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As LISA rolls out onto the floor, a cheer ripples out of the crowd and echos across the stadium. Two students in black T-shirt jump up and down, proudly representing Seaside High School. Buttons with the words “Team 3673” are passed amongst the audience, each person hoarding their collection as if they had a pile of winning lottery tickets. Coaches and parents use smart phones to check opposing teams websites, hoping to find a possible ally. Facebook receives posts, tweets are tweeted, and LISA the robot goes to score a point. The robot was created by engineers, but the atmosphere was ignited by the team marketers and promoters.
Team 3673 has several non-engineers on the team, each assigned to important tasks. There is Webmistress Jojo M., in charge of updating and designing our Team Website, www.team3673.org. Jojo’s favorite part is when she puts a lot of effort into solving a problem and eventually succeeds after much trial and error. “I spend my time ripping my hair out,” Jojo says, “but I eventually succeed where other people tried and failed, because I work hard until that glorious moment comes and I succeed.”
Our business team is composed of three wonder young ladies, Emma H., Mariah P., and Katy K. They handle finances and the budget, meeting with local accountants for advice and mentoring. Our business team also occasionally dabbles in promotions, such as our newly created Facebook page.
The last of our team is our Media Liaison, Garrett B. Garrett writes press releases and content for the website. In 2012, he helped bring U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici and Oregon Senator Betsy Johnson to Seaside High School. They in turn assisted in donating $1,000 to Team 3673.
No one person is more important than another in Robotics, but the business team, promotions, and webmistresses are vital to the success of a team. When our robot LEXI rolls out onto the field this year, we want the audience to know that the C.Y.B.O.R.G. Seagulls are there to compete.
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Our marketing team is the only non-engineering team. Technically we could be called the marketing/business/media/promotion/project management team. Both the Project Manager and the Junior Project Manager belong to this team. We do most of our work via computer; we manage our website, keep track of the team’s spending, and also keep in contact with our sponsors. Our work ranges from video editing to working on the Chairman’s award. We never get bored around here. With just five of us on the team, there is enough work to go around. That doesn’t mean we don’t know how to have fun; there’s always time to laugh and have a good time.
To sum things up, our job is to:
• Make all purchase orders
• Manage the team’s money
• Create/maintain a website
• Manage public relations(Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus etc.)
• Produce weekly videos
• Complete Weekly Assignments
• Make sure deadlines are met
• Submit Awards
• Make sure rules are followed
• Keep the entire team on track
We do a lot of work. It’s safe to say the team could not function without us.
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Everyone on a robotics team has passion that drives them into a certain area of the team. For some it may be the constructing the robot, running the drive station – even getting tangled up in a sea of wires, and the passions do not stop there. There are passions for areas that do not deal with engineering, like business and writing as well. Since the majority of the team’s members are made up of engineers, only a few remain that work on the areas that don’t require the engineering techniques, but they have gone above and beyond in making this season successful.
For ten years Mrs. H has earned her spot on the team by cheering constantly at every competition. Last year in St. Louis she decided to take the responsibilities of treasurer for the team, and now throughout this season she has certainly taken more roles to help out the team than ever. Late nights working on the robot resulted in many growling stomachs for the team, but every Wednesday she would present them with the blessing of pizza to satisfy them. . Because of the busy atmosphere that causes everyone to scurry around the robotics room like ants, messes tend to pop up all at once, but Mrs. H would come to the rescue to tidy those messes, as well as remind everyone to keep everything organized. Our sponsors have been a huge part in the building season, and thanks to Mrs. H each one has received their own personal thank you letter. Keeping track of all the sponsors have allowed our team satisfaction in thanking the people and companies that has helped improve our robot. Many of our team members are international students, so getting completely used to the non-metric system introduced a little confusion. Being an Algebra and physical science teacher, Mrs. H has always been eager to help the students get used to the new kinds of measurements. When she was asked to present a sentence summing up her role on the team, she replied that her role was “to support the team where they need it.”
Additionally robotics takes another passion –art. Creating a design for the robot, fashioning the team’s T-shirt, and producing the ideas for the many, many buttons all need a passion to create, and Mr. Carlson has helped prepare many of our members with these areas. Teaching the necessaries of Photoshop has been a well appreciated talent of Mr. Carlson, and when a student would want information on how something worked, he would always be handy. Also with camera in hand, he has developed various pictures of the season which when viewed by the members will welcome back many memories.
Media has arrived as a new addition to the team, and getting around the robotics neighborhood has been a great improvement for us. When playing in the role of the media department, you are constantly sprinting around, searching for quotes and memorable stories. Although challenges develop such as picture problems and the occasional stress factor, the delivering of the latest updates sure brings a satisfying smile in the end.
