Team 1257 FRC Worlds Fundraising

My name is Rohan Mallya, vice president of FRC Team 1257 Parallel Universe, my high school's (Union County Vocational-Technical Schools, New Jersey) robotics team. My team participates in the annual FIRST Robotics Competition, which is an amazing combination of robotics and sporting. For more information about what this is, you can check the website: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc

Here's the team's website to learn more about our team:
http://team1257.org/

Being on the team has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Not only have I learned various computer and engineering skills, but I've also gained experiences in business, teamwork, and communication. Being on the team has provided many real-life experiences; for example, the team must acquire its own funds through fundraising and getting sponsors.

When I first joined the team, it was much smaller and less active. However, during my four years on it, it has met great competitive success and has been growing in size and productivity. For example, we've recently started conducting STEM outreach events to help spread interest in STEM education. At many of our competitions in the past few years, we've made it to the playoffs, made it to the finals, or even won.

This year has been one of the best years yet. We won our first competition at the Mt. Olive district competition and made it to the finals at the Bridgewater-Raritan district competition. Achievements at each competition earn you district points, and we accumulated enough points that we were invited to the MAR Regional Championships (4/14/16 - 4/16/16). There, though there was some tough competition, we actually won. Because of this amazing acheivement, we are invited to attend the FRC World Championship (4/27/16 - 4/30/16). However, with this success and growth, the costs of maintaining and running the team have been rising, most notably in transportation costs. 
 
While our school is able to provide busing to competitions close to us, transportation to St. Louis for the World Championships is much more expensive. The cost of travel and lodging for the event is a barrier to participation for many of our team members, especially with less than a month to go before the competition begins. Although our school has given us a lot of support, they can't cover all of the costs for the team to travel such a far distance to St. Louis. We are considering the possibility that students and parents may have to pay full ticket costs in order to attend the World Championships. Many key members on the team will be unable to come if this is the case. 

Both the team and I would be incredibly grateful if you could help us fund transportation to the World Championship. This way, we can continue to inspire my teammates now and in the future and have amazing experiences at the competitions.