I know numerous teams out have tried, but how many teams have successfully gotten varsity letter recognition from their school(s)? If you’re one of the ones that has, how did you do it/what process did you have to go through?
Our team hands them out after 2 years of being a dedicated member and keeping your grades up to par.
I’m not too sure what my mentors did to get to the point of handing out varsity letters, but I know that we do get awarded with them.
I hate to be :that guy: but please search (although it won’t let me link to it here, typing “robotics letters” into the search feature brought up dozens of fantastic threads about the subject thanks Jason). There are lots of threads discussing this and white papers available explaining the processes used by various teams.
Good luck and see you in St. Louis!
Yes, our team hands out letters. We have a fairly involved set of requirements in our team handbook outlining what it takes to letter. Essentially, it comes down to one item: Be actively involved in the team. You have to be on the team for two years, meet attendance requirements during the build season, attend competition events (not all, but a reasonable mix of regional, champs, and off-season that allows for other circumstances like family plans or trips with other school groups), attend our summer/fall off-season program, and take on some sort of leadership role on the team (with leadership being loosely defined - we’ve found leadership spots for everyone that’s wanted one so far).
Make up a list of requirements that shows your school you’re serious about it, and serious about making lettering at least as challenging as in other school activities. Build your case with the number of hours put in and the reward to both the student and the school from the program.
The criteria for our team is to be Junior or Senior and not a rookie. One must have had a significant impact on the team that it is noticeable to the others around them.
I got my letter, I cherish it more than my football ones.
We’ve had them since we started, if i remember right, so 6 years so far.
Does any one know the actual process of how their team got a Letter? Or who they had to go through (i.e. Principal, School Board, etc.)? My team has previously worked on getting one, but have not followed through. I was hoping to start the project back up again this year. Any help would be appreciated. 
That’s what I was really asking, how did you get the school to approve giving out varsity letters to robotic kids?
My old team got robotics recognized a year ago. It took a lot of convincing, a school board member, who is also quite involved with the team, at bat for us and a hooked on FIRST superintendent.
This might answer the OP’s question.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/21626
We think Robotics should be a full blown sport.
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/2011/08/considered-sport/
Do you think a varsity football player is going to solve climate change or cure cancer? I bet a varsity robot design might.
In the article at the link above:
***“If the US really wants to make a dent in the number of kids that go into the sciences, it needs to start to change its priorities from athletic to academic. –”
I don’t agree. It isn’t a zero sum game. We don’t have to give up athletics in order to have academics / robotics.
We have a great WindRiver c++ programmer. She is also a varsity cheerleader. She has the best of both worlds…
.
Anyone ever suggest having a regional champion letter?
It sort of is a zero sum game, because sports are prioritized so much higher than other school activities. Sports do nothing but entertain our society. Yes they fund some scientific pursuits. But if we took the revenue of the top professional sports and gave it to NASA. Holy crap, we be watching astronauts singing Christmas carols on Mars by 2014.
I am not discounting the need for student athletics, our national diabetes rate dictates that physical activity must be a part of a balanced path forward. But stop ranking athletics a 9 with outrageous funding, insane celebrity and unhealthy national focus while ranking academics a 2 or a 3. It should b academics a 9 and athletics maybe a 5.
The letter issue is indicative of the value system that can be found when we look at how schools celibate math clubs, science clubs, rocketry clubs and so on. These clubs needs to be moved to the top of the food chain at every school level. Let cheerleaders and football players go get funding to let them run around and be thrown in the air. Or better yet cancel cheer leading and football and let them all join cross country so the only thing they need to stay fit is a pair of shoes. The schools should divert sports coaching funds, field maintenance funds and travel funds towards academic activities.
I know that’s how most of Asia looks at this problem.
OK I am off my soap box. Sorry if i offended anyone. I played high school sports and it taught me a lot of things, never paid a dime and traveled all over the east coast. But the high school debate team i was on required dues and all trips came out of my pocket, errrr my parents pocket. Looking back i see how bass ackwards that was. I learned more from two seasons of debate than i ever did playing sports.
