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Jackson Hole High School
RoboBroncs
Business Plan 2012-2013
PO Box 568
Jackson, Wyoming 83001
www.jhhsrobobroncs.net
(307)-690-0645
October 2013
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RoboBroncs Team Summary
Mission Statement:
The mission of the RoboBroncs is to educate, inspire, and challenge students to
build career skills and to discover a life passion. Our open door policy allows
students with any interest to explore and enhance their interests. Students learn
important team, leadership, organization, technology, and business skills that
prepare them for college and future opportunities. You will never walk into the
robotics lab without witnessing hard-working students and of course, good music.
We persevere through our struggles, aim for excellence, follow our dreams, and
discover our passions. RoboBroncs isn’t an obligation, it’s an experience.
Team History:
Team #3374 was founded 3 years ago
2010 FRC Season -“Breakaway”
 Utah Regionals in Salt Lake City- Quarterfinals
2011 FRC Season - “Logo Motion”
 Utah Regionals in Salt Lake City
 Won the Engineering Inspiration Award
 Won the Entrepreneurial Award
 Woodie Flowers Award to Gary Duquette
 Dean’s List Finalist - Siena Richard
 Attended and competed at the FRC National Championship in St. Louis, MO
2012 FRC Season - “Rebound Rumble”
 Utah Regionals in Salt Lake City
Location:
The RoboBroncs are located in beautiful Teton County, WY at the Jackson Hole High
School. This county is a gateway community to Grand Teton and Yellowstone
National Park. Tourism is the main source of income for the community.
Mentors:
Gary Duquette - Founder and Lead Mentor
Engineering and Math Teacher- Jackson Hole High School
Kathy Milburn - Founder and Mentor
Math and STEM Facilitator – Teton County School District
Wes Womack - Mechanical and Programming Mentor
Engineer - Epsilon Technology
Chris Arrasmith- Robot Programming
Electrical Engineer- Epsilon Technology
Matthew Leone- Robot Pick-Up Design
Electrical Engineer- Alces Technology
Alexis Sarthou- Robot Passive Climb Design
Engineer/Web Design- CityPASS
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Jace Walsh- Robot Climb Design
Mechanical Engineer- Square-1 Systems Design
Charlie Hagen- Robot Climb Design
Mechanical Engineer- Square-1 Systems Design
Bob Nigro- Team Manager and Robot Drive Design
Mechanical/Civil Engineer- Teton Engineering, PC
Echo Miller- Robot Shooter Design
Mechanical Engineer- Square-1 Systems Design
Carter Schultz- Robot Design
Mechanical Engineering Student at University of Wyoming
John Potzernitz- Welding and Construction Mentor
Asphalt Plant Forman/Mechanic- Evan’s Construction
Yearly Number of Team Members:
2010 - 20 members
2011 - 16 members
2012 - 23 members
2013- 20 Members
Team Growth:
1. Expanded team focus from being exclusively focused on robot
construction to formalizing business and media team involvements.
2. Applied for all FIRST awards.
3. Developed a design process that keeps the team on track for build season.
4. Developed team building social events to create team unity and solidarity.
5. Developed new safety protocols to focus on and made safety a priority.
6. Started an “Academy” to help our first year members learn about FRC and
the build, design and business aspects of our team before the build season.
Team:
1. Developed team applications to ensure that all perspective team
members understand the values of our team and how they correspond to the
values of FIRST.
2. We created and administered mandatory FIRST, STEM, and safety
presentations, and then quizzes for all members and required them to pass in
order to travel and compete.
3. We formed an academy that all members had to participate in and
complete. The academy consisted of two phases including tasks to prepare
students for the build season and business aspects. Our academy encouraged
commitment and consistency. Members successfully completed both phases
of the academy, delivered presentations, and made calls to potential
sponsors to build skills, such as public speaking, time management,
programming, and design.
4. We refined our accountability system and discussed the requirements as
a team before the season began.
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Mentorship:
1. We strive to expand knowledge and awareness throughout the state.
2. We have expanded mentorship to other FRC teams in the state of
Wyoming.
