Hey there everyone! I am a 4th year Mechanical Engineering student at U of R, and I’m looking for a robotics club to mentor in Rochester for at least one year. I had a fantastic 4 years doing robotics in high school, and I did Baja SAE for 3 years in college before eventually leaving. I want to give back to the community that I fell in love with, and help others also grow a passion for engineering like I did. I would appreciate any advice on being a first-time mentor, as well as recommendations on clubs in the Rochester area, or how I should start my search. Thank you!
Hey Scott, Justin from 5254 here. I’ll send you a DM 
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Hey Justin,
This is the only post not closed relating to Upstate New York. Also a student in FLX region and a long time member of the community, Mid-atlantic community that is. What’s the deal with Upstate New York? (that’s broad and a lot can be said) It’s obviously less dense than where I am from but are there off-season events? I am trying to stay involved but gosh it is hard to in Upstate New York.
One of the only consistent off-season events in upstate NY is Ra Cha Cha Ruckus, usually held in October. I’m from the Binghamton area (around 2 hours south of Rochester), and there are only maybe 3 teams within 2 hours from us in any direction. Most teams in upstate are from Albany, Buffalo, and Rochester I think.
There are 2 offseasons in upstate NY, typically. Ruckus hosted by 1511 in Rochester and Rumble hosted by 3044 in the capital region. Ruckus is typically the weekend closest to Halloween. Rumble is typically the weekend after. Ruckus is happening this year, I don’t think Rumble is as I’ve not heard any word about it.
It is not clear to me the future of upstate NY FRC. In 2020, we had a regional in Rochester, Utica, and Troy. There’s another event in Suffern, you could consider Suffern “upstate” if you wanted. Standard “what is upstate” debate.
Anyway, there were about 75 teams in upstate in 2020. Rochester is the largest hub, then the capital region, then Buffalo. There are 2-5 teams in the “greater Ithaca area”, depending on big of an area you consider that. I’m not sure what to expect with regards to COVID retention.
Central NY, in Utica, appears to have been canned for 2022. As with Hudson Valley in Suffern. Tech Valley, at RPI in Troy, has been moved to the Times Union Center in Albany, growing from 36ish to 64ish slots. However, this is at the price of having the event on Monday through Wednesday, which I’m sure volunteers and mentors are thrilled about. Oh, it also starts immediately following the Finger Lakes regional at RIT.
I’m no longer in NY as I graduated college. I talked to groups about hosting more events (especially offseasons) in NY (pre-COVID), but being a “dumb millennial,” I didn’t get very far.
We also had multiple RD/leadership positions change in 2020, and I may be wrong, but I think there is now one RD for all of upstate NY.
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