We got them this year. We thought there would be some process but all we had to do was ask our school administration and they said yes. We use our logo as the symbol and even got a patch in honor of our 2011 Chairmans win. Since we got them after CMP we gave a letter to any member who was dedicated, reached their hours, etc. We didnt discriminate by grade.
I think it just varies by school, but getting anywhere in school admin starts with asking at the front desk. If someone chooses not to allow varsity letters for robotics, then at least you know who to petition, right?
I know this response is a little late. However, hopefully it’s still relevant! Or hopefully you already are getting varsity letters at your school!
I worked to get Bedford Express (1023 from MI) varsity letters during my sophomore year (2008). I actually started in my Honors English class because we were asked to write a persuasion essay on a topic we were very passionate about. Most people chose abortion, gay marriage, lowering drinking age, etc but I chose something I was really passionate about-how FIRST students deserved just as much recognition as the athletes in our school. I gathered as much information as I could (Other teams requirements, how the letter impacted the students, how the principal initially felt, impact on FIRST on students/communities etc). I even worked with my coach on designing the letter. We also had to present to the class which I was nervous about because I figured the students in my class wouldn’t support me. After my presentation, the students in my class were APPALLED that the FIRST team didn’t receive sport recognition. My teacher and my coach encouraged me to try for varsity letter recognition and for the first time I actually felt like we could get it.
After that, it was just a series of presentations. I proofread my paper a million times and presented it along with what I thought the requirements should be in addition to my presentation. I started gathering other teachers who supported me, and then I presented to the principal. He was supportive of the program, but not sure it warranted a varsity letter. My coach and I just kept talking to people… the athletic director, teachers, other coaches, school board members. And I kept talking to my principal. We also made this video and used it to present to administrators: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8-CVg0QAyg
Eventually, we got through to them and Bedford Express has been giving varsity letters to students who fulfill our varsity requirements for two years.
PM me if you need anymore help!
Biggest piece of advice, get to know your administrators and make sure they know what FIRST is!
Additionally, we have a page on our website dedicated to helping teams get varsity letters. Much of what Hannah said is there. We also are collecting teams that award Varsity letters on the website so that you have a collection of resources. Also, some of the CD threads are linked there. http://www.bedfordexpress.org/varsity
Any teams that give letters are asked to please add your website to our database so that we have a solid resource. We are working at publishing team requirements there as well, but have not finished that part yet.
Good Luck!
Our team has varsity letters, although now they are varsity “activity” letters. It was hilarious though because for the first two years of the team, the only letters they had were athletic letters. I have one at home that reads “varsity athletics letter: FIRST robotics”.
I want to start by saying that if people get varsity letters for doing FIRST that’s great, and I really don’t have a problem with that, but suppose I do question why people think it is an honor to receive a varsity letter for doing FIRST, or a dishonor for not receiving one (whichever way you choose to look at it).
I’d like to remind everyone what a varsity letter is. It is an award earned for participation in a sport. It’s not a recognition for any extra-curricular activity. A general sentiment around Chief Delphi seems to be that FIRST is a sport. A sport is “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.” People seem to think that it’s “better” to be classified as a sport than as something else. FIRST is fantastic. In my opinion, it’s the best extra-curricular activity one could get involved in during high school. It teaches kids so many things, and it’s inspiring to so many individuals. But it’s not a sport.
Respect FIRST for what it is. Don’t try to lump it in a category with sports because you feel it legitimizes the activity. That doesn’t need to be done. FIRST is good enough on it’s own, and we all know that. I never felt the need to be recognized with sports teams. We participate in a different activity, and get recognized in our own way, and we should be proud of that.
I feel like it’s a dishonor to the true value and uniqueness of FIRST to consider it just a sport. FIRST is great as it is, classifying it as a sport makes it no better or worse, but why classify in a category to which it does not fit by definition? The classification of ‘sport’ doesn’t make FIRST better, it just makes it a little less unique.
For some reason this topic bothers me every time it comes up, so please disagree with me if you do, but I feel like voicing my opinion. I have this discussion a lot with friends I have on FIRST teams, and I seem to be in the very underrepresented minority with my beliefs on this topic. I don’t really understand why, so I’d be curious to hear what other people think, and maybe even convince me that we should be getting varsity letters.