About Team Driven #1730

         Based out of Lee's Summit, Missouri, Team 1730 began in the fall of 2005 as an undistinguished, nameless organization. Lee’s Summit High School physics teacher, Jim Nazworthy, hosted a meeting for a small group of students he had convinced to come and see what the FIRST program had to offer. This meeting sparked a team that would go on to build numerous award winning robots and change the lives of hundreds of high school students.
        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, a group of students sat down for hours at a time trying to 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 the 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 it’s 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 the rookie team created the mission statement “Driven to Succeed”  This legacy lives on in the students of Team Driven, and all of the lives that they have touched.

The members of Team Driven during its rookie year

Check out Team Driven's build site here.

Awards and Accomplishments

2006

Denver Regional
-Rookie All-Star Award
-Best Website Award

Atlanta-World Championship
-Highest Ranked Rookie Team

2007

Boilermaker Regional
-Regional Champions
-Automation Innovation in Control Award

2008

Greater Kansas City Regional
-Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award
-Regional Woodie Flowers Award-Rex Brown

Wisconsin Regional
-Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award

2009

Greater Kansas City Regional
-Regional Engineering Inspiration Award

Palmetto Regional
-Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award

2010

Greater Kansas City Regional
-Engineering Inspiration Award
-FIRST Dean’s List Finalist Award - Paul Sites
-Excellence in Design Award sponsored by Autodesk

Boilermaker Regional
-Entrepreneurship Award sponsored by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Background

-Founded: Fall of 2005
-Base Site: Lee's Summit High School
-Build Site: R&D Tool and Engineering
-Faculty Advisors: Jim Nazworthy, Bob Crance, and Rex Brown

Teams

-Build
-CAD
-Animation
-Public Relations
-Fundraising
-Chairman's Award
-Website
-Graphic Design

Figures

-Build season duration: 6 weeks
-Students: approx. 40
-Mentors: approx. 30
-Estimated Annual operating cost: $75,000
-Estimated travel cost: $40,000
-Average hours per student in build season: 180
-Average hours per mentors in build season: 150