Joining
What does it take to be part of the team?
Registration Season
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Our open season for accepting new students is typically June through September each year. However, as we’ve had unprecedented interest this season, we can no longer guarantee a spot on our team as we are limited to about 30 students due to space limitations. We are accepting students for a Waitlist through July 7, 2023, should positions open up. We will not be accepting new students after July 7.
Age Requirements
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The age requirements for being part of a FIRST Robotics Competition team, such as Roaring Robotics, is 13 through 18. In general, students entering or in 8th through 12th grades can join our team during our registration season. If a student will turn 13 before the end of this year, talk to us.
Residency Requirements
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Residency requirements? What are those? Unlike many area robotics teams, we are not associated with a school or a school district. As such, we do not have residency requirements. For most families, the main issue is whether our Naperville location is close enough to make the commute on a regular basis.
Show Up
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Robotics is a high engagement activity. While there is flexibility, our expectation is that students attend meetings regularly with the support of their families.
We require that both a parent and a student attend three meetings before we formally accept the student on our team. Why? We want students and their families to understand what being part of our team entails before making a season commitment.
Paperwork and other Administriva
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As always, there’s paperwork. Don’t stress over it, though. We can walk you through it when you come to a meeting. Here are the things that we’ll have a parent (or an adult student) complete to register a student on our team:
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Online team registration - This provides us with basic information about your student and family, primarily for contact information.
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FIRST registration - This is for the official registration with the FIRST organization. As discussed above, we will not accept the FIRST registration until we’ve seen both the student and a family adult for three meetings.
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BAND registration - We use BAND for day-to-day communications. As such, both students and their parents need to be registered on BAND so that they can be updated on meetings and events.
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Team Wear - During the fall (typically October), we will have a period where families can order team wear for their students. The cost of team wear is in the $100-$150 for a full set, most of which is good for future seasons. For those families who may not be able to afford the team wear, we will provide discount codes allowing families to acquire team wear at reduced or no cost. Prior to the team wear ordering period , we will have team non-season specific T-shirts available to purchase for about $22 for new students.
One of our students is working on a prototype for a robot mechanism.