Dakota Ridge High School's FRC team has competed at the Denver Regional
every year since the 2006 season.
Technology Education teacher Bill Schmidt recognized the value that FIRST would bring to his students when he formed the team in 2005. The things students can learn from FIRST just don't fit well into a high school class schedule. As a co-curricular activity, run after school and on weekends, FIRST complements the learning students get in class with hands-on opportunities to learn real-world skills. FRC robots are powers by 12 volts marine batteries, which makes their electrical systems very similar to that in cars. At 120+ pounds, FRC robots are big and powerful enough that safety has to be considered during design, fabrication, and testing. Each robot typically contains over $4000 dollar of parts and materials causing robot design to consider cost, availability, manufacturability, maintainability. These are concepts that just don't come into play in the typical high school engineering or robotics course which typically are using toy robot kits to teach basic mechanics and programming. For any teacher forming or continuing a team, FRC involves a lot of extra hours after school. Our school district does not financially support school robotics teams but they have add mechanism for paying teachers to coach them. Many high schools find FRC to be too expensive and too much of a time commitment, DRHS has keep our team active for nearly 20 years.
Team Purpose
To provide DRHS engineering students with the amazing educational experience of FIRST Robotics.
FRC is the best simulation of a real world engineering project available to high school students. This experience is an excellent complement to our school's Engineering Program. FRC provides students with experience, knowledge, and skills that prepare them for whatever STEM career they choose. By making engineering exciting, FIRST hope to encourage more children to accept the challenge of working towards and achieving a successful and rewarding technical career.
A. 40 Student Members
B. 10 Mentors
C. 6 Corporate Sponsors
D. $20,000 Annual Budget
E. 4 Robotics Teams Mentored
A. We will always attend our local Colorado Regional Competition.
(We consider this to be a minimum requirement)
B. The second regional competition will be farther away
(This will require more planning)
C. Contingencies planned for attending World Championship.
(This will require an additional $15,000)
A. Develop strategies and designs to rank 20th or above.
B. Communicate well with other teams during build season.
Prepared for to talk with other team at the competition.
Practice Gracious Professionalism (Other teams will know)
B. Know the criteria for awards presented at competition.
Prepare to be able to demonstrate excellence in at least on award.
C. Make an Inspiration Award submission each year. (2024 achieved)
Use that knowledge & experience to expand our outreach efforts.
Student Sign-Up - Complete this form to show interest in joining the team.
Donations - To generate more commitment from families and to cover cost of team meals, transportation, t-shirts, team awards & certificates, banquet, etc.
Suggested amount per family $100.00 (Link to School Donation Page)
Donations up to $499 are accepted on the district's website.
Instructions: Click on this Link
Select: "Donate" - Donate to School or Program
Select: Dakota Ridge High from the pull-down list
Find: "Robotics" and enter donation amount in the right column
Select: "View Cart" and "Proceed to Checkout"
To scroll through our website, use the "Next" button at the bottom of each page. You can also use the pull-down menu on the right or the quick links at the top of each page to jump to the information you need.