STORM Robotics is in the process of recruiting students for their FRC and FTC teams. We have done the general “demoing the robot to the community and putting the robot on display” stuff but we are currently looking for more ways to recruit students (especially to the non-technical areas like media and awards).
So, what creative ideas have you heard or used to recruit?
Partner with other organizations/clubs at your school. We are currently working on a partnership with the science olympiad where we train their students in shop/electronics skills and in return they are also apart of the robotics team.
Attend new-student orientations, had out information about the robotics program and recruit parents to convince their kids to join. Over $15 million in scholarships!
Our high school has an open house at the high school for parents to check out what the school is like and has to offer sometime in the fall. We make the information available to parents (of course stressing the things they like to hear about college and scholarships). They can then encourage their kids to join, and at the very least we’ve told other members of our community about what we do. Having parents who know about the club is a great step to get the students AND the parents involve in the organization if they do decide to join. Getting parents involved is something that goes a long way toward making the long weekend days of the build season bearable…the robot would not get done without those lunches!
Heck, it was my mom’s pestering along with some of my friends’ pestering at the time that got me to one of those meetings. I’ve been hooked ever since. We do this because it works.
As far as recruiting for non-techical areas, make sure you mention that FRC teams do not just build robots. We also fundraise, spread STEM awareness, and learn leadership skills. There is a place every student on an FRC team.
Also, try to discuss FRC with incoming students as soon as possible. Don’t rule out visits to middle and elementary schools in your area. Try to ensure that every student and parent in your area knows about your team. Basically, you want to “Make It Loud.”
Check out this NEMO document for a more complete list of recruitment methods. http://www.firstnemo.org/PDF/Recruiting_Students.pdf
I can’t add much that hasn’t already said about recruiting. However, often overlooked is the process by which you keep new team members interested and on the team. The method by which a team retains students is just as important as the method by which the team recruits them.
In past years, our team had suffered from low retention rates. We’d pick up 10 new members in the fall, and by build season, we’d have 2. This past year, we started with 8 new members, and kept 4. This was due to a program we participated in for the first time the fall- a VEX Robotics competition put on by WPI called Savage Soccer. We started the SS build season our second meeting, which gave the new members a reason to keep coming to meetings. It also gave the new members a taste of what FRC build season is like, so when Kickoff hits, it’s not like hitting a brick wall. Good luck in your recruiting!
We have a hard time recruiting students in our area also. The general trend in the area is that anyone who tries at ANYTHING, sports included, is made fun of. This makes anyone who is interested in FIRST not want to join because they are afraid of being made fun of. Have any of you noticed this?
I’ve notices that there are stereotypes attached, but not blatant bullying, or anything near that. Most of the high school students that I know are respectful and open, so peer pressure doesn’t seem to be a factor. However, social standing is possibly a factor - the smarter people in the high school are supportive of Robotics, while the not so smart people generally believe that there’s no way for them to contribute. However, I don’t know the pressures placed on the not-so-smart people (relatively speaking) who want to join Robotics by their not-so-smart peers. My general feeling is that most of them don’t want to do Robotics in the first place.
Whenever we do presentations, we like to emphasize that you don’t need prior technical knowledge to join a team. Learning is part of the process. We also did well by talking to the sports-inclined community about how we built a robot that played basketball.
We got more artsy people involved through animation (which doesn’t exactly apply anymore). Perhaps try recruiting through your school’s art department. They could design team apparel or logos, maybe getting credit for it in class too. Even web design.
You really just need to look around. On our team at least, one person joins, then lures in their friends. We hit an all-time high team number this year at 21 students. I wish you luck with recruiting!
Don’t be afraid to talk with other student organizations-- some kids on the school newspaper might be interested in getting some experience with journalism by doing live coverage on a competition (this last year at the Lake Superior/Northern Lights regionals we worked with team 2512 to cover the regionals in the Duluth News Tribune, an actual newspaper).
Some art students may be interested in getting their name out there doing graphic design work on your team’s website.
If you have a science club or a science olympiad team, they might be interested in the applied science of robotics.
For awards and media, remember to emphasize that there is so much more to robotics than just building robots. Team 2500 Herobotics in our area doesn’t advertise as a “FIRST Robotics Team,” they call themselves a “FIRST Team.” I know they once got a kid that really loved dance to make up a dance that they then performed in the stands at the 10000 Lakes regional.
