General Information for The Hive

The information in this section applies to all members (students, mentors/volunteers, and parents) who are involved in programs run by growingSTEMS at The Hive. These rules also apply at The Hive and at team events sponsored by growingSTEMS. Some programs will have additional requirements that are listed under each program’s section in this handbook.

Facility Code of Conduct

All members will be respectful and exhibit age-appropriate behavior at all times. Horseplay can be dangerous around power tools and equipment and is not acceptable. Disrespecting teammates is contrary to the core values of the programs in which we participate. Discrimination for any reason will not be tolerated.

All members will respect and take care of the facility and any tools they use. Resources should not be wasted purposefully and reusable kits should be returned in the form in which they were found. Members who intentionally damage or destroy growingSTEMS property will be required to replace the item.

None of us know everything and none of us think we know everything. However, we are willing to listen and learn and we expect the same from you. Sometimes we will walk you through things and other times we will pose open-ended questions that point you in the correct direction to find your answer. We simply ask for an open mind and some effort on your part to learn something new. At the end of the day, you will likely teach us something new as well.

Restricted or Prohibited Items

No member may bring on growingSTEMS property a weapon requiring a state permit to carry, unless they are a current law enforcement officer with the requirement to carry. This is the same restriction found in schools and colleges/universities. Other restricted items include flammable liquids (e.g., gasoline) and other explosives (e.g., dynamite, gunpowder, hand grenades).

All growingSTEMS properties and activities are illicit drugs, tobacco, cannabis, vaping, and alcohol-free. Exceptions to these restrictions (e.g, medical marijuana) may be made on a case-by-case basis and by the Executive Director.

Room Specific Usage

Fieldhouse

Machine Shop

The machine shop contains the majority of our heavy equipment and power tools. This facility is primarily used by our FRC and combat programs but is open to all STEM programs as appropriate.

Due to the risk of injury associated with the equipment in the machine shop, the usage of this room is limited to qualified and trained individuals.

When the machine shop is being used the doors to the room should be closed. This is a courtesy that is afforded to other individuals in The Hive, as the equipment that is located in that room can get rather loud.

Combat Room

Must be supervised by a mentor when combat is taking place, safety equipment must be worn

Conference Room

Health and Safety

General Safety

PPE

Illness

Members who are sick, or feel unwell, should not attend program events until they are well. Participants are expected to use their best judgment to determine when they are too sick or unwell to attend program events. However, if they are visibly unwell then they may be asked to leave to ensure the safety of other individuals in the facility.

Additional temporary measures may be implemented by growingSTEMS to prevent illness in extreme circumstances (such as the COVID-19 pandemic). They may include reduced capacity, mask policies, or restrictions based on national/local guidance or best practices as determined by growingSTEMS.

Medical Emergencies and First Aid

Drugs (Licit and Illicit)

The Hive and all team activities are drug, tobacco, vaping, and alcohol-free. The only exceptions are for prescribed medications when used under the direction of a medical professional and over-the-counter medications.

Those individuals who are prescribed medications, or provided over-the-counter medications, are expected to use them appropriately and as directed by the labels. Individuals who need assistance with medication administration are encouraged to ask a volunteer.

Behavior Expectations

You are here to learn and be the best you can be, you are expected to be on your best behavior and kind to your other students as well as mentors. If you feel as you may be angry and or getting angry, take a minute to yourself and take a step back. We are all here to accomplish the same goal as a team. Disrespect to other students as well as mentors will be handled quickly and appropriately.

Youth Protection

Mentors and parents may be asked to transport team members to and from events or activities. We ask there always be at least three people in the vehicle if you are transporting children who are not your own. This can be any combination of adults and children.

Different programs have different requirements for how adults and youth interact. For example, FIRST has their Youth Protection Policy (YPP) which FRC is required to abide by. For programs that do not have specific policies, or for policies that are not comprehensive, below are general guidelines to follow. Participants in growingSTEM programs should not engage in the following behavior.

