A presentation on building sustainable FIRST Robotics teams.

1. Building Sustainability
How to build a sustainable FIRST team
Team 1511 Penfield Rolling Thunder
Presented by Lee Drake, Larry Lewis,
Crystal Vongnaphone

2. Key components
• Funding • Parent Involvement
• Active Mentors • Safe environment
• Active Students • Budgetary Control
• Sustainable Student • School Support
Recruiting • Organizational Integrity
• Sustainable • Safety glasses
Mentor/Teacher • Fun!
recruiting

3. Funding
• Goal: Create a • Key 1511 initiatives
– Strong relation with
constant stream major sponsor
of cash to – Student driven
operate the fundraising
team, travel, and – Student driven sponsor
drive
fund activities. – Parental involvement
– Secondary fundraising

4. Active Mentors
• Goal: Have mentors with • Key 1511 Initiatives to
the ability to both teach create and keep active
and lead the teams other mentors
adult mentors and – Subteam system
students, from all walks – Hierarchical organization
of life. A well rounded, – Lead mentor backed up by
well organized large team “leadership assistant”
of mentors makes it – Push decisions down to
easier for everyone students – manage
decision, don’t make them
– Active leadership team
– Regular leadership
coordination meetings
– Mailing list

5. Active students
• Goal: Students leading • Key 1511 Initiatives
– Student Achievements/
the team, students handbook
– Weekly team meetings –
building the robot, year round
students directing the – Make the team a family
during build season
day to day operations. – Support students with
academic challenges
Mentors providing – Accommodate those with
tools, support and special needs
– Make activities fun
guidance to these – Active student leadership
students – Parental involvement

6. Sustainable Student Recruiting
• Key 1511 initiatives
• Goal: each year – Achievements system allows
many to participate, and
replace at least as rewards active participation
many students as – FLL is breeding ground for FRC,
an active FLL initiative creates
future FRC students
you lost the year – Demos at the middle school
before to graduation, and freshman level are critical
– Get to events with parents and
maintain a critical have parents talk to parents
about the advantages of FIRST
mass of no less than for their kids
– Science Olympiad, scouts,
20-30 students, odyssey of the mind etc.
– Every demo an opportunity to
relatively evenly recruit
divided by class.

7. Sustainable Mentor/Teacher Recruiting
•
• Goal: Avoid mentor Key 1511 Initiatives
– For teachers, a strong relationship
burnout, have a with the school. If possible get your
teacher mentor a stipend for
system to replace coaching the team, like a sports
coach
mentors or teachers – Strong demo program – get kids
involved in talking to potential
lost to attrition due to mentors to get them interested in
helping.
family or other – Assess the parents of each new
freshman recruit year for potential
circumstance. mentors, ask them to step up
– Re-assess sophomores parents,
Mentor roles well sometimes it takes a year to convince
them how much fun it is 
defined and a handoff – Strong mentor program with many
mentors means no one mentor bears
protocol created. the brunt of the work

8. Parent Involvement
•
• Goal: Engage parents in Team 1511 Initiatives
– Parents required to attend
the program, utilizing parent orientation for student to
their organizational participate
– Parents mentor other parents
skills for NEMO – Meal requirement
activities, recruiting – Event requirement
mentors from the – Parent mailing list
– Recruiting parents as NEMOs
parent cohort, actively – Recognizing parents may hand
involving them in their off organization duties when
child graduates – document
child’s participation, roles, and design a hand-off
and including them in system
decision making. – Involve parents in the
achievements and trip cost
realities

9. Safe Environment
• Goal: Parents and • Team 1511 Initiatives
students need to feel that – Tiered mentor system (1, 2,
when a student is at FIRST 3)
they are with their – Strong parental
second family and that involvement
they will be looked out – Constant communication
(Mailing list)
for with as much care and
– Parents get team mailings
attention as if they were
their own kids. – Cooperation with the
school to accommodate
handicaps or IEPs (cannot
ask about them though)

10. Budgetary Control
• Goal: To make the best use • 1511 Initiatives
of the funding available and – Finances controlled by
control both cash flow and school/sponsor
priorities based not only on – Certain finances go to school,
engineering but on budget others provided by sponsor
(just like in the real world) – Adult controls all sponsor
spends, and approves all
school spends
– A student leader is
responsible for requesting
school reimbursements,
working with a teacher
– Tough decisions are made in
concert with parents,
mentors, sponsors and school

11. School Support
• Goal: Work with the school to • 1511 initiatives
have adequate supervision, – Worked with the school to
vetting of adult coordinate tiered mentor program
mentors/chaperones, – Lobbied the board for funding for
stipends, and additional teachers
transportation and facilities – Recruiting of school liaisons
access – Take the bulk of organizational
duties for everything but trips off
the teachers
– Demo at school board
– Involve your administrators in the
team. Invite them just like the
football, basketball to go to events.
– SHOW teachers and admins the
value

12. Organizational Integrity
• Goal: Create a clear, • 1511 Initiatives
concise role description – Clearly defined org chart
for each “hat” worn by with defined roles/duties
mentors, students, – Isolated and up to date
parents and teachers, as email lists
well as each activity – Forum/wikis
performed by the team. – Checklists and tutorials
Train new recruits to – Weekly full team meetings
these roles, and – Year round participation
communicate effectively – Delegate, delegate,
between them. delegate
– Continual improvement

13. Fun
• Goal: For INSPIRATION • 1511 initiatives
and RECOGNITION of – Active off season event
Science and Technology. participation
Be sure your activities are – Summer leadership camp
fun, engaging, and build – Meals with the team
team spirit. The goal is to during build season
show students how much – Fun-only events
fun science, technology – Subteam organizations
and engineering is. – Small rewards
– Constant “attitude
assessment”
– Community service
requirements