Frequently Asked Questions
Contents
When do you meet?
How much will I have to commit?
What would I do on the team?
What has the team accomplished?
Who can join?
- School - Any
- While we are located in the Downingtown Area School District, we are open to students (of required age, see below) from all schools including other public districts, charter schools, cyber schools and home schooling. You're welcome and encouraged to invite friends from your own school and any other.
- Age - High School
- The FIRST Robotics Competition is intended primarily for high school students, and we try to enforce this particularly with respect to power tools (which cannot be used by pre-high schoolers without parent supervision). We are open to talking with 8th grade students interested in learning some (primarily non-mechanical) skills and can offer other opportunities or access to further STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) options. We're also open to home school and alternative education students not strictly classified by grade or school level.
- Gender - Everyone Welcome
- Males and females are encourage to participate and any and every aspect of the team. We are a co-ed team with both genders very involved in all fields and equally represented in leadership. Girls have always been involved in the technical (and non-technical) side of our team: 8 of our 13 team captains have been girls, our Pit Captains (think NASCAR pits) have been 50-50, 2 sub-teams (programming and game play) are headed by female mentors who help co-lead the design team. We don't abide by sexism or harassment, and such inappropriate behavior is grounds for immediate expulsion.
Who can help mentor (coach) the team?
All adults are welcome to help mentor the team on good behavior. We're looking for people with technical background/interest (all engineering, mechanics, electronics, computer science), but also all kinds of non-technical skills: marketing, logistics, art/media, teaching, administration, PR, and anything else. All we ask is that you offer your level of commitment and interest upfront. We have some mentors that work at every meeting all year round, others that drop in only when we need help in their expertise--and all levels of commitment in between.
What can parents do besides mentoring?
Whether or not you're interested in mentoring, we look to parents for support in numerous ways: transportation/carpool to and from meetings and events, providing team meals for weekend build sessions (we ask for at least 1 meal per family per season), volunteering for our events and fundraisers, and generally supporting your kids in this adventure!