If you can get permission to post posters around your school, you might want to put up more artistically inclined posters targeting more media-related activities-- one of our students made a series of graphic-design inspired posters for our recruiting this year, which attracted a decent number of new students.
Overall, though, for any kind of recruiting, you’re going to get the best people through friends and relatives. If you can get your students to each bring a friend or two to a meeting, I think you’ll be surprised how many will stick around.
We fightthesame battle every year. Make the students feel like unlike any other sport / activity, robotics has a place for everyone. You canbe a builder, or a designer, or a member that keeps track of social media for the team. Let them know that colleges like this, and that every single person that gets involved gets hooked on it their first season.
Other than that, free food atracts a crowd, no matter what for. Last year, we got 6 recruits by having free ramen noodles and pop-tarts. Now they’re addicted to FIRST.
We find that our summer camp is a great way to recruit students. We’re starting the second week (of two), and we have 20 students at the camp this year, over half of them new!
We do demo’s at local middle schools after the build season is over, then include information about the camp in a school mailing to the incoming freshmen parents. The basic idea is to get the students excited so they talk about it when the parents ask “what did you do at school today?”, then remind the family about it a month or so later when they can sign up for the camp. The mailing emphasizes that no experience is necessary!
Since the camp is held over the summer and only a 2-week commitment (and we have a few who only come one week, or can only make it on certain nights), it really allows new students to give it a try without worry. After all, they aren’t signing up to build a full robot or for a 6-week long build season with homework from classes every night. We make sure the camp includes something they can take home to share with their family and be proud of. Generally speaking, most of the students that come to the camp end up signing up with the team full time, and we can usually get a couple of friends who hear about the camp once school starts and want to tag along to the fall season.
The big thing is doing anything you can to get the kids in the door. Once they’re in, they’re hooked! We have one student this year who had told us she could only come for the first night of the build season, and we said “Great!”. She showed up, had a good time, and the next day we had an e-mail from her mom telling us that she was hooked, and that they reworked their schedule so she could make a couple other full summer meetings, and the last half of a few others.
#1 stress that you don’t need any skills to join the team, you only need the desire to learn something new. “Don’t know how to use a screwdriver/drill/saw/computer ect don’t worry we’ll teach you.” “Not interested in fabricating/CAD/programming, GREAT we are looking for people to run our website/facebook page, design our T-shirts, take pictures and videos, do fund raising and PR”
#2 enlist the help of teachers and have them suggest to students that they check out the team. Go to the art teacher, FBLA, creative writing and stress that you are looking for more than just students to work on the robot.
My son checked out the team on the suggestion of one of his teachers since he did not know about the team due to the state of recruitment at the time.
I think one of the most important things to emphasis is that robotics is accepting. You don’t have to be good at anything: we’ll teach you, whether it’s a technical or non-technical concept. And not just that there is a role for everyone, which is important, but that you can belong with us. You’ll find friends you can be yourself around, which is really what a lot of kids in high school are looking for and these are the kids who really could get a lot out of FIRST. Now, this concept can’t really be conveyed unless you get kids in the room of your first meeting.
Don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. People’s friends will join if they tell them to. Talk at freshmen orientation, put up posters, get on the announcements, and just try to get kids to that first meeting.
The other important part, like said above, is parents. We all know that if your parents are insistent about you doing something, you are eventually going to come around to it. Impressing the parents is as important as inspiring the students. This year we’re going to send a letter home in the mail informing the parent about their child’s interest in the team, a little bit about FIRST and the team, a what we, as a program, have to offer the student. Then we include some basic contact info and a calendar print out for August and September with all the dates on it.
Quick follow-up from my post… 6 students working on electrical today, 5 of which are brand new students this year!
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These are great ideas. Please remember that some of us are introverts and may not feel very comfortable in new situations, or in any social situation. We may need some one-on-one or small group initiations before we are accepting of the group. It doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what’s going on, so please don’t write us off!
Right, some of our best members didn’t come to us through group meetings, but were dragged to the team by their friend that thought it would be a good fit for them. More often than not, said friend was right.
Our school has a little club fair, so all the students get to see all the clubs that are available and when we talk to the student body about robotics, we always make sure to tell them about business since our business team is small. In my opinion, the best way to recruit people on your team is to get people on your team to go recruit their friends and classmates because it is easier to join a club when you can do it with a friend or someone you know.