Business Plan Boyne City High School Robotics Program 1035 Boyne Ave., Boyne City, MI 49712 bcblaze@boyne.k12.mi.us www.boyne.k12.mi.us/robotics
Table of Contents I. Title Page 1 II. Table of Contents...2 III. Team Mission Statement...3 IV. Team Origin 4 V. Organizational Structure...5 VI. Relationships 6 VII. Deployment of Resources.7 VIII. Future Plans..8 IX. Financial Statement 9-10 X. Risk Analysis..11 Page 2 of 11
Mission Statement Boyne City Blaze (BC Blaze) provides Boyne City High School students a guided hands-on opportunity to explore various applications of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Artistic Design, and Mathematics). By partnering with community mentors, BC Blaze fosters a variety of valuable life skills such as innovation, self-confidence, leadership, inspiration, and communication: the same skills needed to become the creative scientific and technological leaders of the future. BC Blaze FIRST Robotics team is a great place for students to learn science, technology, engineering, construction, business, marketing, and teamwork. Students apply knowledge gained through school and explore many interests that lead to future careers. The robotics program provides opportunities to learn from experienced mentors in the community. It fosters relationships allowing local industry a chance to assist in developing its future workforce and students to see many options available to them as careers. Through a hands-on approach and a shared experience, a robotics team strengthens its community. This valuable experience requires an investment of time, money, and effort by the students, mentors, and community to be a success. In addition to robot costs, there are entry fees and travel expenses to plan for. Through sponsorships from local businesses and organizations, donations of time and materials from local supporters in industry, and a variety of fundraising efforts, BC Blaze Robotics Team is working toward being a viable and successful program. Page 3 of 11
Team Origin November of 2011, BC Blaze was founded at Boyne City High School by a small group of students and their math teacher. The team of 14 students, two mentors and parents spent their first season getting to know the ins and outs of a robot build. The team won Highest Rookie Seed Award at their first competition and finished out the year with a state ranking of 74 out of 190. Not bad for a first year team with very limited resources. Going into the 2013 season, interest in BC Blaze had increased and the team grew to 17 students, but still found itself with limited mentors, sponsorships and financial resources. Despite this, BC Blaze made it onto an alliance that advanced to the semi-finals at their first competition and was selected for an alliance that ultimately won the second competition. BC Blaze ended its second season with a state ranking of 59 out of 207. Prior to the 2014 season, many changes occurred here at BC Blaze. Our lead mentor/coach stepped down and the team found itself in need of reorganization. An advisory board was formed that included the high school principal, mentors, students and parents. Goals were set and a more organized business-like program was implemented. Our team has grown from a small group of students whose main focus was to build a robot and perform well at competitions, to a year round program. A new organizational structure was developed for the students and mentors, resulting in a more efficient team. We now have 27 students and 17 mentors and are financially more secure with many more sponsorships and fundraising activities. Page 4 of 11
Organizational Structure BC Blaze robotic program is run by the student team members with mentor guidance and oversight. This allows the students to gain and develop leadership skills and hands-on experience in engineering and business. Below are our organizational structures, which highlight the student and mentor roles. Each structure has two components, one focusing on the build/competition and the other operations/pr. Page 5 of 11
Relationships In order to maintain a strong program, building and retention of talent is crucial. BC Blaze begins recruiting new members with eighth grade orientation in the spring, and then holds an orientation workshop in the fall. This workshop includes a hands-on experience exploring the machine shop, programming, and general robotics. Throughout the year, juniors and seniors mentor underclassmen to maintain a consistent level of experience. At the end of one year of participation, students obtain a Varsity Letter. By partnering with the high school business, visual imaging, drafting, and machine tool shop classes, BC Blaze is able to spread the message of gracious professionalism throughout the school. BC Blaze realizes that partnerships with area businesses, manufacturers, and community leaders are vital to the success of the team and need to be a top priority. A sponsor may come in many forms: monetary donation, in-kind donation, or mentorship. Throughout the year, sponsors are kept up to date on the robot build and team activities. During the summer, BC Blaze participates in Boyne City's Stroll the Streets, a weekly evening event where local businesses, organizations, bands, and artists line Main Street to provide networking within the community. For a small donation, anyone can drive the previous year's robot. This is a great outreach opportunity for spreading the word of FIRST, recruiting new members/mentors, fundraising and community involvement. It may take a village to raise a child but here at BC Blaze, we believe it takes a town to build a robot. Page 6 of 11
