Week Three: Getting The Tools Out

This week has gotten much better. Since the deadlines are approaching soon, I have been able to actually work with the team and use some of the tools to create parts needed for the Baja car. It's been a lot of fun learning how to use all of these industrial machines. The next project that the team will give to the "senior interns" will be the fixture to the steering wheel, so I am very excited.

The deadline for the team's cost report is coming up shortly, so there will be a lot of late nights until that gets done. I am hoping to be able to help them finish it in any way possible and also give some organization tips or simplicity tips since that was one of their weakest aspects going into the competition last year.

As for my ventures in fund raising, I have been finding some struggles. I call a company, and the department that answers tells me to call a different department, so I do that but then that department says the same thing. So it's almost like a never ending chain of department calling for one single company. As for the companies that don't redirect me, they only have offered parts or discounts to their product. I have been having some trouble actually finding companies to donate money to the cause.  The results that I have been getting aren't really what I was hoping for, but I hope that it quickly changes because I am very eager to help out this team with its finances.

I will be continuing my constant phone calls and emails to companies, and I will also be having a meeting with one of the deans of ASU to see if they will be willing to fund the team's transportation to the competition this year so fingers crossed. As far as online fundraising, I haven't been able to start it up since I haven't been able to make time with the team to set it up as a result of the nearby deadlines. I hope to get all the information needed by next week so that I can set it up myself and see how well it can benefit the team. In the upcoming week I plan to use Booster.com as my first online fundraising platform. What Booster does is it allows me to create a shirt and sell it to raise the money. Obviously there will be a small percentage of the profit taken away, but any money earned will help the team a lot. If any one has any concept ideas for a shirt or would like to volunteer and create a custom drawing for the shirt please let me know!! Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated greatly!

We hope to have the Baja car driving by the beginning of Spring Break, so it'll be very interesting seeing the car slowly getting completed.

Week Two: Calling In All Sponsors

Week two is almost over. It has been a slow start, but I recently started contacting some potential sponsors for the Baja Team. I've been working closely with Jason, one of the team leaders, so that I can further learn more about what the team still needs in order to finish building their car.

I just finished talking to Curbell Plastics, and it seems that they will be willing to supply the team with some of the necessary supplies that they were needing. Right now I am working on contacting some dealerships to see if they would be willing to sponsor the team as well. I have not been able to do much progress on the online fundraising because I want to sit down with the team and get their input on what exactly they want to include in order to better promote their team.

It is interesting working with college students. Since they all have different schedules, it is very hard to find time to meet up with them and actually organize all the work that is being done. Hopefully within the following weeks I'll be able to get to know them more and maybe find some organization with everyone so that everything can be more productive. The deadlines for the competition are coming up, so we all need to start working together if we want to be ready by then. 

Week One: Start-up Week

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog!

I'm Jared Briones, a high school senior attending BASIS Chandler. I am currently doing a senior research project (SRP) with the SAE Baja Team at ASU Polytechnic. I will be helping the team out with all the business aspects and fund raising campaigns that go along with their competition. I expect to have an amazing time with them and help them out in any way I can. I am looking forward to working with my advisors, Mr. Woolley and Mr. Contes, and learn a great amount from them as well as the Baja Team.

As of now, my current goal is to look towards online fund raising and researching how effective it is compared to regular person to person fund raising. I have already found a few websites that I can use for this endeavor, but I will still be using local sponsors to help raise money for the team.

After meeting up with the team on Monday, I realized how soon the competition is coming up, so my research project may change depending on how fast the Baja Team advances with their Baja car.

I can't wait to get my project started and work with the team. Stay tuned; lots of exciting things will be happening in the coming weeks!