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PROGRAM EXPECTATIONS:

Rule #1: Be a good person and use common sense.

Students

You hold responsibility for your own success, engineering is a game of time and effort!
Treat everyone with respect! You and everyone else signed up for robotics for one reason or another, and that puts you into this community as a whole. Bullying will absolutely not be tolerated.
Remember, you always will have a choice to participate. Be present if you want to be present.
We are okay with you directly contacting us coaches - again, use common sense and keep it relevant.

Club

Any team finance topics MUST be brought up with the coaches.
Students who are dating are not allowed to be on the same team (For obvious reasons…). This is a non-negotiable topic.
We ask you to help all sister teams if they are having an issue. We want success for the entirety of the club, and intentional sabotage is not acceptable whatsoever.
As of the moment, You may NOT change your name at the beginning of the season - as well as your logo or letter. (There are obviously some exceptions, please discuss with coaches)

COACHES & CONTACT INFO:

Head Coaches

Robert Burnett……………...rmburnett5@gmail.com...………320-204-8785

Jacob Wood………………...jwood1224x@gmail.com……….507-382-0838

Assistants/Mentors

Michele Machado

Nico Wood

Aiden Mayer

Zach Asfaw

Program Website *NEW

https://xazzzy0.github.io/9457_Library/

2025-26 Program Handbook

REMIND:

https://www.remind.com/join/mehsvex

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PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

— Open Door Policy —

We will still track general attendance, BUT

Students may come/go as they please during practice hours �and will not affect the attendance criterion for lettering.*

*See detailed section for more information:

*** PLEASE NOTIFY COACHES IF YOU ARE LEAVING/ABSENT ***

Standard Time-slots*

Monday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Tuesday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Wednesday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Captain’s Practice - 3 Members per team!

(Optional)

Thursday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Late & Additional Practices

— Additional practice(s) + time may be hosted based on the head coaches availability —

Soley dependent upon students’ request

Will notify everyone through remind
Students are responsible for transportation.
Often happens the week before tournaments + winter break.
Attendance for this is fully optional! You do not have to attend if you do not want to.

Competition

Compete with professionalism and demonstrate proper sportsmanship.

Coaches will call parents to have you picked up if you cannot abide by this basic rule.

Abide by all Rules - NEVER cheat your way out of a situation.
Parents - Do not yell from the stands, it looks bad on our program and your kids.

Parents

Remember we as coaches are also signing-up and volunteering our own time each season. We want success for all the students and for the program - so we will always push for betterment!
Coaches will do everything to ensure that all students feel welcome and involved. Please reach out to us, if your student feels uninvolved on the team. Do not escalate the issue to the team.
Our focus as coaches is helping all teams during practice. Please note, many of us are also either in college or working a job at other hours. We will do our best to get back to you in a timely fashion.
Parents are not allowed to directly Build/Program/Notebook for the students team.

You may assist - but remember it is a student-centered activity. <G.2> in the Game Manual.

Please note, Coaches may call with questions, or to have your student picked up if they are sick or causing issues.

* The program website will always be kept up-to-date with the season schedule

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LETTERING CRITERION:

Reminder: there is no Varsity/JV teams within Robotics - it’s an even playing ground in that regard.

So that Lettering remains competitive & fair we want to push each team to accomplish these things:

Active Participant (Attended 80% of standard time-slots)�– Students will be tracked for the “Mandatory” time-slots for practice and tournaments on whether they are present. See Section: Practices for more info.

Qualified for State OR Their efforts contributed to the betterment of the program[1].�– Self-Explanatory, any instance is counted.

Team receives an technical award[1] OR Their efforts contributed to the betterment of the program[1].

Volunteered�– Self-Explanatory, Volunteered at any fundraising event.

Unanimous Coaches approval�– This is always marked as “YES” at the beginning of each new season. Only in extremely extremely rare circumstances, resulting from a breach in the the school’s, district’s, and/or student code of conduct, will it ever changed to a “No”. This instance obviously will be taken as a case-by-case basis for the student and we will provide a documented explanation as to why.
NOTE: Criterion changes for active seniors who have participated in 3+ years of MEHS High School Robotics

All of this was in-line with the previous lettering categories, but is now simplified down.

[1] See “Lettering” Section for more detailed info

TOURNAMENT + TRAVEL CONDUCT:

Attendance + Travel

VEX’s permission form must be filled out in order for students to compete. [Refer to SECTION]
If students wish to ride up or back with parents, a release form must be filled out prior-to/at competition.

– This is a non-negotiable, and we retain liability of the student without the document.

Students must be present the past two practices in order to attend competition.

– If there is a documented excuse (sent on the same/prior day pertaining to the absence) - then an exception may be made.

Un-enrolled students, parents, or guardians are not permitted to take the bus.