Any actions or behavior that threatens the safety of other program participants. This is not limited to volunteers endangering students. Volunteers should also not endanger other volunteers. This can include physical behavior, such as unwanted touching, or verbal communication, such as sexually explicit remarks.

Personal and inappropriate communication (e.g., in-person discussions, phone calls, e-mail, texting, social networking) with underage participants. This can include, but is not limited to, engaging in activities well-outside the purview of the team. For example, it is appropriate to engage in team-building activities (e.g., dodgeball after a meeting). It is not appropriate to invite an underage participant to hang out at the local park.

Meeting alone or one-on-one with underage students. In general, volunteers should never be alone with an underage student. There should always be at least one other adult or student. When necessary, volunteers can only meet one-on-one with a student when there is no alternative, when all individuals remain in the view of the surveillance system, and when they let another volunteer with access to the surveillance system know that this meeting is taking place.

Any behavior that, while otherwise acceptable, creates an appearance of impropriety. In particular, this can include keeping activities secret from the rest of the team, from parents, or from other mentors.

In general, all members of growingSTEMS are expected to abide by the above restrictions and engage in other common sense restrictions as deemed necessary. Everyone is expected to police behavior and ensure the integrity of organization and the safety of everyone involved, volunteers and students alike.

Anti-discrimination and Harassment Policy

growingSTEMS and The RoboBees value diversity in our team members. The team is committed to developing a robust community of STEM learners, as well as fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Participation in the team is available to anyone without discrimination based on race; color; ethnicity; age; religion; sexual orientation; ancestry; political affiliation; language; caste; family structure; national origin; gender; gender-identity or expression; socioeconomic status; military status; social, mental, and physical ability; physical appearance; social, mental, psychological, physical, developmental or sensory disability; or other personal or genetic characteristics.

At no time will members discriminate against or mistreat others based on any of the aforementioned traits and any team members found to have exhibited any inappropriate conduct or behavior against others may be subject to disciplinary action. Team members who believe they have been subjected to any kind of discrimination or mistreatment that conflicts with the above statement should follow the organization’s anti-discrimination policy.

In general, all members of the team have a responsibility to treat others with dignity and respect at all times. Harassment of any form is not tolerated. Any student or mentor who knows of situations involving harassment has an obligation to report those circumstances to a mentor.

Any student or mentor engaging in such conduct will be appropriately disciplined, up to and including dismissal from the team. Any reported cases will be reviewed for possible referral to appropriate authorities, both school and legal. A false accusation is considered misconduct and may result in appropriate disciplinary action as well.

For purposes of clarification, harassment and discrimination may include but not limited to the following categories. In general, anything that makes another person feel uncomfortable (outside of challenging technical or leadership situations) should be avoided.

Verbal harassment - Epithets, derogatory comments, slurs, propositioning, or otherwise offensive words or comments on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, pregnancy, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or age, whether made in general, directed to an individual, or to a group of people regardless of whether the behavior was intended to harass. This includes, but is not limited to:

Inappropriate sexually oriented comments on appearance, including dress or physical features.

Telling lies or spreading rumors about sexuality or sex life of member

Race-oriented stories

Whistling or catcalling

Vulgar or obscene jokes or language

Comments about offensive television shows, radio shows or magazine articles

Repeatedly asking someone for a date after you have been turned down

Referring to someone in demeaning terms such as boy, babe, hunk, girl, honey

Leering or “undressing the person with your eyes”

Recounting one's sexual exploits in front of other people; or telling or relating crude jokes

Physical harassment - Assault, impeding or blocking movement, leering, or the physical interference with normal work, privacy or movement when directed at an individual based on race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or age. This includes, but is not limited to:

patting or pinching;

brushing up against someone;

hugging, kissing, fondling;

grabbing or touching clothing, hair or body parts;

inappropriate behavior in or near bathrooms, sleeping facilities and eating areas;

making explicit or implied threats or promises in return for submission to physical acts;

leaning over someone for a better view of body parts (down blouses, etc.);

soliciting or pressuring someone to sit on your knee;

stalking, invading someone's personal life; or

revealing parts of your body in violation of common decency.

