Sponsorship Opportunities
You can share time and resources with team members through corporate or personal mentoring in the areas of math, science or technology, including tours of your manufacturing or engineering firms. Or you can contribute financially. Any and all support is welcome and appreciated, and will endure far beyond team members’ FTC experiences, helping give them strong foundations for high tech futures.
Contributions of all sizes are very welcome and appreciated.
Donations
Donations can be made to Team Duct Tape via Network for Good. Be sure to identify that your contribution is for Team Duct Tape in the comments section of the online donation form.
Just a Dollar or Two Will Do!
Sponsorships
Sponsorships of $100 to $1000 or more will go a great way towards helping defray costs for our community based team.
Team 2845 is unique in its community focus. While most FIRST Tech Challenge teams are affiliated with funded public or private high school programs, Team 2845 draws public, private and homeschooled team members from local neighborhoods, in an effort to make high school level science and technology more accessible.
As a community team, we must rely solely on member families and the community to meet related financial needs, such as team registration, competition kit and supplies purchases, and tournament fees. But as a community team, we’re also uniquely positioned to meet the growing science and technology education needs that will ultimately benefit our society.
High-Tech Needs, Low-tech Achievement
In Florida, in 2007, less than 30% of 8th graders tested at or above proficiency in math; average ACT math and science scores were below the national average; and less than 40% of high school graduates were prepared for college level algebra. (Florida’s K-12 STEM ED Report Card, http://www.usinnovation.org/state/pdf_stem/STEMEdFlorida08.pdf)
This, despite the fact that of the 30 fastest-growing occupations projected through 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, more than half will require substantial Mathematics or Science preparation.
Limited STEM Education Options in Odessa, FL
Odessa comprises a large rural area covering 40 square miles across both Hillsborough and Pasco Counties, with a population of about 14,000 people. While median home prices are high, median household income is solidly middle class at the lower threshold of $45,864 annually, and nearly 50% of students in both counties qualifying for free or reduced lunch programs.
There are just five high schools in the two counties that are within a five or six mile “neighborhood” radius, and none of them offer extracurricular science and technology programs. The only two technology magnet schools in Hillsborough County Hillsborough and Middleton High Schools – are more than 15 miles away, and each is already filled with district students. Additionally, all the local high schools show minimal proficiency in science, with less than 50% of students in most schools meeting expected standards (Florida Department of Education School Accountability Report, 2007)
Private programs are also inaccessible. And homeschooled students, of which there are over 3000 in Hillsborough county alone, have even fewer science and technology options available to them at the high school level. In short: There are no local robotics clubs or programs in Odessa; there are no local school-based options for affordable higher level computer and science classes or groups, and therefore, there are no accessible technology programs or activities for high schoolers in our community.
What FIRST Tech Challenge Team 2845 Brings to Our Community
FIRST, which stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”, is a robotics competition founded by inventor Dean Kamen. The goal of the FIRSTTM program is to give students interesting, applicable hands-on experience working with educators, scientists and engineers in way that makes science and technology as exciting, inspiring and rousing as sports competitions.
Supporting Team 2845 offers many benefits to the community it represents:
- By helping defray team costs, more students are encouraged to be part of the team without incurring additional expenses to already cash-strapped families;
- Community youth will have an opportunity to learn science, math and technology skills and information not available to most of them in their local schools;
- Youth will not only learn engineering and design skills, but will also develop leadership, business, public speaking, coaching, and communication skills.
- Youth participating in FIRST Tech Challenge programs become eligible for college scholarships, and, most important,
- Youth will be exposed to myriad opportunities for education and careers that might otherwise remain hidden from them.
Additionally, supporting a community based team will enable us to establish ourselves more permanently, and allow us to concentrate on generating enthusiasm and interest in community level science, math and robotics that will hopefully inspire the creation of other community based teams in coming years.
Raising a scientifically and technologically literate generation should be of utmost importance in our society at all levels, not just in special public schools or in private schools. Inspiring youth at the community level will bring us closer to Dean Kamen’s transformative vision of “a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.“
Thank you for again for your mentoring or sponsorship consideration. In gratitude for your full support of Team 2845, your company name can appear on our robot, on team t-shirts and prominently on our team website at , as well as in any team press releases.
Sponsorships of FIRST ™ Tech Challenge Robotics Team #2845 are available at the following levels:
Infinite Possibilities (listed on team shirt, full page ad in book, and listed on website & robot) $500+
Pi Donor (listed on team shirts, 1/2 page ad book, website & robot) $314
Duct Tape Hall of Fame(1/2 page patron ad in ad book, listing on website & robot) $100
Duct Tape Hero (1/4 page ad) $50
Duct Tape Friend (1/8 page ad) $25
Just Ducky - (listed in ad book) $______
Kindest regards,
Team Duct Tape
Learning is for Everyone
