Dulles High School FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Team Parents Meeting

Important Websites Ours: www.DullesRobo.Webley.com FIRST: www.usfirst.org FIRST in Texas: http://firstintexas.org/ Chief Delphi: www.chiefdelphi.com Important Websites

People Brian Sonnier – Faculty Sponsor/Advisor Engineering Teacher – Dulles High School M.Ed. Educational Technology – Lamar University Engineering – Rice University Robotics Experience FIRST Lego League 2007-2009 Co-Creator: All Earth Ecobot Challenge 2009-2011 Creator HISD/Schlumberger Coding Challenge 2014- Contact Information: Brian.sonnier@fortbendisd.com Brian.sonnier@gmail.com Office Phone: 281-634-7951 People

Agenda Overview of FIRST Overview of our Team Time Schedule What can Parents Do? Fundraising Travel Plans Food Arrangements Agenda

What is FIRST? FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” It is a robotics competition which pairs high schools with corporate sponsors to design and build a robot in 6 weeks which will compete in a sport-like event. Who can tell me what FIRST means??

What is the Game Like? The game is usually based around a 2 minute match in which teams have a variety of ways to score points. In the last several years, two teams compete together against two other teams, so there are four teams, two alliances on the field at the same time.

What Does it Mean for Students? A chance to learn new skills/talents A chance to work with real engineers and business professionals Lots of fun!! Exciting competitions! Scholarships!

2017 FTC World Championship - Houston!

Our Team Dulles High School Students 50% Girls/ 50% Boys 2 Robots (Matrix and Tetrix) 100% Student Led All members vote on expenses and expenditures. Our Team

Meetings Sept-Dec Jan-Feb Feb-April Team meetings 2x/week Subteam meetings (depends on subteam) Jan-Feb Build Sessions: weekdays 5 days/wk covered* Feb-April Team meetings 2x/week (competition prep) Meetings Note: the 7 days a week means that there will likely be people working 7 days a week after the first week, such that no matter what students schedules, they can help out.

What Can Parents Do? *Food Arrangements *Travel Arrangements *Fundraising Support Field Construction Engineering/Design Support Telephone Tree Chaperone Team Spirit Exhibition Organization Volunteer at Competitions *Donations! What Can Parents Do? The * items are explained later in the presentation. Field Construction: We are looking for a few parents &/or family friends who are handy with construction and can build our field for us Jan8-Jan15 Engineering Design/Support: We are short on Mechanical Engineers, and any parents &/or family friends that have this experience would be a big help Telephone Tree: We are looking for a parent or two to organize a telephone tree that we can use when the weather gets bad, or for really important announcements. This will be in conjunction with team emails, but email is less reliable. Chaperone: We will need chaperones for all of the competitions, as well as for some of the fundraisers (ie the dance). This cost is built right in to the student estimates, so chaperones do not need to pay (unless bringing a significant other who is not a chaperone). Team Spirit: Parents can help organizing things like team signs, face painting, team cheering sections, etc for the competitions Exhibition Organization: Harris has asked that we do an exhibition of our robot for VIP’s before we ship to competition. We need people to help make the arrangements for this event. Volunteer at Competitions: The competitions always need people to help staff things like queing, info tables, registration, etc.

Fundraising Goals Team Fundraisers Team Goal: $4,000 Candy Sales November Total Cost for Robotics this year $14,000 Fundraising Goals Most fundraisers will be for the full team and distributed equally among the team. The Patron Drive is the only individual fundraiser. The estimates were based on other teams budgets. These are not firm numbers as we have not called to make travel arrangements. Each of the estimates was made based on chaperones, bus drivers, etc for the number of students listed in parenthesis. The total will change based upon the number of students that actually sign up for travel

FBISD Policy limits students organizations to two fundraisers per year. Fundraisers are defined as any event organized by students where money is collected for the express purpose of funding the club or organization. Students asking for donations from business or the community are considered a club fundraiser for the entire group. Parents can ask for donations for clubs without violating the fundraising rules. Currently Planned Fundraisers: Candy Sales November Candy Sale February Canes Spirt Night (Not technically a fundraiser) Fundraising Parents can help with the patron drive by soliciting friends and businesses that they already have contacts with. This will be the main individual fundraiser for our team, and the goal is for each student to raise 60-100% of their needed goal. Additional fundraisers will be organized, and we are applying for several grants which we hope will cover the rest. The Fundraiser has been changed to be 100% equally distributed among the team. So the team has a goal of $20,000, and all donations will go towards that goal. If the goal is not reached, each student will be responsible for paying an equal portion of the remainder for the trips he/she wants to travel on. We have potential grants and additional Harris money pending, but it is too early to determine if those are available. The students are currently organizing a Tag Sale for the community, and a Rose sale & Valentines Dance at school. We are looking for parents who have fundraising experience, or are willing to help out to organize additional fundraisers to offset the cost of travel. Any interested parents, please contact us. Ultimately we would like to have a group similar to a parents booster club to help with the fundraising.

Travel is handled thought the FBISD Transportation department Travel is handled thought the FBISD Transportation department. Each bus cost the team c. $300. Travel outside of the district for state events are paid for by the district. parents are welcome to chaperone the competitions and all expenses for the chaperone are covered. (This is built into the student cost estimates) Travel Arrangements If any parents are willing to help make travel arrangements or be chaperones for the trips, please let us know. We would like 1 parent to be in charge of travel arrangements, and a few to assist in phone calls and estimates. FIRST will provide packages through the website above, and Harris Corporate Travel can also give us rates.

We are hoping to provide food for the students on meeting nights (2x/week) and potentially lunch/dinner Saturdays. Other teams have 1 family provide for each meeting. Food Arrangements We are looking for 1 parent to be in charge of food arrangements, and several families to volunteer to help.

We have a wish list of donations that would help the team We have a wish list of donations that would help the team. If you have any contacts that might be willing to donate any of these, let us know. Sample List Food Safety Glasses Tools Paper Plates/Cups T-Shirts (printing) Booklet Printing Buttons Warehouse Space Donations See the document list for all of the things that we are looking for donations for.

Questions??