Visual forms of harassment - Derogatory, prejudicial, stereotypical or otherwise offensive posters, photographs, cartoons, notes, bulletins, drawings or pictures depicting or commenting on race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or age. Visual forms of harassment include but are not limited to:

making gestures with hands or through body movements (sexual or

non-sexual);

wearing shirts with inappropriate or offensive verbiage

staring at someone, making rude gestures, mimicking a disability

looking a person “up and down”;

posters, pictures or other printed forms of sexual or discriminatory subjects;

making facial expressions such as throwing kisses, or licking lips; or

displaying offensive screensavers, emails, web pages and websites;

Sexual harassment - Any act which is sexual in nature and is made explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of participation in the organization, is used as the basis of a member status change or decision, unreasonably interferes with an individual's performance of duties or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Racial harassment - Discrimination against any individual with respect to their conditions or privileges of membership because of an individual's race or skin color. Forms of racial harassment include, but are not limited to:

Telling racial jokes;

Using racial slurs to address someone;

Displaying offensive pictures or symbols; or

Referring to someone in demeaning terms such as “Boy.”

Religious, ethnicity, or country of origin harassment - Harassing or otherwise discriminating because an individual is affiliated with a particular religious or ethnic group. Forms of religious, ethnic or country of origin harassment includes, but are not limited to:

Harassing an individual because of their religious beliefs or ethnic background. For example, harassing an individual because he or she is Middle Eastern or practices Islam;

Expressing disapproval of a specific religion or religious beliefs; implying someone would be treated better if he or she shared the same faith as you;

Harassing or otherwise discriminating because of physical, cultural, or linguistic characteristics, such as accent or dress associated with a particular religion, ethnicity, or country of origin. For example, harassing a woman wearing a hijab (body covering) and/or headscarf.

Harassing or otherwise discriminating because of an individual's association with a person or organization of a particular religion or ethnicity. For example, harassing a member whose family is from Afghanistan.

Public Displays of Affection (PDA)

PDAs are acts of romantic physical intimacy visible to others, not to be confused with platonic acts of friendship. Robotics meetings and events are places for students to work and be focused, and PDAs can be distracting not only to those involved but also to those who witness it.

When engaging in a PDA, members create an unprofessional image and an impaired working environment for the team, whether during a team meeting, competition, or other event. Therefore, all forms of PDA are considered inappropriate and are prohibited at any team event. If you are in a relationship, do not let it interfere with robotics. Couples may not wander off or sit alone. In other words, they should not appear as a couple but as part of the team.

Unacceptable PDA includes but is not limited to:

Intimate touching

Hand holding

Caressing/stroking/fondling

Kissing

Cuddling

Sitting in another person’s lap

Rubbing or massaging

Hugging in a romantic manner

We expect mentors to apply these guidelines to themselves with the maturity of an adult mentor. Additionally, student and mentor relationships must always remain strictly platonic and professional. See FIRST’s Youth Protection Policy for more detail.

Discipline

Members will follow the direction of mentors/volunteers at all times. If a conflict occurs, it will be resolved by the program coordinators (e.g., lead mentors) or the Executive Director.

If a member does not follow these rules, a warning will first be given. This will be followed by increasingly severe consequences up to, and including, removal from the program with no refund of associated costs. Removal from the program is at the sole discretion of the Executive Director.

Additional growingSTEM programs may have different avenues for discipline in addition to those handled at the growingSTEMS level.

