Design Team Summer Orientation Recap

For those that missed the summer orientation meeting, here is a recap:

• We watched a video overview of FIRST Robotics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdDGu39hpQE&lr=1) and the Solar Car Challenge (http://www.solarcarchallenge.org/challenge/)
• We talked about the new organization for helping students get onto the team and learning about the team.  We are in the early stages of getting this together, so there is not much structure at the moment.  We hope to have everything fully working withing the next 12-18 months.  Basically, though:
• New team members will be paired with a veteran team member.
• Students start as an intern to learn about the event and the basics of what we do.  Especially things like marketing, publicity, rules, foundational knowledge, OSHA, etc.
• Students then move to apprenticeship.  They will work with their veteran member and learn specifics of the car or robot and start getting hands-on experience.
• Eventually students will become veteran team members and help develop new team members.
• We are also working on qualifications for team members to earn a varsity letter and get a letter jacket and patches.
• We have a limited number of spots for students to be on the floor team or pit crew for FRC, and race members for solar.  We are also working on qualifications for these positions as well.  The qualifications will involve attendance, knowledge of the competition, and work completion.
• The teams are mainly meeting on Mondays and Thursdays from 9-3.  We will host workshops for the students to start learning about the competitions and other items on Thursdays at 2pm.  They will be 30-90 minutes long.  There are days that we won't be open because no one will be here to open the lab.  The calendar for solar is at http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=g.coppellisd.com_q55jvnfeec6qe0de1m0sm3vrlg%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago .  The calendar for FIRST Robotics is currently on the School of Engineering calendar at http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=g.coppellisd.com_9jmsvmvl566hlohsfemmh3l0mg%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago.
• New students are welcome to come up and start learning, through observation of the team members or learning the software as computers are available during the team work sessions.