Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

What a team does each season

• A team forms when parents/guardians pre-register their students and two parents volunteer to coach
• The team meets once per week, for about 90 minutes (coaches adjust the schedule as needed)
  • A team’s season often lasts about 12 meetings, but can run a bit shorter or longer depending on coach/parent interests
  • Meetings are often held at Anacortes School District facilities, but can be held anywhere parents agree
  • Meetings held after school make transportation easier, but may be difficult for students coming at the end of a long day
    • Teams meeting directly after school may use an “activity break” between the end of school and the beginning of a team meeting for the team to share snacks provided by a parent snack rotation
• Teams may go on field trips so that team members can interact with the local community and experts related to the seasonal challenge; parental organization and support is generally needed for this to happen
•  Parents who are not team coaches help by taking turns supporting team meetings as mentors or assistants
• Teams show off their results at FLL Explore Festivals
  • All teams attend a Festival; it is a fun and rewarding capstone to the team experience
  • Each team is interviewed by adult Reviewers and receives an award based on their strengths
  • Each team member receives a certificate and/or a prize to remember their season

What you (parents) pay each season

ARBC collects a per-student team “startup contribution” each season on behalf of each sponsored team; the amount is shown on the “Parent Interest and Payment” page under “Participation details.”  This contribution is not due until a student becomes a team member, but because this money is spent to launch the team, it is not refundable.  The amount you pay is less than a proportional amount of all team costs; our community (through ARBC) supplies materials and volunteer labor to reduce team expenses.

What it costs to run a team each season

Assuming volunteer coaches are leading an FLL Explore team, the costs for a season starts with team registration fees, acquiring a SPIKE Essentials kit, and paying the fees for attending a Festival.  Team uniforms (in the form of t-shirts) and (possibly) field trips or other experiences are additional costs.

A bare-bones “first season” for a team could cost as little as $505; a broader/deeper “first season” might cost $550-$600.  An established team’s operating costs can be as low as $200-$250/year in succeeding years because the LEGO robotics materials are reusable.  ARBC maintains sets of LEGO robotics materials that we loan to the teams we sponsor, and we hold our own local Festivals to keep costs as low as possible.

A professional organization with paid staff might charge $100 to $300 for a 3-month FLL Explore style program.  Please support your team’s volunteer coaching staff!

Roles

If FLL Explore team members had named roles, they might include:

• Systems Engineer
• Research Scientist
• Architect
• Mechanical Engineer
• Software Engineer

FIRST Core Values are cornerstones of the FIRST programs, distinguishing them from others of their kind.  By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork.

FIRST Core Values​

• Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
• Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
• Impact: We apply what we learn to improve our world.
• Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
• Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.
• Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!

Roles

• Coaches – every team needs two adult coaches, typically parents of team members.  Coaches lead the teams, but do not need any particular knowledge of robotics or science.  FIRST provides a detailed Team Meeting Guide that lays out all activities for to 12 sessions (team meetings).
• Mentors – teams benefit greatly from parents who help out by assisting the coaches with organizing students and/or providing speciality knowledge related to the Challenge topic.
• Support – teams often need fueling, (snacks), and other general “help” to unburden coaches. Parents who can’t commit to coaching or mentoring still support the team on an “as needed” basis.

Responsibilities

General team support

All parents are expected to join together when the team forms, volunteer as coaches or mentors, or offer their support to the coaches and mentors.  (Helping out with a snack rotation is incredibly useful.)

Transportation

All parents must provide transportation for their student(s) to/from team meetings and other activities including competitions.  Parents are encouraged to seek out other parents whom they trust to form carpools.  Coaches are NOT responsible for any transportation duties.

Field Trips and Festivals

Parents should plan on accompanying their student on field trips or other activities outside of team meetings (if arranged by the coach/mentors).  Parents should also plan on attending any FLL Explore Festivals their student’s team attends – this is their moment in the sun and they want to have you there with them!

Volunteering

The FIRST programs are volunteer-driven and staffed, as is the Anacortes Robotics Booster Club.  Parents will receive calls to volunteer from time to time, and every parent should answer at least one of the calls.  Programs like this only work because of the caring support of many volunteers.

Application, registration, and contract

Parents of student team members are expected to pre-register their students, participate in team formation, ensure the student’s contribution to team startup costs is paid on-time (or a scholarship is requested), help the student fill out and return their Team Membership Token, and complete their student’s official on-line FIRST registration when requested by the coach.

The FIRST mission is to inspire a generation of science and technology leaders who are both gracious and professional.  This FIRST Code of Conduct lists some of the behaviors mentors, coaches, volunteers, team members, affiliate partners, contractors, staff, and other participants should adhere to while participating in FIRST activities.

FIRST Code of Conduct for Program Activities​

• Exhibit Gracious Professionalism^® at all times. Gracious Professionalism is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions.
• Ensure the safety of all participants in FIRST activities.
• Not engage in any form of bullying, harassment, use of profane or insulting language, or any actual or threatened violence.
• Adhere to all FIRST Youth Protection Program (YPP) policies.
• Report any unsafe behavior to event or local FIRST leadership.