Branding and Reputation

growingSTEMS is a widely recognized program with an excellent reputation. We expect all of our members to recognize this fact and to proudly represent growingSTEMS at all times. Whether you believe anyone is watching or not, realize that you are always a representative of this program in all activities. Be proud, but not boastful; be helpful, but never condescending. growingSTEMS members do not curse, do not taunt, and never walk away from those in need of assistance. growingSTEMS is more than just a collection of teams, we are a family. We watch out for each other, we help each other and we respect each other. We carry ourselves professionally at all times; to judges, other teams, toward our mentors, sponsors, and parents, and always toward our teammates.

Any member choosing to participate in any activity that would reflect poorly on the organization will not wear or display anything identifying growingSTEMS (or any teams associated with the organization) on their person or vehicle. All members displaying identifying clothing/equipment will comply with the organization’s expectations of appropriate behavior.

Social Media

All program participants should keep in mind that when they publicly associate themselves with growingSTEMS, they are representing the department. All social media posting, especially when directly associated with growingSTEMS, should reflect positively on the organization.

It is a breach of growingSTEMS member conduct to post on any public or private website or other forum, including but not limited to, information sharing sites, social media sites, social or business networking sites, or any other electronic or print communication format, any of the following:

Any information that may harm the reputation of growingSTEMS or any of the associated programs/teams.

Any disparaging, discriminatory, or harassing information concerning any member or other person associated with growingSTEMS.

Any private, privileged, confidential, or proprietary information related to growingSTEMS, its programs/teams, or its participants. This includes, but is not limited to, personal information about program participants.

Facility Access

Opening/Closing

Certain volunteers have been provided the ability to open and close The Hive.

If you believe that you need the ability to open/close The Hive, please contact Zach Stachelczyk.

Visitors

Often, students and mentors will actively seek out people to talk about robotics. Ideally, that will interest people and prompt a visit to The Hive. We love showing off The Hive and what we are working on to anyone who is willing. However, we like to have some notice before they show up. If you want to bring someone by The Hive, let one of the mentors know about it first. Letting the mentors know first enables the team to act as gracious hosts for any visitors. It also ensures that the appropriate people are present and able to provide support to the visitors.

Inclement Weather Policy

Our build season coincides with the winter weather season so on occasion we must close The Hive because of adverse weather conditions. As a rule, The Hive will only close for cases of extreme weather (rain, sleet, snow, etc). In general, we will not cancel meetings or close the shop for cold temperatures or rain alone. Closure will only occur if weather and road conditions prevent travel to The Hive.

If meetings are cancelled / postponed, an official announcement will be made via Slack and our email groups. If no such announcement has been made it means that activities at The Hive will operate as planned.

All team members should use good judgement when traveling to or from The Hive in these conditions. Parents should also use good judgement in deciding if a student should travel to The Hive, either with them or on their own. This answer may be different for everyone based on their location.

Team members should remember that no robot development is so important that it has to get done in an unsafe or unhealthful way. Only drive if you are an experienced driver in icy, messy road conditions, and stay home if you have any doubt about your ability to travel safely.

If any of you or your parents do not feel safe travelling due the weather conditions, that is perfectly fine. We only ask that you please let the rest of the team know that they should not expect you.

Entry System and Attendance Tracking

The time we spent at the shop is not the only metric by which contributions to the team are assessed. In many ways, it is not even a particularly important one. It is, however, easily quantifiable and fun to track.

All students and mentors are asked to create a unique number code that allows them to check in and out of the facility. Each door to the shop has a keypad next to it to enter the appropriate code.

For the front door, this logging system also serves as an access control system. Entering the code will unlock the door for a brief period of time. All members will check in upon arrival and check out when leaving via this electronic attendance system.

Our attendance tracking system can be accessed at growingstems.org/entry. This webpage is password protected when accessed outside of the growingSTEMS network. However, it is freely accessible to any device connected to the network.

Information collected by this system is regularly provided to sponsors. If you require access to the hours spent at the shop, we are happy to pull that information for you. Just reach out to Andrew Koch, Dan Logan, or Zach Stachelczyk.

