(sorry for the possibly misleading title…and if this is placed wrong please move it)
So anyways, last year my team (1591) was a team between 2 Greece,NY highschools, Greece Arcadia and Athena. The problem is that this year due to problems with the principal at arcadia and problems finding an advisor at arcadia, it is an Athena team because our team works out of athena and arcadia students have no way to get to athena for meetings. Now the point/question here is…
Does anyone have a solution or idea that can be done for the Arcadia students that would like to participate this season?
Now i understand there may have been previous topics like this one but i would like other local teams to view this that may/do work with multiple schools as one team…Thanks Everyone
id suject a new FRC team for them, but its a bit late for that, isnt it?
how far are the 2 schools located from each other?
if its less then an hour of driving then u guys should arrange a bus or something’ or maybe parents driving thme’ or even students driving themselves’ only if they have a license of course =]
I recommend parents. I’m sure they’d be willing to drive their kids to support a great program like FIRST. Have you also considered recruiting those with licenses?
Given what information was given about the situation, I’d suggest seeing how many upperclassmen can drive over there (and how many other students they can bring with them) after school. It’s better than having no participation at all.
Also, if you guys meet on the week-ends (which most teams do to some extent during build), you may be able to have parents drive them over then.
Here’s an idea that happens quite frequently in the real world (and in all reality this is what FIRST tries to replicate, the real world) of business and the enconomy. Theres always going to be a location barrier, it happens all the time. What I suggest would to designate a meeting place for the weekends, say at the school, the sponsor (if applicable), or at someone’s house. During the week, let those at the distance school be involved via internet confrences, chat-rooms, or on the phone. Let both schools be involved with the design, and then branch out the remaning tasks for the six weeks between both schools. As it happens in the world of business, what one facility does well, another does not…but has their own strong points. On the weekends bring both together at the designated meeting place, and have a week review on saturday, and then sunday assign new tasks for the following week.
“…if there’s a will, there’s a way…”
Hope this helps,
Greg
It’s not clear to me why the Arcadia students cannot participate, other than a possible location issue (which has been addressed, above). Is it an issue that they do not have an advisor at their school, which precludes them from participating on the team? Does the school require an advisor? If so, then they have to find someone regardless of where you wish to meet. Has your advisor met with the other school’s administration to determine what the needs/regulations are? It could be that you need an advisor for insurance purposes, etc.
Are both schools in the same school district? If so who in the school district has control over the program. This may be the person who can help the situation. The after school busing issue may very well be a money issue. The principle does not want his building fund to take the hit for the busing costs. Again this can some times be resolved at a higher administrative level. Our team has had some difficult with the finance issues. Most support our program but, no one wants to take the hit for any costs. I would strongly suggest that this matter be resolved upfront and with district support. Doing an end run around the problem can cause more problems than it solves. Try to remember that their is a major but protecting mentality in school districts. The 1990’s saw many law suits that were frivolous but hurt many school districts. Our team is a joint effort from three high schools and every year there are battles. Most of the things that I hate about First Robotics have nothing to do with the robot or First. It’s the school district that get’s my blood pressure up.
Our team is our entire county, which is only two high schools anyway. The schools are about 30 minutes apart, and we meet at a (relatively central) old warehouse instead of at either school. I doubt that’s an option so close to build season, but it’s entirely possible to arrange something to somehow get the students at the same school. I’d put my vote in for having the older students drive the younger ones if that’s possible, or maybe even recruiting a teacher from Arcadia to simply drive some of the students to the meetings (if there’s a teacher willing to do it). Or one/a few of the mentors could do it…there are numerous possibilites. Don’t let them miss out on FIRST just because of a few miles and a transportation issue.
my team is also comprised of two high schools (Pascack Valley and Pascack Hills). we meet everyday after school and on weekends at Pascack Hills though. Students, like me, who go to Pascack Valley either drive themselves or car pool up to Pascack Hills. If parents work the students should get their rides when the parents get home. Our team meets until late into the night so members that come a little late are still able to contribute during the build season.
Also if students are really desperate to get to the other school couldn’t they just walk? Sure it might take longer, but exercise isn’t always bad . And if they don’t want to carry their backpacks maybe they could arrange for a neighbor or someone to bring it home (they could pick it up later)
My team is made up of the 2 high schools in our district too and we haven’t been able to get a teacher from the other school to be an “advisor” yet and this is our third year as a combined team… we have to rely on students on the team already to spread the word around that school, if you have any friends that go to the other high school, get them to post fliers or something to let the students know what’s going on then try to set up an “upperclassmen” transportation system like suggested above.
What I would do is start a separate team (even though that has already been mentioned). The students should organize a petition for it and hopefully they can find an advisor. They won’t be able to do it this year but I’m pretty sure if they petition enough, they can get one by next year or even 2009. Some (I’m not sure how many) rookie teams this year (or in previous years) (I know of one this year) are split-offs from larger teams: 2199 from Eldersburg split off of 1464; 1980 (technically not a rookie but otherwise developing for this year) is a splinter from 1719.