General

Our Focus is on the students.

– Please do understand it’s always busy for us and we are running around making sure that teams are on top of things. We may have to leave suddenly mid-conversation.

Please keep comments to yourself regarding other teams.

– Yes, it’s a competition and we want our students to do well, but so does everyone else. We ask you and all our students to be mindful and positive for all commentary everywhere at the venue.

Parents may interact with students anytime within the pit area and around competition.

– The only exception where this doesn’t apply is during/directly before matches or judges interviews.� – While this applies, please do be mindful that during the tournament many of them are very busy!

For all VEX rules and game related questions: First refer to the Game Manual and or rules forum.

– Understand every ruling is up to head-ref discretion (Even if they may be incorrect).

Proper Respect and Sportsmanship is expected - Any instance of the opposite to anyone will not be tolerated. <G.1> - for the Game Manual

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VEX Permission Forms

Please fill out and sign a permission form for your student.

It will be good for all the tournaments for this season.

We must have a signed form for students to participate in Robotics.

www.robotevents.com/consent

NOTE: You will need to provide the EXACT team number associated with the student and the type of program and we are VRC. (i.e. 1234A)

Make sure you capitalize the team letter and no spaces!

1) Click on this link www.robotevents.com/consent

2) Click on adult if your student is 18 or older and minor if under 18.

3) Fill out all information.

4) For team information:

-“Team Number and Letter” You will need to provide the EXACT team number associated with the student (i.e. 1234A) Letter must be capitalized!

-Program is * VRC

5) Sign and click “Agree To This Document” (see next page).

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6) This will be sent to the email that you used. You need to click “Confirm Email Address”.

7) If everything went through okay, you will receive this email. Please forward this to me or Rob at jwood3@isd77.org | rburne1@isd77.org

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Apps to Download

We suggest both students and parents download these apps

Remind -

The form of communication for canceled meetings or sudden changes.
Notices will come in the form of a notification and/or text depending on how you set it up

VRC Hub - Has game rules and scoring, for tournaments

VEX Via - Has tournament standings.

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Program Information

General Conduct:

Everyone hates rules and constraints, including us - to minimize our work for enforcement and to fully maximize each student’s creativity we only expect you to follow one primary rule.

Rule #1: Be a good person and use common sense.

EXPECTATIONS FALLING UNDER POLICY THIS INCLUDE:

At the end of practice, the team must return to their shelf all tools and parts that they had out.
Teams are only allowed in Mr. Stahl’s room during their designated after school practice time.
Each team is responsible for breaking down their robot, organizing parts and cleaning up their team shelves after 1 week of their final competition.
All of the club’s tools and equipment must be returned at the end of the season.
If you purchase your own equipment/tools/parts and bring them to practice it is your responsibility to label and keep track of them. Otherwise they will most likely become mixed up with the club's items.
Students must be in school the day of practice to attend (consideration given for doctor and religious reasons.)
Materials can only be cut on machinery by Mr. Stahl or coaches (insurance reasons).
At the conclusion of your season, every team member is expected and required to be a part of the clean up team. This includes dismantling the robot and returning all parts and equipment to its designated space.
All MN State High School League rules and regulations must be followed. (You signed these when you signed up for robotics through the school.)
All team members will sign a paper acknowledging these policies. If not followed, we will ask the member to leave the practice.

Disciplinary Actions

This will be taken on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity of the incident, but in general, this is how infractions will be treated.

1st infraction: Talk to student and email sent to parents.

2nd infraction: Meeting needs to be set up with the student, parents, coaches. Student may be restricted from practice until the meeting can take place.

3rd infraction: Meeting with the athletic director, coaches, parents and student to come up with an action plan.

4th infraction: Meeting with principal, athletic director, coaches, parents, and student.

5th infraction: Suspension/removal from program.

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Program Information

General Conduct:

Students

You hold responsibility for your own success, engineering is a game of time and effort!
Treat everyone with respect! You and everyone else signed up for robotics for one reason or another, and that puts you into this community as a whole. Bullying will absolutely not be tolerated.
Remember, you always will have a choice to participate. Be present if you want to be present.
DRAMA at practices or on social media won’t be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary actions.
There are an abundance of hand-held power tools, machine-shop tools, and electronics at your disposal which can potentially cause permanent disfiguration to you. BE SMART, and If you need assistance using ANYTHING, get it from one of the coaches - that is why we are there.
Dress accordingly. Your team apparel should be worn and visible. Don't wear a team t-shirt under your favorite non team sweatshirt.
We leave for tournaments very early in the morning. This is NO reason to skip a shower or wear your pajamas. Be clean. Use soap and deodorant. Wear clean clothes.
We are okay with you directly contacting us coaches - again, use common sense and keep it relevant.