College and Career Mentoring

Dean Kamen, one of the founders of the FIRST Robotics Competition, explained his philosophy on mentoring during the 1998 FIRST Competition Kickoff Workshop on January 10, 1998.

Again, the point of FIRST is to create, and do, for intellectual and technical things, what the Shaquille O’Neals and Michael Jordans do for unimportant things. And it gives kids an opportunity to see real role models, real heroes, not celebrities, but real heroes. So they can finish up the six weeks and say “I can do that. I want to learn these things. I’ll put effort into that. I want to be like . . . you people.”

The goal of FIRST programs are to show that STEM career fields are achievable for all. Participation in FRC is an excellent way to explore a career in STEM. Throughout their time on the team, students will be exposed to many principles of STEM principles, ranging from mechanical engineering to programming to data science (and much more). While not all students will pursue a career in STEM, all team members will benefit from discovering the many careers in and associated with the STEM fields.

For this purpose, the connections between mentors, team members, and local government, industry, and academia are invaluable. We have found that our partnerships and relationships are the key to long-term success, both at the individual and organizational level.

growingSTEMS and The RoboBees prides itself on our success in ensuring that our students have strong hands-on education in relevant career fields. Our partnership with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) provides us with valuable opportunities for our students. Approximately 25% of our graduates have gone on to support our local naval aviation community in some way, either as active duty, civil service employees, or contractors.

Regardless of your intended career path, our job is to do our very best to support you and give you the tools you need to succeed.

Internships, Apprenticeships, and Scholarships

The Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) places high school students in Department of Navy (DoN) laboratories where they take part in real Naval research for eight weeks during the summer.

SEAP gives academically talented sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in STEM the opportunity to learn about Naval research and technology while receiving first-class mentoring by top scientists and engineers.

The Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP) places college and university students in Department of Navy (DoN) laboratories where they take part in real Naval research for ten weeks during the summer.

NREIP gives academically talented college students, graduating seniors, and graduate students pursuing STEM careers the opportunity to learn about Naval research and technology while receiving first-class mentoring by top scientists and engineers.

The Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship-for-Service Program is a unique opportunity for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students to advance their education and jumpstart their careers.

SMART provides merit-based scholarships to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students pursuing STEM degrees. SMART scholarship recipients receive full tuition, annual stipends, summer internships, and after graduation, civilian employment with the Department of Defense/War.

Applications are open annually from August 1 to the first Friday in December. growingSTEMS has had three successful SMART Scholars. If you need any help with these applications, feel free to reach out to David Allocca Jr., Liam King, and/or Daniel Aaron.

The Next-Generation NAWCAD Workforce (N2W) is an unpaid summer internship at NAS Patuxent River for rising high school seniors.

There are many scholarship opportunities associated with the FIRST program. The mentors will be providing information regarding scholarships as soon as they are made available. There is also information listed on the FIRST website.

References for College and Job Applications

Team members may want to enhance their college or job application by describing the skills they have gained and the contributions they have made to The RoboBees. We highly encourage this, as participation in FRC is an excellent way to show off your technical and leadership skills.

It is advisable that team members seek the help of a mentor before completing application forms, especially if they are uncertain how to describe their involvement most effectively with the team. Letters of recommendation are strongest when they are written with a specific student in question. Generic letters of recommendation are not particularly valuable. Mentors and volunteers need time to draft strong letters. Please be sure to notify those people who you would like a recommendation from as soon as feasible.

It is important to note that merely being a member of the team is not sufficient to gain the endorsement of the team or a specific mentor for applications. To gain the team’s endorsement for college or university applications, team members need to demonstrate a reasonable level of participation with the team. This is shown by a good attendance record, actively working on one or more of the sub-teams and helping less experienced team members, assisting with outreach projects, and attending and participating in at least one competition.

Team members who only attend meetings sporadically, and/or make no effort to participate in the team projects or assist with our outreach activities, will likely not receive a strong letter of recommendation or a letter at all.

