Registering the Team

    Since my first post, I have registered our SBW FTC team - we'll be called the "Tech Warriors" until my students come up with something better.  I have a list of 39 students who have expressed an interest in joining the club, so we should be able to satisfy the requirement of having between 10 and 15 members.  In fact, I am hopeful that our club will have 20 members all together; 15 "starters," with at least 5 alternates who can fill in if some students can't make an event.

    I have posted two videos of the FTC challenges from this past Saturday on YouTube.  Here are the links to the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayn2pwkkt2M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA_7jG99Hhc

   Finally, I have applied for what is called the "rookie grant," which will waive the $275 registration fee our team would otherwise have to pay.  I have also heard of a grant that many starting teams apply for, which covers the cost of the "starter kits" of robot parts.  I will be researching this further, as these beginning kits can cost over $1,000.  I was told that most teams end up spending much more than that on their robots, so it's clear that fund raising and seeking sponsorships will be a big part of my position this year.  This will be especially true when our team starts to travel to events.

    Our first club meeting is this Wednesday after school.  I will be spending some time over the next two days putting together some introductory activities to kick off the year...