So in starting up a rookie team this year, the biggest trouble that my collegues and I have come across is finding an interested high school. Today, we finally met with the principal of one that seems pretty interested, which is definately good news for our group. But onto my main point.
When your FIRST team formed, who approached who? Did the high schools want to start the team? Did the sponsors approach the local high school?
I’m just curious to see how other teams have done things…
my team started because a member heard about FIRST and was interested in it. they talked to the tech ed teacher, who helped to start up the team.
if i remember correctly, Xerox went around to many local high schools asking if they wished to start up a robotics team and my school happened to say yes! yay… but many of the schools that said no in the first place are now rookies!!
It seems that most of the low numbered teams were started by companies (UTC, J&J, Delphi) rather than the newer teams that are started by students.
Our school was approached by J&J in 97 and the team was formed for the 1998 season.
Team 716 was started by the High School, in particular by two science teachers. I got involved when the school contacted my company.
Many of the NJ teams were recruited by Randy Schaeffer of J&J and who works for FIRST. Apparently in 1997 FIRST was planning a initial NJ J&J Regional and hooked up with the NJ Chamber of Commerce. A number of high schools in the region were sent videos showing the competition with the hope some would bite and the group would connect school with company.
One day at a department meeting my boss showed me one of the tapes…
We still try to do this in NJ- now 40+ teams strong and growing
WC
I came into college knowing I wanted to start a team, so I approached schools and sponsors. Albion High School was the logical choice since it is right on my doorstep. We also have homeschoolers.
Luckily the school has been really supportive of the team. Not monetarily, because they can’t, but they gave us our our build room. They even put a different lock on it and gave me a key so we can get in whenever we need too. The principal thinks it’s a great idea. Last year when we started we were the only somewhat academic after-school program, so most adults think it’s a pretty neat thing. This year there may be one or two other academic activities.
To increase student numbers, we’re considering expanding our team either to the middle school and/or one or both of two nearby high schools.
Try starting FIRST Lego League teams at the middle school level. Its a great competetion and will get the incoming freshman excited about joining a real team. 
We did consider that but right now we don’t have the resources (money or people) to run both a FIRST team and Lego League teams.
Our goal for the future is to start a sort of Albion Robotics Group, that can fundraise for and support robotics at all levels in the schools.
For the present, we have homeschooled middleschoolers and that works out splendidly (my word of the day). We’re still debating between seventh and eigth grade or eight grade only (in addition to the high schoolers of course).
~Allison
we had done OCCRA twice, and another teacher was inspired to start a FIRST team. un fortunately he left our school so we still aren’t sure about this year
I remember when 263 started, a teacher had approached Michael with a pamphlet about FIRST and asked if our school should do it. Michael then called me and said “your friends are dorks…have them stay after school on Wednesday for a new robotics club.” Next Wednesday afterschool was the start of our robotics team.
With 810, Michael & I were approached by a teacher from Smithtown HS after a speech I gave about FIRST at a pre-season regional fund raising thing who wanted mentors to help her start the robotics club at her school.
Wow, those were a long time ago…
Team 237 was started in 1998 by a technology teacher with help from another teacher. The technology teacher is still active on the team. The school board didn’t help us at all and they basically tolorate us – even to this day. Our team had to go out and locate sponsors.
As for 116, Dave Lavery saw FIRST somewhere and decided that NASA should be involved. So in 1996 he found a school near him to host a team and found money in NASA.
FIRST has shifted its funding mentality since the early days. For 1992, Dean got companies together with a school, a major sponsor for the school. The idea was to get companies behind ‘their’ teams and to allow the teams to focus on the science and technology of building the robot. That worked for a few years, with teams having a major corporate sponsor. Then a funny thing happened. Students got excited about it. Some moved to new schools and pushed and got one there. More went to college but didn’t want to stop, so they started there. Some teachers saw it somewhere, and wanted to start one where they were. These people were excited enough to do the legwork to secure funding from all over the place. If it took 40 sponser of $250 each, when then we’ll find them.
You can look at a growth chart of the number of teams and see where that trend started. Excited and motivated students and teachers can do amazing things.
Wetzel
Yea we started our team last year. We went and approached several companies in the NJ area. We finally found Bristol Myer Squibb who was willing to sponsor us. It was mainly the students who were doing this. The school just gave us the okay.
TEAM 1403:
2004 Rookie All Stars - Trenton
2004 Xerox Creativity - Annapolis
2004 Highest Rookie Seed - Trenton
2004 Highest Rookie Seed- Nationals (Newton Division)
I approached a high school…they bought it and off we went: NASA Grant, Peachtree Regional winner, and then to the Nationals. It was exciting.
Actually, the start-up event for Team 116 was a segment about Dean Kamen that aired one evening back in 1995 on ABC’s 20/20. A trio of students in the neightborhood happened to see it. When Dean talked about FIRST they got interested and wanted to give it a try. Those three (Amy Forestell, Waldon Jue, and Leena Holt) came and talked with Dave Miller (the same Dave Miller that later started up KIPR and is the founder of the BotBall competition - guess where he got the idea? ) and myself, and asked for our support and participation. Demonstrating a massive lack of good judgement, we agreed. I took the idea to NASA, Dave set up the partnership with South Lakes High School, and the rest, as they say, is history.
-dave
ditto
Actually, ours is an odd story. My mom had tried to get a team started before I was even a high school student, but she couldn’t find an advisor that was interested. So my senior year, when I heard my friend Erik talking about it, things really got started. He, his father (Wayne C.), and his friend went around to all the teachers and finally found an advisor. Our team was started just as a normal club, and we had no idea if anyone would have $5000 for the entrance fee.
Finally, after thousands of company visits and a lot of phone calls, Bristol-Myers Squibb called my house. They were actually returning a call my mother made, letting us know they had secured us the money we needed. And hence, 1089 was born.