How much money is needed to fund a TARC team?
There are several answers to this question. The #1 answer is: it depends.
First, you need the entry fee. It was $105 per team this year - that may go up a bit next year. We take care of the fee by requiring each member of the team to "buy in" with a $25 contribution. This year, both of our teams had only 3 members so we had to dip into the reserves to come up with the rest. Previously, larger teams self-funded the entry fee, with sometimes a little left over (that's where the reserve came from!).
Then, there are three phases of contest flying that you need to worry about:
1. Training - getting everyone up to a certain skill level - Unless you've got a bunch of already experienced kids, you need to plan to get everyone up to some level of expertise with flying rockets. We've started our newbies out with smaller rockets flying A's and B's, letting them get some experience in construction and flying. Then, moving on to the Quest Courier, they learn to fly an egg and not break it, usually on C's and D's. Most of these rockets we already have from my engineering classes - we bought extras. But, if you're buying things from scratch, figure $25-$45 on this phase. Then we start work on the real rocket... Don't forget to budget for RockSim, if you don't already have it available - we had purchased a site license for my lab, so that was already in place.
2. Pre-Qualification design and flights - In years past, 3" tubes, balsa or light plywood CR's, etc. This year, our guys modified Couriers and created their own designs. Figure $25-$50 for parts, maybe a little more - but then you need to fly, fly, fly. We ask that our teams budget for at least 20 practice flights... and up to this year that's worked well for us (we're not having as much success this year, for a variety of reasons). Each flight cost $15-18, so you can figure a couple of hundred dollars.
3. We're going to Manassas - if you get into the finals, you need a backup rocket in case something happens to yours on the pad or it's not recoverable - and you need to fly, fly, fly some more. Each time we've gotten into the finals, we've spent another $200 building the backup and flying more practice runs before the finals. Of course, you're looking at expenses for the trip... air fare, hotel, trips into Washington DC and the area. We usually go for a four day trip (leave Friday, return Tuesday evening - gives us a couple of days to play sightsee'ers.
My goal is to get a team together next year and need to submit a proposal.
Does anyone have an actual proposal they submitted to their principal they would be willing to share?
My principal didn't require a formal proposal - we just sat down over lunch (before school started) and I explained to him what I wanted to do, and assured him that it wasn't going to be dangerous, immoral, or illegal (that principal was pretty liberal on the school activities that he'd approve), so I can't help you with the proposal. If I had to do one, I'd emphasize a few things:
1. the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) properties of the contest
2. the opportunities for kids to learn teamwork and leadership
3. the opportunities for student/mentor relationships that might blossom into other possibilities (remember, I'm a CATE teacher, and we're always looking for community partnerships)
4. the prize money ($60,000 total - and it all goes to the kids as cash, not gift certificates or scholarships)
5. the scholarships
6 the trip to the Paris or Farnsborough Air Show, whichever one is on tap for next year (if you start next school year, it'd be the Paris Air Show).
I'll be glad to help you get it organized, though truthfully, it pretty well organizes itself as you go along.
We can talk at the DARS meeting this weekend, or at Frisco if you're coming then.
Wayne