Information Technology

Computers are ubiquitous in the modern era. The world of FRC is no different. We use them for a lot of different applications that include but are not limited to an assortment of CAD and simulation software, programming environments, video and photo editing software, and project management software, just to name a few.

Team Computer Usage

The team has a supply of laptops which students use for various pieces of work. We expect you to treat these as your own. Keep them charged, do not drop or otherwise physically abuse them.

Personally Owned Computers

It is important to note that a personally owned laptop is not required to be on the team. That being said, it is incredibly convenient and helpful to have a computer that is set up and customized for your specific workflow and needs. If this is something that you can easily acquire, we encourage you to do so.

For those who are not well versed on computer hardware, we recommend the following specifications for a laptop for a student on the FRC team. These are not requirements, but rather recommendations.

Unordered List ItemCPU: Quad Core or greater CPU, latest generation preferred

RAM: 8GB minimum but 16GB or more is a good idea

15” or Larger screen with 1080p or higher resolution

256GB Solid State Drive (or larger)

Dedicated graphics card

Google Account

We are very fortunate that Google offers a Google Workspace for Nonprofits plan at no cost to the organization. This provides us with our main collaborative apps/tools, cloud based shared drives, and email addresses. The account supports up to 2,000 users, so we do not anticipate any scaling issues in the near future.

All FRC mentors and students are expected to have an active email address and to check for team communication on a regular basis. Members should check email at least once a day during the offseason and multiple times a day during the offseason. Responding to messages and communicating plans and ideas is not only productive but respectful.

All individuals associated with the organization are issued a growingSTEMS email address. For adult volunteers and mentors, this takes the format of <firstinitial><lastname>@growingstems.org. For students, this email address is formatted as <firstinitial><lastname>.student@growingstems.org.

If you have any issues with accessing your Google Workspace, please contact one of the Workspace admins, Zach Stachelczyk and Dan Logan.

Slack

Email is used for external communications, formal internal communications, and for disseminating information that needs to be retained and accessible in the long-term. All other communication takes place on the organization’s internal Slack workspace. This workspace is located at growingstems.slack.com and can be accessed through a web browser, through a desktop program, or through a mobile app.

All FRC and combat mentors and students are expected to join the organization’s Slack workspace. Team announcements, group chats, and private messaging all flow through Slack, so it’s a vital tool for team communication.

Parents are invited to join Slack but are not required to do so. Accounts are created for each student as soon as they join the team. Parent accounts are created upon request.

Mentors and students are expected to check Slack at least daily. During the build and competition season, mentors and students are expected to check Slack multiple times a day. Failure to check Slack is not an excuse to miss required activities or deadlines.

If you have any issues with accessing Slack, please contact one of the Slack admins, Zach Stachelczyk, Dan Logan, Andrew Koch (ankoch@growingstems.org), Zoe Lambert, and Cody Graham.

GitLab

The organization’s source code repositories are centralized on GitLab at [gitlab.com/growingstems. GitLab is primarily used for programming, so if you are involved in writing code you will likely need an account.

When you create your GitLab account, please choose an appropriate username that we can easily identify as you and set your profile name and profile picture accordingly as it just makes everything a lot easier when configuring our systems for you to use. You may end up using this GitLab account well beyond your time on the team, so make sure you keep it professional.

CiviCRM

In the summer of 2025, the team expended a large amount of effort to bring online a Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) database with CiviCRM. This allowed us to centralize many of our tracking spreadsheets into a single database solution. This information holds participant/alumni information, program registration info, sponsor contributions, internship data, and event sign-ups. This better allows us to develop analytical reports that can help bring in more support from the community.

This database can be accessed at drupal.growingstems.org/civicrm. If you need access, please contact Andrew Koch (ankoch@growingstems.org). We welcome anyone who is willing to help maintain this information. This is important to the long-term success of the team and organization. Luckily, this is something that volunteers and parents can help with at home.