Deployment of Resources Within the past year BC Blaze has participated in the following community activities to spread the word of FIRST: Stroll the Streets, a community event sponsored by the town; Poochfest, where the team used the robot to throw frisbees for dogs to catch; and the 4th of July parade, where the robot was viewed by not only locals, but visiting tourists as well. At the beginning of the 2014 build season, BC Blaze hosted the area kickoff with seventeen high schools in attendance. Before the game telecast, BC Blaze provided breakout sessions that detailed different parts of a robotics team, lunch after the telecast and rooms for teams to begin strategies. BC Blaze has learned throughout the last two years that FIRST Robotics is not simply about the mechanics and engineering of a robot. The team decided to define their structure to include both an operational arm as well as a build component. The operational team works solely on the management of the team involved with public relations and finances. This has been beneficial to the team as a whole. Now, the students with little interest in mechanics can still be a crucial part of the team without being a part of the build; the build team can dedicate more of their time on the robot versus public relations duties like financial reports, sponsor presentations, and other paperwork. Hopefully, this will also help retain students who have multiple demands on their time. The team has found that even though both sub-teams work closely together, all students are now more involved in the team as a whole. Page 7 of 11
Future Plans To have a successful robotics program BC Blaze understands that they must continuously recruit talented students and have financial security to allow students an avenue to participate in FIRST. To achieve this, the team plans to grow and strengthen their partnership with Boyne City High School business, Visual Imaging, CAD and machine shop classes. Members of the team are currently working on robotics based lesson plans for elementary and middle school students. This plan includes an assembly for the elementary kids and hands-on activity for the upper middle school students relating to creativity, strategy, engineering, and gracious professionalism Additionally, BC Blaze is planning to host a Girl Scout event with a robotics theme. Next, BC Blaze hopes to expand excitement for the program by continuing their community outreach programs: Boyne Expo in the spring, Stroll the Streets, 4 th of July parade in the summer, and Poochfest in the fall. These activities are a great opportunity for us to raise money through donations, be visible in the community, and recruit future members. Lastly, we plan to continue to fund our program with our biannual fundraiser with Schwann Food Services, helping the Friends of the Library during the summer, as well as developing new programs. A short-term goal for us is to have the majority of our sponsorships complete by the end of December so that we can devote our energies to the task of next year s build season. Page 8 of 11
Financial Statement Our goal is to have a financially secure program and we realize to accomplish this we must solicit sponsorships year round, develop annual fundraising programs, and apply for grants when available. The student operations team is responsible for contacting businesses to schedule and make presentations, plan fundraising activities and research grants. The team s goal is to receive $15,000 worth of monetary donations, with in-kind donations helping to offset costs. The finances can be broken down into three main categories: Competition expenses - registration, lodging and transportation fees. Parts & Materials expenses - items needed to build the robot. Marketing expenses - items needed for promoting FIRST, team spirit, PR, sponsor updates and appreciation. With the help of an adult mentor with accounting expertise, a general ledger is used to keep track of incoming and outgoing capital. A monthly report is presented to both the advisory committee and students. Attached is a summary of our budget: Page 9 of 11
Boyne City Blaze Income and Expenditure Statement 2014 INCOME: GRANTS $10,200.00 SPONSORSHIPS $10,000.00 FUNDRAISING $5,700.00 TOTAL INCOME $25,900.00 EXPENDITURES: REGISTRATION: 1ST REGIONAL COMPETITION $2,500.00 2ND REGIONAL COMPETTION $2,500.00 STATE COMPETITION $4,000.00 LODGING: 1ST REGIONAL COMPETITION $2,000.00 2ND REGIONAL COMPETTION $2,000.00 STATE COMPETITION $2,000.00 TEAM SPIRIT: $1,000.00 TRANSPORTATION COSTS: KICK-OFF $0.00 1ST REGIONAL COMPETITION $1,000.00 2ND REGIONAL COMPETITION $1,000.00 STATE COMPETITION $1,000.00 MATERIAL COSTS: ROBOT PARTS $4,000.00 PIT & FIELD PIECES $1,200.00 TOOLS $1,200.00 MARKETING: $500.00 TOTAL EXPENDITURES $25,900.00 Page 10 of 11
Risk Analysis The Boyne City Robotics team uses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to predict future outcomes of the team. Strengths Supportive school system integrating programs including Art, Visual Imagry, Machine Shop, CAD, and Business Management Supportive Community Software and equipment available in school for design, build and public relations Skilled mentors who provide numerous resources Interested, quality students Weaknesses Small school and therefore a small student population to recruit from Most student team members are involved in other extra curricular activities resulting in conflicts with time/schedules Small community Local sponsors have limited resources for providing large financial aid Numerous sponsors are needed to meet financial need Mentor hours (Limited, conflicting) Opportunities Increase community outreach activities Developing and presenting STEAM related programs to the elementary and middle school to cultivate interest in younger students Expand fundraising activities Scholarships for FIRST members Non-technical opportunities to learn more about business, management, marketing, photography, and graphic design. Threats Small, rural area with 10 teams competitng for the same limited sponsor and mentor resources Local economy is based on tourism which can change quickly depending on unforseen circumstances Loss of experienced/skilled students upon graduation Snow days during build season Loss of talented students due to conflicts of time with other school cocurricular activities, especially during the build season Page 11 of 11