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About Team 1403

Our township of Montgomery is a group of six, small hamlets: Skillman, Belle Mead, Blawenburg, Harlingen, Dutchtown and Zion. It was and still is majorly an agricultural community. Regardless of the lack of a town center or other amenities experienced by other teams, Team 1403 is dedicated to inspiring more students to discover FIRST. In order to promote science and technology to younger generations of students and succeed in this goal, we conduct a number of events in our community and communities surrounding ours such as Princeton.

Currently, we are a thriving team with over 60 students and a substantial budget from generous sponsors. Our team has learned to work effectively and efficiently throughout the years. Within the classroom we have created a picture board which can be used to identify every member on the team and create a tighter knit environment. Also, the team meets 6 to 7 days a week and each week, every sub-team captain announces their goals and progress during a Saturday team meeting keeping the whole team in sync. To further this awareness, we have developed a daily log to track our accomplishments through build season. Each sub-team writes down their weekly goals onto a large post-it that is kept in the classroom, keeping them motivated and on task. Team members make great efforts to financially support the team through different fundraisers.

Team 1403 is also very dedicated to educating the new members of the team, always allowing them to get hands on experience before build season begins. Sub-team captains meet with their team one or two times a week during off-season to teach their members about the ideals of FIRST as well as the multitude of skills that they will require during build season. Our team has greatly transformed in this aspect since 2004. Previously, the robot was mostly built by engineers, but now, our team’s dedication to educating the members has created an environment where the students have the skills to build and design the robot themselves. Our friendly and cooperative attitude has built a strong and motivated team that is focused on its goals which includes introducing FIRST to new members coming to the team.

Additionally, Team 1403 is led by very dedicated mentors who have committed many hours of their time and effort to help us learn and succeed. We have expressed our appreciation for their immense efforts in the ultimate thank you. Our team advisor, Mr. Tim Leicht, won the Woodie Flowers Award at the New Jersey Regional in 2007.

Team Goals

Provide a strong role model for the community, fellow peers, and tomorrow’s generation. Our main goal is to spread the word of FIRST to as large a population as we can.

Team Strengths

We effectively communicate with each other using web forums, in-class daily logs, & weekly team meetings. Our team interacts well with the community via outreach events such as Fall Festival.

Most Significant Challenge Overcome

We spread the message of FIRST to more girls by increasing the amount of girls on our team; we went from 2 to 11 in 3 years. All the girls that have graduated after having been on the team, have pursued a career in science and technology.

Robot and Game Strategy

Immediately after kickoff, we hold a team meeting where every student can contribute ideas on how to play the game and brainstorm robot ideas. We also use Autodesk inventor to design the robot and later create a prototype.

Goal This Year

The Chairman’s Award is the FIRST Robotics Competition’s most prestigious award. The award honors the team that best represents a model for other FRC teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The Chairman’s Award helps keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology.

We feel we stand an excellent chance of winning the Chairman's Award this year. Some key assets:

Inspiring Our Community through the
Mission, Vision & Values of FIRST

• Inspiring future generations by Mentoring FLL Teams 897 & 8332 and the Science Olympiad team
• Supporting other teams at Regional Events by lending help and tools
• Participating in Community Outreach - Montgomery Fall Festival/Community Day, Scout presentations, Rotary Club, Board of Education meetings broadcast on local TV, Princeton Downtown Event, Somerset Patriot's Baseball Game
• Volunteering in the Community – Relay For Life, Operation Jersey Cares, Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts, Rockbrook School and more
• Volunteering/Participating at other FIRST Competitions- FLL State Championships Brunswick Eruption, Ramp Riot, Monty Madness and more
• Ambassador Program to inspire more students to join FIRST
• Helping Rookie Team 3186 in Ohio get started by Cougar alum

Outstanding Communication and Teamwork

• Successful leadership structure: Mentors to Team Captains to Sub-Team Captains to Team Members
• Award winning website to share information with general public
• Forum on website used to update team participants
• Meetings 6 days a week Monday to Saturday
• Executive board starts all Saturday meetings by updating team
• Daily Log to keep team on the task and record our progress
• Mentors email both students and parents regarding team activities
• Team captains update team members weekly through blast emails
• Team Training Camp in the summer to learn about engineering principles taught by team alumni