The business team is responsible for making sure Team 1259 runs smoothly. The students and mentors on this team accomplish a variety of tasks including coordinating travel, fundraising, sponsorships, raffle tickets, community outreach, and handling the budget. This sub-team is proud of its tradition of training students in public relations, be it calling sponsors or meeting with our local state representative.

Starting in the summer, the business team continues with bi-weekly meetings where the students and mentors communicate the goals of accomplishing a multitude of tasks that progress throughout the school year and the robotics season. They start by creating an initiatives list, focusing on tasks that have early deadlines such as sponsorships, cold calling, and graphic designs for the team.

In order for the students to find sponsorships, they thoroughly research local businesses that could be interested in donating to help the team reach their major goals ( not only winning competitions but expanding the students’ knowledge of engineering). The student account executives then talk directly to the businesses with a one-on-one conversation, communicating what FIRST and what Team 1259 is all about. 

The cold-calling and new sponsorships continue throughout the year to help provide our team new and higher goals that otherwise could not have been met without the sponsorships. With those donations, we configure what the team is able to improve with the building and coding of the robot as well as the access of new opportunities for the students to learn.

Outside the office of Paradigm Shift, the business team annually reaches out to middle schoolers, recruiting new members for Paradigm Shift. Our team also engages elementary students through an “Hour of Code” presentation. This presentation includes the students that are apart of 1259, engaging the younger students about robotics and the future impacts it can hold. The Team 1259 students explain what the team does throughout the year, hoping to gain interest from prospective students that truly want to improve their knowledge of the different engineering fields.