isn’t a standard duty in the team. You are as much of a FIRST person as your team leader or drive train leader are. FIRST doesn’t just help the growth of engineers, but also help raise the general quality of all kind of people who participate in it. I know people who will never become an engineer, but they benefited from the FIRST competition a whole lot.
Now back to your question about the newsletter. You can always include daily progress of the robot of you team, and add some general reminder of the schedule your team leader decided. Talk about what’s going on in the FIRST community as well, things like team updates, and topics that came up in the forum. Finally, include stuff going on in other teams, and include outside resources such as other team’s database and scouting system, and report what happens in the regional competitions.
Those are only some of the ideas I have…
as my signature indicatates, i handle communications on my team. one thing i was looking at for next year was a newsletter. it’s not such an unusual idea, i know the Thunderchickens have a newsletter, which they distributed each day in atlanta.
i don’t think that you should consider yourself an oddjob on the team. you have a job, and when you are available you are given the extra little things that come up. that is how things go on my team, and it works pretty well. i do random jobs and scouting at competitions because my job is like yours, done away from the competition itself. so don’t get down about your job, make the most of it! the newsletter is what you choose for it to be, use your power to make your job fun!
PS: I’m a journalist, JOURNALISM ROCKS!!!
Team 188 has a newsletter that we send out to sponsers or potential sponsers. Lots of logos and info on team. If your team doesn’t have one they should. Just think how much easier it will be next year when you approach a sponser and ask for money. They have been kept informed and they see their logo going around to other sponsers. Is this job important? You bet!!! Never look at any job as if it were not important. Even the relished task of sorting screws, nuts and bolts is important. You can even learn from those jobs.
Someone find me a 8 - 32 x 1 1/4 bolt please. :rolleyes:
Hahahaha. I went to the dining hall for breakfast this morning (An unusual occurance, I’m normaly in bed) and ran up to one of my friends and said “I got a story, It’s really cool, wanna hear it?” Her Reply “If it has to do with robots, no.” Oddly enough, for the first time in about a year, it didn’t have to do with robots (it had to do with mushroom clouds and chevy blazers :yikes: ).
We don’t really have a newsletter, because (at least on my rookie team) there’s only 10 of us. We do have some other interesting jobs though…
>>Power Cord Hoarder - Makes sure that the power cords for the computer speakersare well hidden because otherwise our productivity drops about 300% because all they do is argue about what kind of music to listen too)
>>Ant Killer - Self Explanitory (there’s a nest of them in the wall and the school doesn’t seem to mind, but I find it annoying)
And on 226 —
>>Filing - I was always in charge of filing (like getting rid of sharp corners filing, not paper filing). I cam out of every other meeting looking like I had been painted with three coats of silver spray paint
A newsletter would be a really good idea for 226. It would give another of those 60+ students on the team something interesting to do.
Allison
Replace “shop tools” with “hand tools” and you’ve got what I do when I’m not programming. I’m surprised that no one on the Electronics team has killed me yet.