Steering Committee 2009-09-25

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Agenda for September Meeting Attending: Paul Sabatino, Foster Schucker, Faith McKown & Clem McKown

  1. Review of August Minutes - approved.
  2. Finance Report - Paul Sabatino provided the Finance Report. Balances are up to date, including the purchase of the security gate and the latest Muffin sales receipts. Last years books were closed on 31-July, with both accounts balancing within 3 cents.
  3. Fund Raising - Letter is done. Flyer done other than new pictures (McKown 26-Sep). Paul S will pursue By, A & Grants. Clem will contact Bs, KN and others. We will endeavor to set up a big robot and some small robots with posters in key sponsor' lobbies. Let's turn Julie loose as well. Muffin sales are picking up. Need to be ready to move Hex bugs for stocking stuffers.
  4. Discussion of two regionals to sign up for
    1. Drexel - We will register for Drexel first (on 1-Oct) and pay immediately. This will free up access for AutoDesk software.
    2. Finger Lakes - First choice for second event (15-Oct registration). Manchester NH, Washington DC or Trenton NJ are alternatives if Finger Lakes are already closed. Long Island is not an alternative (same time as Drexel).
  5. Review Parents meeting - Phenomenal turn-out. Coatesville represented. Reading visited with students, mentors and video camera.
  6. Review First Roboteer session - Excellent VEX turnout with 45 students and 10 parents. FRC turnout was also excellent with 12 new students, doubling the team size. FRC meeting not well organized and this needs to be corrected. Curriculum for Fall FRC meetings reviewed and agreed upon.
  7. New Space & Mill Move - Wall for second bay is under construction. Foster is on the STEM school core committee; Clem & Paul have volunteered as well. Objective is to earmark the shop area for robotics. For the Mill move, Faith will coordinate with Scott & schools to make sure all preparations are made.
  8. Organization - All agreed to change Paul Klufas' position to Co-Captain.
  9. Reports from STEMRobotics
    1. Church Farm School
      1. We have a mentor in the Tuesday night workshop that is pretty excited about the program. He is going back to the school to get money for two teams. He is planning to hold a "throw-down" on 22 October(Working on permission from the school).
    2. Coatesville Scott Middle School
      1. Continues to be interest from the school, they are working with the school administration.
    3. Coatesville After School Program
      1. There are three mentors in the Mentor Workshops. They have submitted a request for grant money, they expect to hear back sometime this week.
    4. Reading Area High School Visit
      1. Faith and Foster went to Reading High School (Red Knight Robotics) for two presentations. Each session had 200+ kids and 8-10 teachers.
      2. Foster did a 15 minute slide show on what robots are, overview of the Downingtown program and description of the VEX Clean Sweep Competition.
      3. The students then got to drive the 7 demo bots.
      4. There were also 12 students from a middle magnet school that got to drive.
      5. This could end up being our largest team neighbor, with over 4000 students there is a lot of potential

New Business

  • Our recruiting success is double-edged. We will need to start up 4-5 new VEX teams to accommodate the students attracted and this means we need to adjust our budget and fund-raising targets upwards $5K.
  • VEX will need 4 more shevling units - our new space will start off full.
  • Very successful back to school night. Expect additional students November when sports activities slow. We'll need to adjust training accordingly. Foster plans a 3rd VEX mentor training session when the surrent one is complete.
  • A bigger team required more formal rules and responsibilities. Clem to draft starting with Rolling Thunder template.
  • We need to put our name & logo on the trailer, as well as sponsor logos.