About Team Driven 1730

Based in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Team 1730 began in the fall of 2005 as a nameless organization. Lee’s Summit High School‘s physics teacher, Jim Nazworthy, hosted a meeting for a small group of students to come and see what a FIRST program had to offer. The results of this meeting sparked a team that would go on to build numerous award-winning robots and changed the lives of hundreds of students in our community.

The challenges of being a rookie team in the  FIRST world made robotics seem nearly impossible. Inspired by the energy they saw within each other, the groups of students would meet for hours at a time trying develop an identity. One night, after many discussions and arguments, an onlooker walked by and remarked, “What’s the matter with you guys? You’re obsessed, you’re compulsive, it’s like you’re driven!” The name stuck: “Driven.” It was a quality they admired in each other, and something they wanted the team to be known for. The name is not merely just a title, it is a creed that all Team Driven members live by.

The most important component of Team Driven has always been the sense of family that its members develop. During the build season, students spend up to 40 hours a week at the build site. During this time students, parents, mentors, younger siblings, and even students from other FIRST teams come together to brainstorm, experiment, and learn from one another. The members of that first team established Team Driven’s official creed: “Driven to Succeed.” This legacy lives on in the current students of Team Driven, as well as all of the lives that they have touched.

This Year’s Team Goals

  • Win a Regional Competition
  • Win Chairman’s Award
  • Finalist in Division at World Championship

Faculty Advisers

  • Wyatt Durgan
  • Rex Brown
  • Bob Crance
  • David Swed

Sub-Teams

  • Build
  • CAD
  • Chairman’s
  • Communications
  • Electronics
  • Logistics
  • Newsletter
  • Presentation
  • Programming
  • Video / Animation
  • Website

Statistics

  • Build season duration: 6 weeks
  • Students: approx. 40+
  • Mentors: approx. 15
  • Average Annual Operating Cost: $65,000
  • Average Travel Cost: $25,000