FIRST and STEM Outreach:
1. We mentor two local middle school First Lego League teams, and an FRC
team in Brazil.
2. We represent our team and STEM education at Old Bill’s Fun Run and
other community events like the Teton County Fair.
3. We provide opportunities for students to meet other like-minded high
school students at FIRST competitions.
4. We provide opportunities for students to earn FIRST college scholarships.
5. New for 2013, we are hosting a STEM Saturday for Girl Scout Troops from
Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho in May.
Sponsor and Community Relationships:
Team Members have participated in the Following Community Service Projects1. Sponsored a STEM night at Jackson Hole High School, hosted a LEGO
competition for grades K-12 and advertised throughout the community.
2. Held a booth at the TEDx Conference – talked to community members and
demonstrated robots.
3. Served breakfasts and dinners for the Lion’s Club at the Teton County Fair
4. Served food, raised money, set and cleaned up at the Hoback Volunteer’s
Annual Firefighter Picnic.
5. Held a booth at Old Bill’s Fun Run for Charities- demonstrated VEX robots
and offered educational brochures about FIRST and the RoboBroncs.
6. Fall Festival Co-Sponsor at the Jackson Hole High School.
7. Played zombies in a Haunted House for the Riot Act Theater Inc. Company.
8. Rang bells for the Salvation Army Holiday Drive at Kmart for a weekend.
Sponsors as of January 20th, 2013:
Rotary Club, University of Wyoming, Teton County School District, Cowboy
Steakhouse Restaurant, LB Moon, American Legion Post #43, Domino’s Pizza, Evan’s
Construction, Wedco Fabrication Inc.
Sponsor Relationships:
1. We assist the Lion’s Club in two of their summer fundraisers.
2. We sponsor the Fall Festival at JHHS.
3. We recognize our partners on our robot, website, apparel, newspaper ads,
and signage.
4. We recognize our sponsors with personalized team thank you letters.
5. We represent our school and club with presentations that promote STEM
at public events, elementary schools, and the public library.
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Sponsorship Growth:
1. We refined our sponsor informational “packet” with progress pictures,
and FIRST and background information about our club for maximum
education and impact at presentations.
2. Increased fundraising by expanding a list of contacts or donors with a
goal of becoming involved in more public events.
3. We developed an easy to follow practice script for groups that they
rehearsed and then presented our club to a Jackson Hole High School staff
member.
Team Summary of Past Years:
The RoboBronc Team will enter its fourth year of competition during the 2012-13
season. In the 2010 season, mentors and students were introduced to FIRST, and
we built our first robot and attended a regional event. In the 2011 season, we
expanded our team to go beyond the robot, to include a business team. We were
more successful during our second season, winning the Engineering Inspiration
Award and Entrepreneurial Award. One of our mentors was awarded the Woodie
Flowers award and one of our team members was named a Dean’s List Finalist. The
team qualified to attend the FIRST National Championships in St. Louis. In the 2012
season, we created separate build and business teams. Consequently, we decided
that our team communication was inefficient and individual participation was
inconsistent. We have learned from the mistake of separating the team and have
created a new program to generate involvement for each student in all aspects of
our team.
To be addressed in Year 4:
1. Processesa. Students will be encouraged to solve problems independently and
older members will help teach and build such skills. During the
summer of 2012, Coaches and team captains developed Academy
projects for new team members in which they will develop skills and
move from apprentice to journeyman to master.
b. All team members keep a log of the tasks that they do, including the
time for those tasks, both in meetings and outside meetings. All team
members are required to join Chief Delphi and check it weekly for
posts specific to their team job.
c. To encourage team communication, we created TeamR accounts. On
TeamR, students can record their progress on a daily basis and share
their accomplishments with the rest of the team. TeamR also allows
us to create projects and track individual progress on a daily basis.
d. We will add to and refine a sponsor packet for use during
presentations.
