Difference between revisions of "How to Join"

Teams FTC 7314 and FRC 1640 are not school affiliated and accept students from all area schools.  The teams meet at the [[CCIU TCHS Brandywine Campus]], 443 Boot Road, Downingtown PA, but will move to 190 Exton Square Mall on 1-July.  To join, please contact us at FRC1640@gmail.com.  Application forms are provided below.

[[Image:FIRSTRobotics_IconVert_RGB.jpg|200px|right|alt="FRC Logo"|link=http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc]]FRC1640 accepts high school students, those entering grades 9-12 in September.  No prior robotics experience is needed (but is welcome).  We will teach the skills needed.  The team build a large, complex robot for competition each year during a 6-week build season starting in January.  Competition season takes place March-April.  During build season (6-Jan to 20-Feb) the team meets almost every day (but students need not attend all meetings).  Meetings reduce to about 3/wk during competition season (to the end of April).  The rest of the year is off-season, with meeting once per week (Wednesday 6:00-9:00pm) and focused on training.  We are a competitive team and have qualified and participated in the World Championship for the last 7 years (World finalists in 2014).  Program cost is $500/student/yr.

FTC7314 is open to students in grades 7-12 (September), with a focus on 7-9.  Again, no prior robotics experience is needed and the necessary skills will be taught.  The team builds a smaller, less complex robot than FRC and with an open build season starting 12-September.  The team typically operates 2 days/wk after 12-September (Saturday 2:00-5:00pm and one evening 6:00-9:00pm); one day/wk (Saturday 2:00-4:00pm) following its final competition (January/February – but could extend to end of April).  The team builds good robots, but insofar as it competes with high school teams it has not hitherto gone far in competition.  It is a great training venue however.  9th grade students as a rule move up to the FRC program.  Program cost is $225/student/yr.