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Student Expectations

Academic

Students are expected to maintain a minimum of a C in every class. This is a standard requirement of any varsity team and, because we view ourselves as a varsity team, we hold our students to this expectation. We also expect our student leaders to “set the standard'' and, as a result, we ask them to hold a higher GPA of 3.0. Students who are in danger of falling below a C in a class or who are below a C will be expected to seek assistance or tutoring sessions during team meetings. As a community-based organization, we have no direct insight into a student’s performance in school. However, we rely on the honesty of the students and the supervision of the parents to ensure compliance with this policy..

Behavior

The RoboBees strive to be a professional organization and we need people that will represent us well. We are a well-known team and seek to set a good example for others at all times. Rules are set forth for the safety and well-being of our team members

All students are expected to remain engaged and put forth their best effort during all team activities. The RoboBees operate on a busy schedule and require a lot of quality time from its students. This quality time is defined as time spent working toward the team’s goals. While we are at a team event, we expect students to be working on team-related activities. If required, due to schedule or workload issues, students may be asked to help with a task that is outside of their normal responsibilities. Students are expected to complete these tasks to the best of their abilities and support the team in any way they can.

Students are expected to remain engaged with the team outside the normal team activities, albeit in a limited manner. Students are expected to receive and check Slack and email for team-related messages once a day. The number one way our team communicates is via Slack for day-to-day correspondence. Important announcements will also be sent via email. While updates are often also sent out via email, a Slack message is often the fastest and first way to find out about team business. Sometimes updates are time-critical, such as meeting cancellations, and the ability to receive and check team messages at least once a day is critical.

Like any other organization, it is important to have the information that we need on hand and on time. As a result, we ask that the paperwork be filled out and returned to our Lead Mentor by the required due date.

Parent Expectations

In general, parents are responsible for ensuring that students arrive and depart the meeting on time. The team will ask for volunteers to complete crucial tasks that help keep the organization running smoothly. These tasks may include:

Supplying potluck lunches

Facilitating transportation to and from events

Serve as a mentor for the team.

Assist in submitting grants and sponsorship requests on behalf of the organization.

The last responsibility of all our parents is to help their students balance robotics activities with schoolwork. As a community-based organization, we have no direct insight into a student’s performance in school, but our priority is school first and robotics second.

Mentor Expectations

At all times, the mentors are responsible for ensuring that all decisions (including but not limited to: robot design, student participation levels, work group makeup) are made in the best interest of the majority of students and the team as a whole.

Students, mentors, and parents understand that this is a learning environment. Because the team is also a competitive team, not every idea, design, or thought by a student/mentor/parent may be realized. The team will listen and respect all ideas presented, but not all will be put into practice.

Based on time, funding, and labor constraints, as well as the dynamics of the challenge, some decisions may have to be made by the mentors to ensure the team can build a robot in six to eight weeks that can successfully play the game to the level that the team expects. It is the expectation that the mentors help the team make these hard and often unpopular decisions.

Mentors and volunteers are expected to guide students through the season by providing skills and knowledge based on their education and experience. The mentor relationship with students is informal and more casual than that of a teacher or parent. However, while most are not teachers, mentors are also not a student’s “best friend.” The mentor-student relationship should generally be focused around the growingSTEMS activities. Mentors and volunteers are role models for the students and are expected to act as such.

Over the course of time, mentors and students often become friends through the development of mutual trust and respect for one another. A strong working relationship between the mentors and the students is expected and even encouraged. However, those individuals must be careful to understand the limitations of those relationships, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and put the needs of the students and the team above any friendship between the two groups. All mentors are responsible for the safety and well-being of the students and are expected to act in the best interests of both them and the team.

The RoboBees welcome mentors of all ages and backgrounds. However, there is one key area of concern. The team strongly encourages that freshman college students do not return as mentors. That is, graduating seniors should take a year off before coming back as a mentor on the team.

Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis after being discussed by the current mentors on the team. This policy is in place to encourage those graduating seniors to look beyond FIRST, experience college, and explore other opportunities available to them. It also helps to create a sense of ownership for existing students on the team as they become upperclassmen instead of having them become dependent on graduated team members’ experience.

For those college freshmen who have a burning desire to stay involved with the organization, and who feel like they can manage their college experience along with robotics, we encourage you to join our combat robotics program with Team Honey Cracked.

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