Joining the RatPack

Welcome! This page will walk you through the steps to officially join the RatPack for the 2025-2026 season.

We have several steps you need to complete to join the team. In total, these forms should take less than 20-30 minutes to complete. We’ve split them up by who should be completing them. If you get stuck on anything, contact us by email and we will do our best to help!

Deadline:

  • Steps 3, 4, and 5 (consent/release, emergency contacts, and medical) are required before you can work in our shop.

  • All other steps are required by our registration deadline of November 2, 2025

Some things you will need to complete registration:

  • Contact information (for both students and parents)

  • Health and insurance information

  • Payment information or check

Returning team members: to ensure that we have up-to-date information, you will need to complete these forms again. Some forms can be reused from last year - see below for details.

Looking for middle school robotics?

RatPack is for students in 9th-12th grade. For students in 6th-8th grade: we work closely with Clague Middle School’s team, the GearCats. For other middle schools, feel free to reach out and we can connect you with their teams.

The GearCats

For Students:

1. Student Registration Form

This helps us get to know you better so that we can match you with subteams and projects that you’re interested in, and make sure we have up-to-date contact information for you. (Also, it helps us make sure you get a team shirt!)

Student Info Form

2. Slack

We use Slack for team communication. You’ll receive an invitation to Slack after filling out the information form above.

For Parents - required ASAP:

Forms in this section need to be completed before you can participate in meetings at Huron.

Returning students: if you completed these forms last year, please complete them again before the registration deadline.

3. Team Consent & Release Form

This form is required before you will be allowed to work in our shop.

You can submit this form by either:

  • turning in a copy at a team meeting

  • emailing a printed+scanned or electronically-completed version to us at 830ratpack@gmail.com. Note: the email needs to come from the adult who completed the form, not the student.

Consent and Release Form (PDF)

4. Emergency Contacts Form

This form is required before you will be allowed to work in our shop.

Emergency Contacts Form

5. Medical Info Form

This form is required before you will be allowed to work in our shop.

You will need health insurance information to complete this form.

Medical Info Form

For Parents - due by the registration deadline:

The steps in this section can wait until you have decided to join the team.

6. Parent Participation Form

We depend on parent help to run our team. This helps us figure out how best to involve everyone.

At least one parent/guardian should fill out this form - ideally two.

Parent Participation Form

We also maintain an email list for parent updates. If you’d like email updates, click the button below to join the list. Please mention your student’s name in the “reason for joining” field to help us keep track of who you are. Note: you will need to be signed into a Google account for this link to work.

Optional: Join the parent email list

7. Register with FIRST

This is the registration process for FIRST, our parent organization. This is required to participate in FIRST competitions.

Who: in most cases, parents need to register their student(s) and complete two consent/release forms. Students 18 or older can complete these steps themselves.

When: by the team registration deadline

Register with FIRST

Important things to note when registering with FIRST:

  • You should join FIRST Robotics Competition Team 830, the RatPack. The button above should do this automatically.

  • Once you have joined the team, there will be a second consent and release form to fill out, specific to FIRST in Michigan. You need to sign both forms. See the last picture in the slideshow below. (FIRST’s PDF instructions only show one form.) This is necessary because we are a Michigan team.

See the screenshots provided below with important parts highlighted in red:

FIRST also has their own set of help pages, if needed:

FIRST Dashboard (Log in here)
FIRST's instructions
FIRST’s Instructions with screenshots (PDF)

8. Team Fee

Our team fee for the full 2025-2026 season is $250, which covers part of our operating costs. If this poses a problem for you, we have scholarships and other alternatives available. Nobody will be denied participation due to their financial situation. To apply for a need-based scholarship, fill out this form or contact us by email. If you have any other questions or concerns about this fee, get in touch with one of the head mentors directly.

The team fee is due by the team registration deadline unless other arrangements are made.

Payment will open by Sept 28. Do not send payment yet. We intend to give everyone at least a few weeks to decide that they want to join the team first. Once payment is open, you will be able to pay online with credit/debit, or in-person with a check. If paying by check, checks should be made out to “RatPack Robotics Team 830”. Contact us by email if you need an alternative (e.g. mailing address).

9. High Five

Wow! That was a lot of forms. That deserves a high five, wouldn't you think?