Persons who do not comply with this Code of Conduct may be barred from participating in FIRST activities.  If anyone has questions or concerns about behaviors among persons participating in ARBC-sponsored activities/teams, please contact ARBC.

You can help provide an unforgettable hands-on engineering/science research opportunity for students from ages 6 to 10 by volunteering as one of the two coaches required for an FLL Explore team.  FIRST provides on-line and printed materials to guide you through the basics of coaching through a season.  ARBC provides advice and administrative support to de-mystify the process and let you focus on working with the student team members.  A willingness to learn along with the students is required; no previous experience teaching or in technology is necessary.  Click here to volunteer!

Coaching Principles and Success Factors

• Like many new experiences, guiding an FLL Explore team through a season may appear daunting at first, but the knowledge and skills you need can be acquired a piece at a time as you go through the season
• As a coach, you must read the seasonal materials put out by FIRST, and you should do so at your earliest opportunity (and repeat as necessary throughout the season)
  • when you have questions about what the materials seek out help as locally/interactively as possible
  • You can raise questions to FIRST or the on-line FLL forums if/when they can’t be answered locally
• Most of the seasonal materials are accessed on-line through the FIRST Inspires website
  • you can read them on-line, or
  • download and print them out (a combination of these seems to work the best)
• As a coach, you must plan meeting time that fits the students needs
  • meetings should be long enough that students can engage with the session, but not so long that they get worn out
  • the average team seems to benefit from 1 meeting/week, from 60 to 90 minutes per meeting
  • meeting that run too long can wear team members out
• Do your best to help the students have fun during their meeting – active participation and thinking about the session activities is enhanced if the students are having fun while doing it

FLL Explore Festivals

Every team’s seasonal journey should end with a trip to an FLL Explore Festival. ARBC plans a Festival to coincide with the approximate end dates for teams that form in the fall and in the spring.  As a coach, you will receive e-mail letting you (and th parents) know when an ARBC Festival is approaching.

The seasonal materials include several sessions to get ready for going to a Festival.  Your team should be ready to interact directly with the adult reviewers at the Festival while you wait quietly in the background.

Some teams prepare a presentation, or write a song to sing, or do something else to share what they have learned.  Other teams are simply ready to answer the questions that the reviewers ask.  Check with your team to see how they would like to present themselves!

More details on Core Values

Core Values

The FIRST Core Values express the FIRST philosophies of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition:

• Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
• Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
• Impact:  We apply what we learn to improve our world.
• Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
• Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.
• Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!

ARBC uses community donations and volunteer labor to sponsor teams that are operated either by groups of parents, by private/public schools, or by home-school groups.  ARBC does not directly operate teams, supply coaches for teams, or place students on teams.  

Community sponsorship for FLL Explore teams through ARBC includes:

• Facilitating team formation by:
  • collecting information from interested parents/students (pre-registration), and
  • encouraging parents to step forward as volunteer coaches, mentors, and support staff for the students
• Administrative services that let coaches focus on teams:
  • collecting per-student contributions to team seasonal startup costs
  • using collected funds to defray the cost of seasonal registrations and uniforms (t-shirts)
  • registering teams (national program)
  • coordinating team t-shirt purchases
  • applying for grants (when applicable)
  • holding our own local Festivals (to lower travel time/expense, and Festival registration costs)
• Loaning LEGO SPIKE Essentials kits to teams each season (and maintaining the kits between seasons)
• Assistance/advice for team parents and coaches
• Organizing team participation in community events and fundraising activities 

ARBC’s sponsorship of teams covers basic costs of team operation.  Depending on team goals, teams may spend additional money on field trips or other experiences and materials for the team members; these expenses are the responsibility of the team parents.

Anacortes FLL Explore teams generally form and meet in one or the other half of the school year.  Teams usually meet once per week, following 12 pre-planned/guided sessions provided by FIRST, but these can/should be adjusted as necessary to fit team member ages/concentration abilities.  Sessions can be customized, added, or dropped by the coaches to cover the journey at a pace that the students enjoy or to work around outside interruptions.

Fall teams

Fall teams form and begin meeting in September soon after school starts and team members are available.  ARBC holds a Festival in early/mid-December for Fall teams.  Teams may need to skip a session, double up on sessions, or plan an extra session or two depending on the day of the week they pick to meet, how late they start, and how many “no school” days impact meeting schedules in order to be ready for the Exposition.

Spring teams

Spring teams form and begin meeting by early February.  ARBC holds a Festival in mid/late May for Spring teams.  There is slightly more slack in the Spring than the Fall, but impacts to the schedule still occur. Teams may need to skip a session, double up on sessions, or plan an extra session or two depending on the day of the week they pick to meet, how late they start, and how many “no school” days impact meeting schedules in order to be ready for the Exposition.

Other possible team schedules

The FLL Explore program has the flexibility to have teams meet on schedules other than the Fall and Spring terms shown above.  However, a key part of the FLL Explore team experience is the capstone FLL Explore Exposition where teams gather together to share what they have learned with each other and the public.  Teams that choose to meet on a schedule that does not end near one of the pre-planned Anacortes FLL Explore Expositions should identify alternatives so that the students do not miss out on this experience.  Contact the ARBC FLL Program Director to discuss possible options.