Posted by Ken Leung at 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST
College Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.
Our team select our student leader at this time of the year, everytime after National competition… That is a position where a student take on the role of leading the team into next year’s competition, and work closely with adult advisors to make important decision about organizing the team.
So, I am wondering, do teams have a similar position for students? How do you select the student leader? Are there only one or more? How important is the student leader to the team? and at last,
Are there any complicated process people use to get leader(s) selected?
Posted by Patrick Dingle at 04/24/2001 9:26 AM EST
College Student on team #639, Red B^2, from Ithaca High School and Cornell University.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
Ken
Our team does not have any student leader (although it is an idea we’ve been considering). Along the same lines, what are the basic setups of teams out there? We are trying to determine best how to organize our team for next year, and are looking at different ideas. I’m especially interested in team structure involving college students.
Thanks
Patrick Dingle
: Our team select our student leader at this time of the year, everytime after National competition… That is a position where a student take on the role of leading the team into next year’s competition, and work closely with adult advisors to make important decision about organizing the team.
: So, I am wondering, do teams have a similar position for students? How do you select the student leader? Are there only one or more? How important is the student leader to the team? and at last,
: Are there any complicated process people use to get leader(s) selected?
Posted by Deej- T190 at 04/24/2001 10:18 AM EST
Engineer on team #190, Gompeii, from Mass Academy and WPI.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
WPI’s team here is completely run by college students, with the exception of the Colonel(WPI advisor/Mech Eng Prof). The basic structure is we have two college students who are the XO’s, and then the rest of the structure is split into two sides: Operations and Support. The support side takes care of fundraising, PR, cad designs, animation, shirts, buttons, cheering, all those sorts of things. The operations side has all robot operations, different subsystems (i.e. driveline, arm, grabber etc…), as well as controls, scouting and driver training. Operations is headed by one individual (myself), and the Support is headed by another college student. Underneath the heads of each side, there are various college students and high schoolers that are in charge of their respective groups. The way people were choosen were one by volunteering for positions, and then once the nominations/volunteering was completed, the lists were reviewed by the execs and decisions were made from there on who would take each role. For the most part this system worked rather well, keeping people on task for the majority of the season, as well as established a well structured chain of command. For visual representation, go to http://www.massacademy.org/first/orgchart2001.jpg
Posted by Carrie at 04/24/2001 2:47 PM EST
Student on team #27, Team Rush, from OSMTech Academy and Textron.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
I’m one of the three student leaders on my team, I take care of the stands and do some of the work helping out the team. The other captains one is our pit captain she takes care of the pit and does the accepting and picking at competitions. The other captain helps out in the stands and does some of the work back at home. Three Captains are a lot but we get a lot of the work done. The Process of picking captains or students leaders: the team nominates who they want for captain and then the team votes on the candidates. Three maybe to many for your purpose, but usually we have a captain and a co captain. I hope this has helped you out!
: Our team select our student leader at this time of the year, everytime after National competition... That is a position where a student take on the role of leading the team into next year's competition, and work closely with adult advisors to make important decision about organizing the team.
: So, I am wondering, do teams have a similar position for students? How do you select the student leader? Are there only one or more? How important is the student leader to the team? and at last,
: Are there any complicated process people use to get leader(s) selected?
Posted by JVN at 04/24/2001 3:08 PM EST
Student on team #250, Dynamos - Capital District Robotics Team, from Shenendehowa High School and General Electric and Verizon.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
Our team elects a Student Captain by secret email ballot.
This usually occurs sometime toward
the end of construction, before the competitions.
I’ve had the honor of holding this position 2 years in a row.
I’d like to thank my team for making
my High School FIRST experience a great one.
However this is not the end, only the beggining.
~Ex-Cap’n John
Team 250 next year Team 229
Posted by Hymnson (Captain) at 04/24/2001 3:28 PM EST
Student on team #419, The Rambots, from Boston College High School and UMass Boston and Modern Assistance Programs, Inc…
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
Well I’m the Captain of our team but I also have a co-captain. We chose captains during a (mandatory) meeting and all team members nominated leaders and then we all voted for a Captain. And the person with the second most votes because (vice) Co-Captain. I dunno if thats how other teams do it, but it works! Good luck!
