The Walt Whitman High School Robotics Club Needs Your Help!
http://www.team1389.com | [email protected]
Dear Sir or Madam,
The Walt Whitman High School FIRST Robotics Club is currently seeking your support to help
us prepare for our 7th year of designing and building a robot to compete in the FIRST challenge.
FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology, usfirst.org) was founded by inventor Dean Kamen (also
known for designing the Segway Scooter) in 1989. The mission of
FIRST is to give high school students the opportunity to gain hands‐on
experience with science and technology. These include opportunities in
computer programming, electrical engineering, physics, pneumatics,
and structural engineering. In addition, FIRST lets students apply
knowledge they gain in their school classes to real world applications, gives them experience
working one‐on‐one with professional engineers to solve complex problems, and teaches them
business skills and communications skills.
Walt Whitman’s Robotic Club is named the Body Electric
and is FRC team number #1389. During the competition
season our 40+ students work closely with teachers and
volunteer professionals to conceptualize, design, build,
program, modify and test a 150lb kitchen table sized
robot to participate in a competition that changes each
year. During the 2012-2013 the team was part of a 3team alliance winning second place in the Chesapeake
FIRST Robotics Regional Tournament, competing with
64 teams from a dozen states. Our robot maneuvered
around a playing field, shot Frisbees across a 27'x54' field and climbed onto a pyramid. In
addition to participating in robotics competitions, the team also looks to educate the community
about robotics through demonstrations at area schools and in USA Science and Engineering
Festivals.
Registering for the competition is expensive, and building a robot that can actually move when it
reaches the competition floor is not easy. All teams are charged a $1,500 fee for the kit of parts
and an additional $5,000 fee for each regional event they plan to attend. So, it is with that reality
that we are turning to the community and Leaders such as you to help us get the funding we
need to make this year a success. With your assistance we can:
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Build and compete with our 2014 robot in the MD FIRSTs regionals and World
Championship Competitions
Get the more students interested in science by bringing our robot to community functions
Recruit as many new team members as possible
Build a Montgomery County STEM, robotics lab and science work space
We are asking for your support in whatever form you can offer. While we will gratefully accept
any monetary donations, we are also seeking in-kind donations, such as
machining/manufacturing services, donations of raw building materials or hardware
components, and volunteer help from both engineering and non‐engineering mentors. If you
are interested in assisting us, you can visit our web page for more information
(http://team1389.com/we-need-your-help/) or contact us at [email protected]
Thank you for considering this request. FRC Team 1389 is looking forward to another great
season and we hope to have your support moving forward.
Sincerely,
Dan Chen, Team Coach / Teacher
Jj Biel-Goebel, Team Mentor / Boeing Engineer
The Walt Whitman Robotics Team Media Impact The team is young but its impact on
the local marketplace is increasing. Being a Body Electric Sponsor has a lot of perks.
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Over a 4,000 unique visitors to the site monthly (over 12,000 total per month)
o Over 80,000 page views a month
o Over 500,000 hits per month
Over 30 twitter followers
Over 200 Facebook fans
Over 50 views on our Youtube Channel
Over 70 students and their families
Over 150 t-shirts printed annually
At least 2 major competition events annually
o Chesapeake Regional – over 5,000 participant over 2 days
o DC Regional – over 5,000 participant over 2 days
At least 2 print / online articles annually (Click here to see all of our News & PR items)
At least 1 televised interview annually (Click here to see all of our News & PR items)
The Walt Whitman Robotics Team Sponsorship Levels
Platinum Level Sponsors – $2500+
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Tournaments: Your company recognized during FIRST robotic competitions
Robot: Large logo of business
Banner: Large logo (displayed at events and tournaments)
Team Shirts: Large logo on back of shirts (worn at events and tournaments)
Website: Logo & link on sponsorship page and front page
Team 1389 shirt and thank you plaque
Framed team picture
Invitation to pit at all regional competitions
Team 1389 information presentation to a requested group and/or interactive
demonstration with robot.
Gold Level Sponsors- $1000+
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Robot: Medium logo of business
Banner: Medium logo (displayed at events and tournaments)
Team Shirts: Medium logo on back of shirts (worn at events and tournaments)
Website: Logo & link on sponsorship page
Team 1389 shirt and thank you letter
Invitation to pit at all regional competitions
Team 1389 information presentation to a requested group and/or interactive
demonstration with robot.
Silver Level Sponsors- $500+
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Robot: Small logo of business
Banner: Small logo (displayed at events and tournaments)
Team Shirts: Small logo on back of shirts (worn at events and tournaments)
Website: Logo and link on sponsorship page
Team 1389 shirt and thank you letter
Bronze Level Sponsors- $100+
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Banner: Business card size logo (displayed at events and tournaments)
Team Shirts: Line of text on shirt (worn at events and tournaments)
Website: Logo and link on sponsorship page
Team 1389 shirt and thank you letter
Contributors- $20+
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Banner: Business card size logo (displayed at events and tournaments)
Social media "Shout-out" on Team Facebook page
Thank you letter
To become a sponsor please contact us at [email protected]
We also need materials and tools.