General
Resources and volunteers are the limiting factors. It is expensive to provide the materials necessary for success. It is time consuming and takes dedicated volunteers to be successful.
In South Carolina alone there are over 300 teams. Internationally, there are over 40,000 teams of youth involved in the FIRST robotics program. There is over $80 million in college scholarships available to FIRST participants.
Contact us! Every child deserves this opportunity. We will help you in any way that we can.
Participation
We currently participate in three competitive programs (Jr.FLL for ages 6-9, FLL for ages 9-14, and FTC for ages 13-18). We also field a competitive TARC (rocketry) team for 7th-12th graders. Non-competitive “clubs” include Game Developers Club (13-18), Maker Club (13-18), and Aerospace Club (10-18). Aerospace club combines drones and rocketry.
We wish it was that easy. We have limited resources and volunteers. This past season we had 8 robotics teams with 60 team members. Our email list alone has over 300 parents (who want their children involved). We can potentially support more teams IF parents will take ownership and coach a new team or help facilitate club meetings. Another option is starting your own team. We have also helped start sustainable teams in Calhoun Falls, Honea Path, Anderson, and Greenwood.
Yes, if there is room. We have had kids participate in DWR activities from Donalds, Abbeville, Greenwood, Anderson, Hodges, Honea Path, and Ware Shoals. Our primary target is those who live or have parents that work in Due West/Donalds and Abbeville County. If there is room available, we are happy to include kids from other areas.
Yes! We are a community-based program. Kids are welcome to participate regardless of schooling preference. We currently have private, public, and home-school kids involved.
We have a policy that potential team members must participate in a workshop. The workshops provide an opportunity to see if kids are interested, mature enough for a long season, and work well with others. Many factors are taken into account when assembling our teams.
Who is it for?
We currently participate in three competitive programs (Jr.FLL for ages 6-9, FLL for ages 9-14, and FTC for ages 13-18). We also field a competitive TARC (rocketry) team for 7th-12th graders. Non-competitive “clubs” include Game Developers Club (13-18), Maker Club (13-18), and Aerospace Club (10-18). Aerospace club combines drones and rocketry.
That is wonderful. Many parents assume this is for boys, but it is perfect for your girls too. Girls who are in the program enjoy it and excel just as much as the boys. Please realize that this is much more than Lego play dates. Science, technology, engineering, math, research, design, documenting, presenting, skits, problem solving, programming, interviewing, leadership, confidence building, community outreach, and team work are all a part of what we do.
There is a misconception that this is an activity for boys. Girls are just as interested and do just as well as the boys. Currently, 30% of our participants last season were girls. We would like to get that number closer to 50%.
We have struggled getting minorities interested. According to the census, nearly 20% of our population is minorities. We want to get closer to 20% minority participation.
No, it will not.
Those who are interested, well behaved, and respectful of others. Those whose parents believe in the organization’s mission, are reliable, and willing to share the cost and responsibilities to make this program successful for all of the kids involved
Cost
Costs depend a lot on sponsors, number of kids involved, and fundraising. Our budget requires $7,500 per FTC team, $2,500 per FLL team, and $1,000 per Jr.FLL team. We budget $1,000 per rocketry team. Workshops and clubs vary in cost (generally $100 to $200). We believe every parent needs to be invested (time and money) to make this program successful but we try to keep costs down. We also have a limited number of scholarships to help ensure cost is not a limiting factor for participation. We are grateful for our incredible network of sponsors who allow us to keep these costs down.
