We are mentoring a rookie team, and there are some questions about the Rookie All-Star award, the Rookie Inspiration Award, and the Chairman’s Award (as a requirement for rookie teams) that we cannot answer.
If the team chose to not be considered for the Chairman’s award, but they submitted the essay and executive summary anyway, do they still prepare a presentation?
What should they do to prepare for the Rookie Inspiration and the Rookie All Star Awards? Is there an associated presentation they should prepare?
The rookie awards don’t have a formal presentation like Chairman’s. The judges will come by the pit with questions. The judges won’t see any Chairman’s material that was submitted (since rookies aren’t eligible for Chairman’s, the only thing the online submission would be used for is NASA Grant requirements as I understand it), so the team should have copies of the essay and any supplemental materials in the pit if they want the judges to see them.
Do a search. This topic has been covered in other threads.
Rookies do not get a Chairman’s interview. They are welcome to give their submitted entry (for example, as a requirement for NASA grantees) to the judges in the pits. Judges will not have seen these.
Reading the criteria for the awards may help rookies zero in on what they want to focus on during their chat with judges in the pits. Wait for the judges to ask questions, but some judges may start with “tell us about your team.” Practicing the “elevator pitch” with the students is good practice for a competition, as well as a skill needed for college, job and internships interviews.