LimeSurvey

Since 2023, the FRC team has run a large annual survey to gauge student, parent, and mentor perceptions on the success of the season. The results of this anonymous survey are published to the team and are used to inform changes to the team and the organization as a whole. In addition to the large end of year survey, this LimeSurvey software is utilized to gauge team perceptions on other issues, everything from the robot name to training topics.

Requests for survey participation will likely come from survey@growingstems.org, but active surveys can also be found at limesurvey.growingstems.org. If you would like to run a survey, or if you need access for any other reason, please contact Andrew Koch (ankoch@growingstems.org).

File Storage and Retention

In order to ensure team knowledge is passed down effectively and to maintain integrity of team resources, we ask that team members understand that all documentation created for team activities and shared with any team members is considered part of the team’s knowledge base. The team tends to retain as much information as possible, as you never know when documents related to robot design and construction will be needed.

All artifacts created during a team’s season, including design, build, controls, programming, awards, photos, videos, and so forth must be archived. It is very easy to create a file that can disappear into the abyss, never to be found again.

For documents that are of importance to growingSTEMS as a whole, the Board of Directors has an established policy for file and document retention.

We use Google Drive for access and storage of most of the team documents. You’ll need to work with a mentor to gain access to the appropriate shared drives. GitLab, discussed in depth elsewhere, is used for retention and version control of source code.

For very large files, or files that need to be accessed quickly when on the local network, the growingSTEMS file server can be utilized. This is primarily used by the FRC media students and those individuals transferring files to the CNC machines. However, if the need arises, different workflows can be developed.

Intellectual Property

When any robotics information is shared through Slack, Google Drive, GitLab, SmugMug, email, or any other sharing service, it becomes part of the team knowledge base and will be considered team intellectual property (IP).

To be clear, this applies to team efforts shared as part of being on the team. If you develop a neat mechanism that ends up going on the robot, it’s something that the team created. This does not apply to personal projects that are shared as part of the team. We aren’t going to steal your science fair project just because you asked for some help on Slack or used your growingSTEMS Google Drive account to share information.

Careful consideration should be made before sharing team documents to those outside the team. If the confidentiality policy described later in this document does not cover a question you have about sharing documents, ask a leadership team member. In addition, materials protected under this Intellectual Property Policy should never be removed from team access.

Network Access

We are very fortunate to have talented engineers who have brought their skills to the team to create a robust network to facilitate our many programs.

The Gonk server, currently located onsite at The Hive, hosts our GitLab runners, our CiviCRM server, our LimeSurvey server, and other assorted services.

Access to the network is primarily through the ethernet drops located in multiple rooms in the facility and through the facility’s wireless access points. Please talk to your program coordinator for assistance in accessing the network.

For any issues related to the growingSTEMS network, please contact our Systems Administrator Dan Logan.

Security Cameras

growingSTEMS operates several security cameras throughout The Hive. While these occasionally capture funny antics or interesting team moments, they are primarily in place for the security of the building and the people within it. These cameras are located in the lobby, the conference room, the office, the VEX IQ room, the combat room, the machine shop, and the fieldhouse.

If you require access to any video footage, please contact either Andrew Koch (ankoch@growingstems.org), Zach Stachelczyk, or Dan Logan.

Outreach Events

Recent Outreach Events

2025 Open House - June 14, 2025

2025 Combat Camp - July 19, 2025

2025 Antweight summer program

2025 Hive Hysteria - July 26, 2025

2025 Antweight Tournament - August 9, 2025

2025 Combat Camp - August 16, 2025

2025 SMCM Volunteer Expo - September 5, 2025

2025 St. Mary’s County Fair - September 19 and 20, 2025

2025 Blessing of the Fleet - October 4, 2025

2025 Water’s Edge Destruction - October 11, 2025

2026 FLL Explore Festival - March 6, 2026

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