Club/Teams

Any team finance topics MUST be brought up with the coaches.
Students who are dating are not allowed to be on the same team (For obvious reasons…). This is a non-negotiable topic.

If during the season you start dating a teammate, both students can and will be moved to other teams.

We ask you to help all sister teams if they are having an issue. We want success for the entirety of the club, and intentional sabotage is not acceptable whatsoever.
As of the moment, You may change your name at the beginning of the season - but not your logo or letter. (There are obviously some exceptions, discuss with coaches)

At Competition(s)

Compete with professionalism and demonstrate proper sportsmanship.

Coaches will call parents to have you picked up if you cannot abide by this basic rule.

Abide by all Rules per the Vex Game Manual - NEVER cheat your way out of a situation.

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Program Information

General Conduct:

Parents

Remember we as coaches are also signing-up and volunteering our own time each season. We want success for all the students and for the program - so we will always push for betterment!

Please note, many of us are also either in college or working a job at other hours. We will do our best to get back to you in a timely fashion.

Coaches will do everything to ensure that all students feel welcome and involved. Please reach out to us, if your student feels uninvolved on the team. Do not escalate the issue to the team.
Our focus as coaches is helping all teams during practice & tournaments.
PLEASE NO SIDELINE COACHING FROM PARENTS!! Do not yell from the stands, it looks bad on our program and your kids.
Parents are not allowed to directly Build/Program/Notebook for the students team.

You may assist - but remember it is a student-centered activity. <G.2> in the Game Manual.

Please note, Coaches may call with questions, or to have your student picked up if they are sick or causing issues.
We as coaches reserve the right to ask a student to leave the program if they consistently cause disruptions or are a potential harm to other students (especially under repeated infractions). Please never let a situation arise where this is a possibility.

Communication with Coaches

Talking to Coaches (in person) about issues with teams, team members, or coaching will require the following:

A meeting with the coach(es) must be scheduled in advance.
A meeting with the coaches will not take place within 24 hours of a competition
A Coach will not speak to a parent without the athlete present

If you send us an email during practice the odds are we won’t see it. Please make sure your student knows if they need to leave early or any other pertinent information. If they relay it to us as well - it has to be documented for safety reasons. You can also text us at (320)204-8785 or (507)382-0838 .

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Program Information

PRACTICES:

*NEW*

— Open Door Policy —

We will still track general attendance, BUT

Students may come/go as they please during practice hours �and will not affect the attendance criterion for lettering.*

*This is to offer a chance for students who may be busy also participating in

other sports/activities during the robotics season to still letter. For Absences,

a documented reason must be provided to not be marked as absent.

(an email is sufficient)

This policy pertains to both tournament attendance and mandatory practices

We as coaches are actively involved with all students teams every

practice, so we can tell if a party abuses this policy.

Please do not ruin it for others.

The Lettering criterion will be further discussed in its respective section.

*** PUT SIMPLY: NOTIFY COACHES IF YOU WILL BE LEAVING/ABSENT ***

Standard Time-slots*

Monday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Tuesday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Wednesday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Captain’s Practice - 3 Members per team!

(Optional)

Thursday: 3:45 - 5:30 P.M.

Late & Additional Practices

— Additional practice(s) + time may be hosted based on the head coaches availability —

Soley dependent upon students’ request

Will notify everyone through remind
Often happens the week before tournaments + winter break.
Attendance for this is fully optional! You do not have to attend if you do not want to.

* The program website will always be kept up-to-date with the season schedule

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Program Information

TOURNAMENT + TRAVEL CONDUCT:

Attendance + Travel

VEX’s permission form must be filled out in order for students to compete.
If students wish to ride up or back with parents, a release form must be filled out prior-to/at competition.

– This is a non-negotiable, and we retain liability of the student without the document.

Students must be present the past two practices in order to attend competition.

– If there is a documented excuse (sent on the same/prior day pertaining to the absence) - then an exception may be made.

Un-enrolled students and/or parents are not permitted to take the Bus.

General

Our Focus is on the students.

– Please do understand it’s always busy for us and we are running around making sure that teams are on top of things. We may have to leave suddenly mid-conversation.

Please keep comments to yourself regarding other teams.

– Yes, it’s a competition and we want our students to do well, but so does everyone else. We ask you and all our students to be mindful and positive for all commentary everywhere at the venue.

Parents may interact with students anytime within the pit area and around competition.

For all VEX rules and game related questions: First refer to the Game Manual and or rules forum.

– Understand every ruling is up to head-ref discretion (Even if they may be incorrect).

Proper Respect and Sportsmanship is expected - Any instance of the opposite to anyone will not be tolerated. <G.1> - for the Game Manual

MN State Championship

MARCH 5-7, 2026

A team must win a spot or get an invite during the regular season.
We will stay overnight in St. Cloud during the tournament. If we have any issues with a student not following the rules, we will call a parent to come get them.