Posted by Mike Corliss at 04/24/2001 10:32 PM EST
Student on team #419, Rambots, from BC High and :(.
In Reply to: Re: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Hymnson (Captain) on 04/24/2001 3:28 PM EST:
Your not entirely right. You and Andrew Laidler, the
other Co-Captain, are eaqual. Co-Captain means captain
together. You’re both Co-Captains. The vote was
originally intended to take the two candidates with the
most votes and set them up as equal Co-Captains, not
Captain and Vice Captain. We did this to prevent
people from power-tripping, as people often do when
un-checked. So know you know, and knowing is half the
battle.
G.I. Mike
Posted by Jeff W. at 04/24/2001 10:45 PM EST
Student on team #419, RAMBOTS, from Boston College High School and Don’t think we actually have a sponsor.
In Reply to: Silly Señor Hymson
Posted by Mike Corliss on 04/24/2001 10:32 PM EST:
Thats right. When we voted, we all agreed that the top two candidates will become Co-Captains. Also, if anyone on the team tries to abuse his power, the team can impeach him and lose his status. We hope that no one on the team that have any power to abuse their power.
Jeff Wong
Posted by mike oleary at 04/25/2001 4:07 PM EST
Student on team #419, rambots, from bc high and sponsors are overrated…go pocket-change robots!!!.
In Reply to: Re: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Hymnson (Captain) on 04/24/2001 3:28 PM EST:
hymson i just wanted to say i and i guess ill be seing you when you get back from youre power trip, mr CO-captain
ps the co in co-captain…know that it stands for? just in case you dont it stands for cooperative…as in cooperative captain…thus by definition two co-captains are equal. interesting side note to that: coopatition is one of FIRSTs big things…
pps it is impossible to have a vice co-captain…think about it: vice means secondarym co-captain means dual captainship (tri-captains are the same thing with 3 people…you dont have bi-captains, however, you have co-captains)…how can you possibly have a secondary dual captain? its a contradiction in terms
mike whos looking out for our struggling team
: Well I’m the Captain of our team but I also have a co-captain. We chose captains during a (mandatory) meeting and all team members nominated leaders and then we all voted for a Captain. And the person with the second most votes because (vice) Co-Captain. I dunno if thats how other teams do it, but it works! Good luck!
Posted by Mark T. Tomczak at 04/24/2001 6:02 PM EST
Student on team #422, GSGIS Mech Techs, from The Governor’s School for Gov’t & Int’l Studies and Verizon/AMF Bakery Systems/VBEP.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
Our team has four student leaders of equal rank,
who are all elected at the end of the year (just
before graduation). The leaders are in charge of
four different aspects: administration,
communications, project management, and
ways-and-means. Last year, we used a much less
structured approach, and it worked for our small
team; but as we have grown and branched out, we
have needed more organization.
Actually, we may modify this system next year; we
did an unfortunate amount of butting heads
whenever the team heads came to a two vs. two
decision. We may either add a fifth head (to
eliminate the roadblocks) or elect someone as
team captain who arbitrates in a two-vs.-two
situation.
Take care,
Mark
Posted by Erin at 04/25/2001 10:23 AM EST
College Student on team #65, Huskie Brigade, from Pontiac Northern High School and GM Powertrain.
In Reply to: student leaders in a team…
Posted by Ken Leung on 04/24/2001 12:48 AM EST:
If you are running your team like a nice, democratic society (unlike our nation), then you will let the students decide most everything (or at least have a hand in it).
I was the first female captain of team one, and my best friend was co-captain (we were the oldest team members, seniority wise). the students were just given ballots and told to vote based upon what they had been exposed to. they voted around january, which gave them enough time to see who should be captain. i think if you make a captain to early on in the year, they may try to take power they shouldnt have and then the students could become resentful- in many situation where there are good captains, students become resentful anyways because they are on a different side of things. If you have many strong student leaders on your team, no captain should be needed, but rather a spokesperson for each team division (mechanical, electrical, spirit, etc). but if your team lacks structure and student leadership, then one should be offered the position by way of a vote just to help things run a little smoother.
well i made that more complicated than i orignally intended, so lets put it this way: vote for a captain if you think you should have one, but dont make the candidates go through primaries 
erin
