Gearing up to submit your #TeamREV Application for the new season? Hear about what it's like to be part of our Sponsorship Program from FRC Team #27: Team RUSH!

Tell us a little bit about your team’s background.

Team RUSH is a FIRST Hall of Fame team 27+ years in the making! From Clarkston, Michigan, our mission statement is “To create leaders who inspire people to value STEM”. We accomplish our mission by building leaders, impacting our community, and promoting sustainability across FIRST globally. Our journey shapes our mission and changes the way we live.

Established in 1997, we started as a small team sponsored by a single sponsor, but quickly learned to diversify our portfolio with more sponsors. This led to the creation of the RUSH Regatta, our annual fundraising and community outreach event with 161 unique sponsors this past year. 

We have competed every season since our start, from 1997-2024 so far. With 1 FIRST Championship, 4 State Championships, and several district and regional wins, Team RUSH holds a competitive grasp on Michigan robotics. Paired with our extensive community outreach efforts, Team RUSH is a proud fixture in the community of Clarkston, Michigan. From the awards we earn to the community events we run, RUSH runs in the blood of Clarkston! 

Our team of 32 students, 15+ mentors, 1 coach, and a supporting group of alumni, parents, and supporters passionately see that STEM is integrated in our education system, across our local and global communities through our global outreach system, and much more!

What are a few achievements your team was proud of this past season?

• We found great success during our 2024 Season, with 4 more tournament wins under our belt. We attended and won the Finger Lakes Regional and the Michigan State Championships this year, and had a strong performance in the Daly division of FIRST championship, with our alliance placing third.
• We impacted over 750 kids as the next generation of engineers, designers, programmers, artists, and more through mentoring FLL Challenge, Explore, and FTC programs and STEAM camps in the Clarkston community. 100% of Team RUSH students mentored one of these programs, assisting the growth of the next generation of STEAM enthusiasts!
• Our Toolkit for Success is under construction again! This season we have continued work on 2 new chapters: Summer Camps and Helpful Technologies. Over the past 27 years, we have had 1,026 teams across 45 states and 13 countries download this incredible document to blueprint their FRC team toward sustainable success!
• Our RUSH Regatta in the summer of 2023 brought in over $61,000 from the fundraising efforts of our students! They learned to cold-call sponsors, talk to friends and family, and bring in a huge portion of the financial backing we need to compete in the 2024 season. The Regatta is more than just raising money, it's about allowing our team to offer more opportunities to students becoming leaders and impacting our community one summer camp or FLL student at a time. While our 2024 RUSH Regatta hasn’t taken place yet, we’ve taken the opportunity to spread our trainings to other teams in this regatta season, using zoom to help train others in how to cold call sponsors and build cardboard boats. 
• As of July 14th, 2024, we have exceeded our fundraising amount from last year, and are continuing to fundraise for our team, finally returning to pre-COVID levels of funding!
• Another annual event we run in Clarkston Michigan is the Holiday Lights Parade. This is where Team RUSH organizes a group of 32 entries, made up of floats, walking groups, and bikes from community groups, boy & girl scout troops, and more! This year, participants descended on downtown Clarkston, all decked-out with the theme of "Snowglobe Spectacular". The parade was a hit, with the highest attendance we've ever seen, over 4,000! The Holiday Lights Parade is a way for us to showcase to our community that STEM is for everyone!
• We’ve had a blast this past season, and are continuing the fun with more off-season events this summer, including Big Bang 2024, at which we placed 5th with our competition robot and 3rd with our practice robot. We were able to train a new group of 8 student drive team members between both robots!

What was your favorite part about being a member of #TeamREV these past two seasons?

Team RUSH mentors and students have enjoyed access to industry leading mechanical and electrical components; allowing for our best performance on the field at the competitions. Our partnership with REV allows Team RUSH to maintain a competitive edge in Michigan and across the country as we travel. 

The living/breathing community of both Team REV participants, as well as the REV Robotics staff, interacting with our teams and bonding over our common sponsor across social media, seeing #TeamREV logos on other robots at competitions, and communicating with REV staff about the program have been highlights of our time with REV.

Team RUSH wishes the best of luck to all FRC teams competing in the 2025 REEFSCAPE season! Learn more by visiting our following socials, and thanks again #TeamREV!

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• TikTok
• YouTube

Don't forget: #TeamREV applications for the 2024-25 season are open through September 17, 2024! Submit your application today: https://www.revrobotics.com/team-sponsorship/