YAC 2013 Application

Want to get involved and help make Botball better? You might want to join the 2013 Botball Youth Advisory Council!

Our projects have included the Botball Community website, the Botball Twitter and Facebook pages, better documentation for new Botball teams, the Live-Blog Challenge, Botball Live, video compilations of Botball events, interacting with the media, legislators, and industry to promote Botball, assisting KIPR with planning expansion and promotion of Botball, design and management of GCER student activities, and many other projects. You choose which projects you want to help with based on your skill set and interest set (contrary to popular myth, you actually don't have to be a crazy-awesome programmer or a crazy-awesome engineer). And we're always looking for new projects to undertake -- so bring your ideas, because if it makes Botball and GCER better, there's a good chance we're up for it!

One of our major projects (Botball Live) was featured as the top story on the front page of the NASA Robotics website in July 2011, and our members have been hired by such prestigious entities as Microsoft and the Pentagon, so YAC definitely looks good on a resume. It's also a great opportunity (though certainly not required) to learn new skills, including in the areas of programming, video production, public relations, website management, social media, journalism, and of course leadership.

The 2013 Application is attached to this post.

Each applicant must have participated in Botball for at least 1 full year. Also, each candidate may not be younger than 8th grade or older than a senior in college; anybody older is encouraged to join KIPR Open, however. Each candidate's application must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation by a current or former Botball team mentor, and the application must be emailed to botballyac@gmail.com by that mentor. The deadline for both the application and mentor recommendation is 11:59PM Hawaii Time, January 4, 2013 (4:59AM Eastern Time, January 5, 2013).

All applications will be read blindly to ensure fairness, and will be judged by all current YAC members.

Current YAC members are welcome to return for the 2013 season without filling out the application; contact Abdullah or Jeremy.

We hope to have all regions adequately represented in the YAC in the 2013 term; ideally we would like to have at least 2 members from each region, including international (however, we will not disqualify you just because too many applicants were from your region). We therefore encourage members of all regions to apply!

Everyone who is interested in YAC is welcome to apply; in particular we are hoping for additional applicants in the following areas:

• 8th graders in any region.
• High school or college students in the Arizona, Austria, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Greater Chicago, Greater Los Angeles, Greater San Diego, Greater St. Louis, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York / New Jersey, Northern California, Qatar, or Texas regions (or who are near enough to those regions to travel to those regional tournaments as YAC representatives).
• Bonus points for anyone with experience in any of these technologies (but this is definitely not a requirement): iOS, Android, Blackberry, PC hardware, Linux, Wi-Fi, Cygwin, VNC, Bash, HTML5, SVG, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, video editing/production, AviSynth, ffmpeg or VLC, live video streaming, IRC bots, PHP, Drupal, VoIP, Bitcoin, Namecoin, Diaspora, or Friendica.

But, even if none of the above apply to you, we still want you! All serious Botballers who meet the eligibility requirements should consider applying.

Good luck, and we look forward to working with you on the 2013 YAC!

-Jeremy Rand
Vice-President of Communications, Botball Youth Advisory Council