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2. Communicationa. Team Members - All students will be required to respond to text
messages, emails, Chief Delphi and TeamR accounts.
b. High School Students- We have created contests for students to
participate with our club; we had students submit potential names for
our robot. We held a raffle.
c. Parents- We signed up for Doodle Calendar to organize parent
meetings, information and dinners.
d. Community- We will frequently update our Facebook and Twitter
accounts in order to create more forms of communication and
experience new popular methods of technology, as well as advertising
in the newspaper, on the radio, and in more direct forms, such as
posters and flyers.
e. We plan to do outreach with more organizations, like the Girl Scouts,
to encourage more girls to become interested in STEM.
STRATEGIES FOR TEAM BUILDING:
How we will evaluate our Progress:
1. Surveys to parents, students, and sponsors at the end of the season
2. All awards applied for
3. Completion of robot
4. Plus/Delta charts after the season
5. Team discussions
6. Team debrief at the end of the season
Jackson Hole High School Team Members:
1. We set equal, common grounds for team participation through team and
expectation forms.
2. We gave members an entry point for participation based on each
student’s desire to learn skills the team needs during the off season.
3. We allow practice sessions for presentations so that all students
understand the elements of a great presentation.
4. We organize fun social events for teambuilding.
5. We have created a system to recognize team members for their
accomplishment and jobs completed throughout the year.
Parents of RoboBronc Team Members:
1. Community open house to demonstrate the STEM programs and
accomplishments.
2. We organized a calendar so parents can see the upcoming season.
3. Mentors met with each parent in a conference format to explain the team
and the expectations for team members.
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Jackson Hole Community:
1. Use social media to keep community members up to date.
2. All sponsors receive updates about team progress.
3. Advertise with posters, such as the Stall Street Journal, placed around
town, t-shirts, and the robot.
FUNDRAISING HISTORY:
For the past two years, our team was able to use funds from a grant from the State of
Wyoming for enrichment programs. Because of that, we were able to carry over the
funds that the team raised and have start up funds for the following years. For the
2012 season, the state discontinued the enrichment program funds, depleting us of a
major sponsor. Our current funds that the team has raised have come from direct
sponsorships that occur as a result of presentations by business team members and
grants. The Haunted Hallway we construct at the Jackson Hole High School Fall
Festival is an annual fundraiser for our club. We also create annual raffles to involve
students at our school and the community by door-to-door sales.
Fundraising Strategies:
1. Give presentations at community events and interested individuals and
businesses.
2. Advertise to the community and expand out of the state.
Sustainable Financial Plan:
1. Sponsorship forms have been changed to more efficiently structure our
communication and organization.
2. Developed a database of potential sponsors of donations, materials, or time
a. We contacted these people with emails and phone calls with a brief
summary about FIRST, sent informational packets, and arranged
meetings for presentations.
Goals for 2013:
1. To enhance public speaking skills and teach members how to be
successful and personable presenters, yet straight forward about how
much money we need to raise.
2. To become more involved with the community through more public
events, and to spread knowledge about STEM and FIRST to tourists in our
town throughout the year.
3. To develop a sponsor database.
4. To develop additional activities in fundraising.
a. We have ordered FIRST LED light bulbs to sell as of January 18th.
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Fundraising Goals:
In order for the RoboBroncs to be self-sustainable, we need to raise a
minimum of $15,000 a year. We have budgeted $10,000 from fundraising events
and $10,000 in sponsorships. In the future, we would like to increase that amount
to $30,000 in order to know that we can attend nationals if we qualify.
Financials:
Balance Sheet Projections 2013Our goal is to ensure that we can attend a regional competition, in which all students
can experience, ensure that we have funds for next year, and hopefully raise funds
for a possible trip to Nationals.
Robot
Registration
Marketing/apparel
Number of Team
Members
Hotel/student
Airfare
2013 Costs
Utah Regional
$4000
$5000
$1500
Per Member Cost
26
$105
N/A
Nationals
$1000
$5000
$1000
25
$300
$400
Team Cost
Hotel
Airfare
Food
Total Costs
Season Total Cost
$5000
N/A
N/A
$15500
$37500
$4500
$10000
$500
$22000
Projections:
Haunted Hallway - Done - raised about $300
Sponsorship Drive - Nov-Feb - projected $3000
LED Light Bulbs - $1900
Grants Projections:
Applied for the Community Foundation Micro grant - $1000