Alan Anderson, Team #45 - WFF!

[Foster]

This was kind of buried over in the 2015 WFF winners list.

Wait, Alan wasn't a WFF?
At last, a great wrong in the universe has been righted.

Congratulations Alan.

Yay Alan. But I share Don's confusion, I thought you were a WFF from a long time ago. Your posts here have been great for me, as I'm sure they have been for others.

Congrats on winning THIS YEAR!!

[steinra]

Congratulations!!!!

Well deserved and I appreciate everything you have been able to provide to FIRST over the years.

Randy

[Taylor]

Every year, there is a "how in the world is that person not already WFF?"
This year, that distinction belongs to Alan Anderson.

[Libby K]

Every year, there is a "how in the world is that person not already WFF?"
This year, that distinction belongs to Alan Anderson.

^^ So true. I was surprised to learn he was not already on the list!

Congratulations, Alan :)

[Wetzel]

Qapla'!

[DonRotolo]

OK, so it just goes to show you: If folks at the level of Alan are just now getting recognized...

[ratdude747]

OK, so it just goes to show you: If folks at the level of Alan are just now getting recognized...

I think part of it is that a lot of programs have so many excellent mentors and only one per year can be nominated. There are plenty of WFF's out there that sadly will not be WFA's simply because their teams instead choose to recognize somebody else who needs the recondition (Karthik comes to mind). In the case of 45, I know they have a few WFFA's still involved including Alan.

On a side note, this is why I think FIRST should tweak the rules to allow teams with WFF's as mentors to be able to both nominate any of thier WFF's for WF directly and also nominate a mentor for WFF, as if we truly mean WF's to be model mentors and not just model mentors who were unsung (which in many cases is not the case with whom wins it).

Then again, there are so many who are worthy that with one awarded per year, there will always be those who never see it despite being worthy. Ironically, this is what makes FIRST so awesome, that we have so many good awesome mentors, that they continue to be awesome, WF(F) or not.

PS- Congrats Alan, you earned it.

[Canon reeves]

Congrats! Very well deserved. His help at the Arkansas Regional last year was phenomenal, he worked tremendously to help find the problems in our robot and solve them!

[Joe G.]

I think part of it is that a lot of programs have so many excellent mentors and only one per year can be nominated. There are plenty of WFF's out there that sadly will not be WFA's simply because their teams instead choose to recognize somebody else who needs the recondition (Karthik comes to mind). In the case of 45, I know they have a few WFFA's still involved including Alan.

On a side note, this is why I think FIRST should tweak the rules to allow teams with WFF's as mentors to be able to both nominate any of thier WFF's for WF directly and also nominate a mentor for WFF, as if we truly mean WF's to be model mentors and not just model mentors who were unsung (which in many cases is not the case with whom wins it).

Then again, there are so many who are worthy that with one awarded per year, there will always be those who never see it despite being worthy. Ironically, this is what makes FIRST so awesome, that we have so many good awesome mentors, that they continue to be awesome, WF(F) or not.

PS- Congrats Alan, you earned it.

This is how the award currently works. A previous WFFA winners can be nominated for the Championship event in addition to a new mentor for the WFFA

6.8.1 Eligibility

Each year, students may submit an essay nominating one mentor from their team to be considered for this award. FIRST will recognize
one adult mentor at each Regional or District Championship to receive the WFFA. If a team already has a mentor who has received the
WFFA in a prior year, then that team may re-submit that mentor in the current year in addition to nominating a mentor for the WFFA if they
wish. The current year WFFA recipients, along with those mentors who received a WFFA in a prior year and have been re-nominated, will
be judged to receive the WFA at the FIRST Championship.

Rather than a flaw in the rules, the fact that such deserving mentors are only now receiving recognition is a testament to the incredible dedication of numerous mentors throughout FIRST. The judges who determine the WFFA and WFA winners have an incredibly tough job.