ADMIN - Registration Process
As the "Registration Researcher," you need to:
1) Decide on a registration method.
2) Let people know on the website and through email from the principals of the elementary schools (via the superintendent) when FLL Jr. registration will happen.
3) Register children, collecting the information listed below.
4) Determine how many coaches you have.
5) Determine how many children you can accept based on the requirement of two coaches per team. Remember to SAVE SPOTS for all the children of coaches and the children of the four administrative volunteers.
6) Work with the Karen Bonfiglio of the BOE to set up Rev Track registration to collect payment.
7) Ask the parents of the children in the program to pay through RevTrack to complete their registration.
8) Divide children onto teams with coaches.
9) Email all the coaches and parents a list with their team and contact information.
10) Register all the teams with FIRST, using the money collected through Rev Track.
11) Make sure the equipment is received from FIRST and delivered to the "Equipment Engineer."
1) Decide on a registration method.
2) Let people know on the website and through email from the principals of the elementary schools (via the superintendent) when FLL Jr. registration will happen.
3) Register children, collecting the information listed below.
4) Determine how many coaches you have.
5) Determine how many children you can accept based on the requirement of two coaches per team. Remember to SAVE SPOTS for all the children of coaches and the children of the four administrative volunteers.
6) Work with the Karen Bonfiglio of the BOE to set up Rev Track registration to collect payment.
7) Ask the parents of the children in the program to pay through RevTrack to complete their registration.
8) Divide children onto teams with coaches.
9) Email all the coaches and parents a list with their team and contact information.
10) Register all the teams with FIRST, using the money collected through Rev Track.
11) Make sure the equipment is received from FIRST and delivered to the "Equipment Engineer."
In the past, the superintendent has asked the elementary school principals to email an announcement to the parents in each school that sign up is opening, and to check the G-REC website for details.
The administrator of the program has set up a central way to register participants in two waves:
COACHES
Each team is required to have two adult coaches. These are usually parents of children on that team. The strategy for recruiting volunteer coaches is to guarantee participation in FLL Jr. for all of each coach's children.
1st WAVE
Coach children are first to register. Participants must reside in Glastonbury, they must not attend GEHMS (the magnet school has its own program), and the students must be either 6, 7, 8 or 9 years old by the start of the program. No exceptions, because we always have a waiting list of students in the specified range.The number of coaches you get will determine the number of teams. As of 2017, we have equipment to accommodate 14 teams, requiring 28 coaches.
2nd WAVE
Once you are certain you have the coaches, you can open up registration to fill each of the remaining spots, up to a maximum of 6 children per team. The smallest team size is 2. As of right now, we have had a waiting list each year, so all teams have been 6 children since the program began in 2015, totaling 84 student participants.
Ideally you could collect the required information AND payment at the same time. RevTrack is the current method of payment, and a Google Form is the current method of collecting information. Getting everything at once would be much easier for the organizer, because then you aren't chasing down one or the other. Once people do one, many lag behind bothering to do the second. The first year the program was free due to a grant. The second and third years the fee was $25, plus a $2 fee to pay for RevTrack. In 2016 and 2017, the BOE covered the remaining funds to meet expenses for registration, the Expo and equipment replacement.
INFORMATION TO COLLECT AT SIGN UP
~ Student's name
~ Students's gender, it's not always obvious from the name
~ Student's age
~ Student's grade
~ Student's school
~ Parent's name
~ Student's home address
~ Parent's home phone
~ Parent's cell phone
~ Parent's email address
~ Coach name, if known
~ An emergency contact, different from the parent already listed
~ Emergency contact's phone numbers
~ Have they participated before
~ Concerns or requests, for example should siblings be placed together or apart
The above are suggestions for registration for the G-REC program. Each team also needs to register with FIRST to participate and receive the curriculum materials. There are two options currently available (in 2018) to do this. As administrator, you can purchase a season's pass for 12 teams. You will receive the materials for the 12 teams, and you would then ask two teams to register individually through FIRST. The second option is to have each of the 14 teams register and receive the seasonal materials through FIRST, and not do the season's pass. The advantage with option two is that each of the teams would then be eligible to apply to attend the national Expo and other local Expos. Under the season's pass, 11 of the 12 teams can only participate in an Expo that we put on ourselves.
The FIRST registration process has changes a few times in the past six years, so I am reluctant to provide tips on this website. It would be best to follow the instructions directly on the FIRST website. Each team cannot purchase the season-specific curriculum notebooks and Inspire Set unless the two coaches register the team with FIRST, pay the registration fee to FIRST, and have passed FIRST's background check.
The administrator of the program has set up a central way to register participants in two waves:
COACHES
Each team is required to have two adult coaches. These are usually parents of children on that team. The strategy for recruiting volunteer coaches is to guarantee participation in FLL Jr. for all of each coach's children.
1st WAVE
Coach children are first to register. Participants must reside in Glastonbury, they must not attend GEHMS (the magnet school has its own program), and the students must be either 6, 7, 8 or 9 years old by the start of the program. No exceptions, because we always have a waiting list of students in the specified range.The number of coaches you get will determine the number of teams. As of 2017, we have equipment to accommodate 14 teams, requiring 28 coaches.
2nd WAVE
Once you are certain you have the coaches, you can open up registration to fill each of the remaining spots, up to a maximum of 6 children per team. The smallest team size is 2. As of right now, we have had a waiting list each year, so all teams have been 6 children since the program began in 2015, totaling 84 student participants.
Ideally you could collect the required information AND payment at the same time. RevTrack is the current method of payment, and a Google Form is the current method of collecting information. Getting everything at once would be much easier for the organizer, because then you aren't chasing down one or the other. Once people do one, many lag behind bothering to do the second. The first year the program was free due to a grant. The second and third years the fee was $25, plus a $2 fee to pay for RevTrack. In 2016 and 2017, the BOE covered the remaining funds to meet expenses for registration, the Expo and equipment replacement.
INFORMATION TO COLLECT AT SIGN UP
~ Student's name
~ Students's gender, it's not always obvious from the name
~ Student's age
~ Student's grade
~ Student's school
~ Parent's name
~ Student's home address
~ Parent's home phone
~ Parent's cell phone
~ Parent's email address
~ Coach name, if known
~ An emergency contact, different from the parent already listed
~ Emergency contact's phone numbers
~ Have they participated before
~ Concerns or requests, for example should siblings be placed together or apart
The above are suggestions for registration for the G-REC program. Each team also needs to register with FIRST to participate and receive the curriculum materials. There are two options currently available (in 2018) to do this. As administrator, you can purchase a season's pass for 12 teams. You will receive the materials for the 12 teams, and you would then ask two teams to register individually through FIRST. The second option is to have each of the 14 teams register and receive the seasonal materials through FIRST, and not do the season's pass. The advantage with option two is that each of the teams would then be eligible to apply to attend the national Expo and other local Expos. Under the season's pass, 11 of the 12 teams can only participate in an Expo that we put on ourselves.
The FIRST registration process has changes a few times in the past six years, so I am reluctant to provide tips on this website. It would be best to follow the instructions directly on the FIRST website. Each team cannot purchase the season-specific curriculum notebooks and Inspire Set unless the two coaches register the team with FIRST, pay the registration fee to FIRST, and have passed FIRST's background check.