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Program Information

TOURNAMENT + TRAVEL CONDUCT:

World’s Championship

April 21-24th, 2026

World’s is very expensive to go to! We won’t take a team if they don’t have an up to date engineering notebook or can’t/won’t do the virtual judge’s interview. The Coaches contract with the school district ends after the MN State Tournament. Participation in any event after the State tournament is not part of the school year season. All club costs associated with participation in the world event are divided equally among the participating team members. 3 years ago it cost each student $1,875 to go to the World’s Championship, and I expect costs to be higher this year. It is up to the teams going to either fundraise, get donors or pay the cost out of pocket. Every parent should probably start saving approximately $2,500 in the event that their student might be on a team with a World’s trip.

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Program Information

LETTERING:

Reminder: there is no Varsity/JV teams within Robotics - it’s an even playing ground in that regard.

So that Lettering remains competitive & fair we want to push each team to accomplish these things:

Active Participant (Attended 80% of standard time-slots)
Students will be tracked for the “Mandatory” time-slots on whether they are present during practice. Attendance will be taken at a random interval during these practice(s).
Open Door Policy - As noted prior - as long as a documented piece of information is provided to the coaches, attendance will not be affected.

Qualified for State OR Their efforts contributed to the betterment of the program[1].
Self-Explanatory, any instance is counted.
[1] This only applies to students who assist with program logistics (eg. parts manager).

Team receives a technical/performance based award[1] OR Their efforts contributed to the betterment of the program[2].
The individual’s effort must have contributed into receiving the award(s).
[1] List of Qualifying awards:� - Semi-finalist, finalists, and championship awards if tournaments award them. � - Robot Skills Champions, Excellence, Design, Innovate, Think, Build, and Amaze.
[2] This only applies to students who assist with program logistics (eg. parts manager).

Volunteered
Self-Explanatory, Volunteered at any fundraising event.

Unanimous Coaches approval
This is always marked as “YES” at the beginning of each new season. Only in extremely extremely rare circumstances, resulting from a breach in the the school’s, district’s, and/or student code of conduct, will it ever changed to a “No”. This instance obviously will be taken as a case-by-case basis for the student and we will provide a documented explanation as to why.

ONLY FOR SENIORS:

Active seniors who have participated in 3+ years of MEHS High School Robotics are not required to accomplish all of these requirements. They only require volunteering and coaches approval.

All of this was in-line with the previous lettering criterion, but is now simplified down.

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REC FOUNDATION CODE OF CONDUCT

Code of Conduct

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation considers the positive, respectful, and ethical conduct of all students, teachers, mentors, parents, and other event attendees an important and essential component of all REC Foundation-sanctioned events.

We expect the following behavior and ethical standards at all REC Foundation sanctioned events:

• Act with integrity, honesty, and reliability

• Behave in a respectful and professional manner with event staff, volunteers, and fellow competitors (NO TALKING BACK OR ARGUING)

• Exhibit maturity and class when dealing with difficult and stressful situations (NO SWEARING)

• Respect individual differences

• Follow all rules as listed in the current game manual(s)

• Student-centered teams with limited adult assistance

• Safety as a top priority

• Good sportsmanship, which includes supporting your alliance partners (CONGRATULATE THE OTHER SIDE AND THANK YOUR ALLIANCE PARTNERS.)

• ABSOLUTLEY NO BRAGGING OR SMACK TALKING.

These expectations apply to all team members and all adults associated with a team including, but not limited to, teachers, mentors and parents. This Code may also apply to behavior outside of REC Foundation-sanctioned events where inappropriate actions are related to an event or participating individuals.

Judges will consider team conduct and ethics when determining awards.

Repeated or egregious violations of the expectations in this Code may result in consequences up to the disqualification of the team or organization from the current event and/or future events, and potentially removal from the program after review by the REC Foundation.

WHAT ANY ONE TEAM OR PERSON DOES REFLECTS ON OUR ENTIRE PROGRAM!

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Social Media

Facebook

Search for @MEHSROBOTICS and like.

Pictures and other goings on will be posted on the page. It is a good way to see what the club is doing.

Instagram

Search for @9457.coaching and like.

Pictures and other goings on will be posted on the page. It is a good way to see what the club is doing.

Student Team Social Media

We highly encourage each student team to take part in social media, it is a fantastic way for them to learn about media outreach, marketing, and how to stay relevant in a constantly adapting competitive STEM environment!

For Students in charge of managing social media:

Keep it fun! The last thing that anyone wants to see is the same exact media over and over.
Same advice as always: everyone will see what you post.

Both within the program and outside.

Keep things proper and professional.

Smack talk is NOT tolerated through messaging and/or Forums.
Absolutely NO derogatory posts of team members or other teams.

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