Announcement

Following much thought and consideration, Team 330 has made the difficult decision to retire following the 2019 season after a strong 20 year history with FIRST. We are coming forward with this news now so that we can go in to 2019 openly, celebrating everything our team has been over the years.

Many of you may wonder what led us to this decision. In reality, this decision has been creeping up on us for a few years now. We’ve faced increasing challenges with recruiting for the past couple of years since the closing of our founding school, Hope Chapel Academy. We were able to recruit students here and there from other academies, but have not been able to maintain sustainable numbers. At the same time, nearly all of our mentors are entering new chapters of their lives and will have little to no availability moving forward. This led us to make this decision at a time when students and mentors who have been with us for years will be able to enjoy this final year together.

Many of you know that we have been sharing workspace with 4201 since the start of 2018, so we want to mention that our decision has nothing to do with sharing space with 4201. They have been the most gracious hosts and have made us feel right at home from the very beginning. It’s been awesome getting to know them better and we look forward to spending our last season under their roof.

To further put minds at ease, the bag and tag rule change coming in 2020 was not a factor in this decision; although, it would have been interesting to experience FRC without bag and tag restrictions! 🙂

Ultimately, no decision is ever easy, but we feel confident that this is simply the right time to retire the team. We will cherish our final regionals in Southern California, and hopefully Champs and IRI, alongside so many teams and volunteers who have become friends throughout the years. It has been an honor and privilege to be a part of the FRC community for so long, and we are looking forward to an awesome final chapter in 2019!