Hey, I’m just curious how other teams get members or how students become members of their robotics teams. For Cyber Blue, every member has to fill out an application and then go through two separate interviews with the mentors every year he/she wants to be on the team.
For both 971 and 190, if a student wants to join, he or she may join. All that is required is to come to meetings and build sessions.
On 830 they have an announcement for meetings during the normal morning announcements at school, then basically all you have to do is show up, we have meetings every Friday before the season starts and then the people who don’t like it stop comming.
Every person has to submit an application, but lately, it has come to a point where, if you come, and you pay attention, then your are on. But if you start not showing up, then your off.
We have our team leaders (5 or 6) go through the applications with our lead mentor to decide who we want on.
45 accepts everyone who comes as much as they can, you must come 50% of the time to travel though.
Chief Delphi has an application process. There is the veteran’s application, which is for current members to re-apply, yes we have to re-apply every year, and do an interview with the team leaders. Then they make the decision if you come back on the team or not depending on what you did the year before. Then we have an application process for students that want to join and they have to fill out an application and get recomendations from teachers and current students on the team. Then they have to go through the interview process, then the team leaders invite the ones they think will fit the team best to join the team. Then in the fall they open it up to the 9th graders and they have to fill out an application and go through an interview, then they are selected by the team leaders. The interview process allows us to get the best of the best students that our school has to offer and it has always been that way and will continue to be that way.
177 allows everyone to join provided they consistently come to most of the meetings and stay productive. People will gradually wane out during the season though as they lose interest or don’t apply themselves.
1618’s rule (for 2007 at least) was that you had to make at least two-thirds of the three-a-week meetings to travel (and, to that end, get the shirt) though we never turned away anyone from working with us.
(I’m being loose with the word “travel” here; we’re talking a fifteen-minute trip to downtown.)
1501- We accept anyone who wants to join. We target age groups from 6-12 grades. They come, fill out a few 4-H sheets, they’re good. We have a system that you have to work so many hours to come to BMR and etc. What stinks is that you have to fill out a 4-H Health Form and Student release form to go to any of the activities.
EDIT: For recruitment, I am going to a science club campout for middle schoolers to talk to their members, and just to hang out. We also attend parades and give handouts durring fundraisers.
Mitty Robotics (aka TKO 1351) is treated as a club. Anyone can join and anyone can leave. This makes it very difficult to keep the team roster up to date because there’s so much member flow, especially at the start of each school year.
(Pulls up student roster now) Officially we have 52 members. We only have 22 active members though. The rest, we havent seen since the beginning of the year. (Yes our retention rate is horrible)
Every year though, all fifty-two members skip school to go to the regionals and cheer on a robot that they probably are seeing for the first time.
Things are a changin in 2008…
We accept just about anyone on our team. Eventually people weed out. However, to travel you must attend most meetings, maintain a C average in all your classes, and prove to the team that you are worth taking. We let most of the kids go to our home regional though. Sometimes they show a lot more interest in the next season. Our goal is to inspire as many students as possible so we do our best to keep them on the team. Students even tutor each other to keep their grades up.
Show up at the meetings. Bring in a certain % of the fundraising for going to a regional. Thats pretty much it for us. We’re shrinking as a team so we try to get members in and not to do anything that could discourage them.
Application, fundraise a bit (Spaghetti Dinner required, other fundraisers optional), and you’re pretty much good to go assuming you’re one of the first 15 students. (Capped at 15, and we haven’t come close since 2003.
It’s not for lack of trying, though.)
Team 8 accepts anyone who wants to join and travel to the local regional. Since students had to pay for travel to remote regionals for the last few years, we let whomever wanted to pay join. However, people must show consistent attendance and interest (not to mention knowledge) to move into leadership positions.
If you are interested in any kind of profession, you are welcome on 612. We have students from a broad range of majors and interests who work as a team to create 612.
(Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, Programmers, DEKA, Marketing, Animators, Business Management, Event Management, Team Promotions etc etc)
The only commitment we require for a member is to be able to put in some time and effort and have fun while doing it. This is what makes our team, one of its kind.
Imad
Team 648 doesn’t require an application, I’ve never seen the pro’s to this*. As a member, you must make 75% of meetings from January to April and maintain a C average in your classes.
*I’ve never understood the advantages of having the “best” students. One of the FLL teams in the QC is “gifted” children only and I’ve decided to have to involvement in them for that reason.
IT is not always an attempt to get the best students but the ones that need the program most. We just can’t keep 70 to 80 students busy. Our number of students we can be most affective with is around 40. This is also a great learning experience of the kids. They learn how to fill out applications, resumes, and perform in an interview.
Between 70-80 students apply each year?! I guess those are the perks of living in a major metropolitan area like Indy.
My response was mostly prompted by this:
The interview process allows us to get the best of the best students that our school has to offer and it has always been that way and will continue to be that way.
I would like to know how many people apply to be on team 47 and exactly why they want the “best.” I most definitely wouldn’t be defined as “best” but look at me now, FIRST has changed my life and has the ability to change thousands of other students’ lives. Why keep that from them?
Our team has an application process where you must fill out one and write a 500 word essay and do an interview. We conduct ours like a business place. Along with this you must keep up a 3.0 GPA and come to around 3/4 the meetings.
We usually get around 25 people that apply and we only travel with 20. We have alternates who are not on the team but who still halp and try to get on the travel team and whoever shows the work usually travels (Even if it ends up being more than 20 )
1885 allows any student who’s non-disruption and not distracting to come to our meetings. We enjoying working with any student willing to learn, no matter the knowledge level.
To travel, students must have a certain % attendance or have contributed to a significant portion of the robot, website, or community outreach. We have a set amount of seats on the bus/plane and most of the time we know who is going to the events well before competition season. Students also must maintain a C average or better in ALL classes in order to travel, as this is a county-wide policy for all extracirrucular activities I’ve recently learned. Finally, students must pay or help fundraise for their travel, hotel, and food on trips. Any student who we feel deserves a trip but cannot make it due to financial reasons, we either fundraise for or on a rare occasion the Mentors get a fund together – done anonymously of course.
I definitely see the point in the application/interview process though. It allows students to become oriented with that type of process and hopefully will help them communicate their strengths better to the group during build season and in the future when they’re going for a job.