Congratulations Team 236, Techno-Ticks!

[Dan Petrovic]

Congrats on winning the 2009 Championship Chairman's Award!

[Steven Sigley]

Congratulations!

[tim_reiher]

Congratulations! After seeing you guys win this at CT every year, I knew it couldn't be too long before you took the championship.

This really is a well deserved award for a great team!

[Tottanka]

YEAH! Alright! Congratulations 236, so well deserved, you guys are absolutely amazing, year after year! This team deserves to be in the hall of fame for a long time now!

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

***Doing the Tick dance***

[JohnBoucher]

Congrats.... They deserve it.

[smurfgirl]

Team 236, I am so happy to see that you are this years Chairman's Award winner. This was very well-deserved, and a long time coming. I've only seen a small portion of the amazing things you've done in my short time in FIRST, but even the small amount that I know about blows me away. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart!

-Ellen

[Uberbots]

Hey good job for finally getting it (:
You would think that all the chairman's awards in Connecticut would have been worth about 3 National ones, but unfortunately there is that little rule that prevents that from happening...

oh well.
Congrats!

[Mr MOE]

Welcome to the FIRST Hall of Fame, Ticks!

I had a chance to briefly congratuate some of your team members at the FIRST Wrap Party. Your team has done some amazing things over the past years. Your Chairman's Award recognition is well deserved.

Nice Chairman's video also!

[Chris Fultz]

Congratulations to Team 236 on the Chairmans and Hall of Fame.
Great work in so many areas.

[Shelabot]

Congratulations Team 236! A well deserved victory beyond any doubt. Blue Cheese will hope to see you again in Atlanta again next year!

[falconmaster]

Congrats Techno Ticks! Team 236! Welcome to the Hall of Fame!

[Peter Matteson]

Congrats to the Ticks. We were pulling for you and when we caught the clues in the speech we couldn't hold back our excitement.

[kulisb]

Congrats 236! It has been amazing watching you win Chairman's year after year up here in New England. This award was long overdue and is truly deserved. I'm so glad that you were finally recognized!

[Bomberofdoom]

To Jon Mittleman and his team.

After 5 years of supporting Israel and spreading FIRST in the area, along with all you've done in the states, you guys SIRIOUSLY should have recieved this award way before this year, but I'm still glad that you guys finally won the honor you soo much deserved. You've done beyond what most veteran FRC teams do to spread the word of FIRST and that seems you've gone even further than FIRST's original vision.

Jon, you deserve most of the credit for consistenly coming to Israel to support the Israeli regional, espeacly with the judging which is very important in order for the really good and dedicated teams to receive their rightful award and to bring quality teams to represent Israel in Atlanta.

CONGRATULATIONS JON AND HIS TECHNO TICKS!!!!

*do the tick dance!*

[AcesPease]

I'd like to go double on all that has been said. Super Congratulations to the Techno Ticks!!!

[cruddy4]

Congradulations! You guys did a fantastic job. You really deserved it this year... job well done. :)

[Bob Steele]

Congratulations...

I believe it was prophetic at our team meeting on Friday night when I asked my team to make sure and visit your pit. Team members had asked me what teams that we might try and emulate. My first thought was to send them to you...the efforts you have made for FIRST are incredible and your record in the Connecticut regional is amazing.

Best of luck... you are truly a premier FIRST team

[Jon236]

Thank YOU, fellow FIRSTers! The TechnoTicks are honored to take their place in the Hall of Fame. We have been inspired by all the teams that have come before us. We want to thank all the Connecticut teams for their support of FLL in Connecticut and for the support of Dominion, our sponsor, as well as the teams of Southeastern Connecticut, Colchester (1699), Ledyard (1740), Guilford (2067) and Groton (2168) that help with the Bash at the Beach.

Nir, I also want to thank you for your kind words. Being Judge Advisor in Israel has been the highlight of my life; I have seen with my own eyes how the spirit of FIRST has inspired kids throughout the country to reach into themselves and achieve ever higher goals, whether they are Ethiopian Jews or Israeli Arab women or ordinary (is there such a word?) Israelis.

The TechnoTick's aim is to inspire all FIRST teams to 'do' the Chairman's Award.....I have learned first-hand it is it's own reward.

[OZ_341]

On behalf of Team 341, Miss Daisy, I just wanted to say how proud we are of the Techno-Ticks.
We have been following your team since 2003 when we won Galileo together. We also really enjoyed working with Jon last year to help the Israeli team compete in Atlanta. It was an experience our kids still talk about, to this day. We have attended Bash at the Beach twice and were always impressed with the quality of the event. And finally we have stood together many times outside the Chairman's interview room joking about how many more times we would have to meet there. Well..... your day has finally arrived.

You are a truly deserving team and should enjoy every moment of your recognition.
Best wishes from our entire coaching staff and team.

Al Ostrow
Team 341

[Akash Rastogi]

I thought this happened years ago :rolleyes:

Amazing work in Israel over the years and congratulations on finally entering the Hall of Fame. It is long overdue.

[Stephanie.S]

Thank you so much to everyone for all of the support and kind words to Team 236. I am extremely proud to have been a student member of the Techno Ticks, and that I am able to call myself a 236 Alum. It is true what they say, it's in your blood! My involvement with the team has led me to become an example of how 'FIRST is for life'.

My appreciation goes out to the Ticks, for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the years. I know the team will always take pride in their achievements, and will continue to inspire excellence in others.

[jhaugen]

Hey hey Techno-Ticks!! Way to go!! Congratulations on winning this year's Chairman's Award. All teams who strive to win this very prestigeous award know and understand the effort, dedication, and consistency needed to win.

[JaneYoung]

I've been saving my post for a few days, trying to figure out how I wanted to say congratulations to you guys. It would be very easy for me to say, congratulations, and be done with it but that isn't what I want to say.

I still don't have it all figured out but I have enough of it to try -
Congratulations on this recognition of many years of excellence and hard work. When your team was announced and you began climbing those steps, I started a headcount. You are a good sized team but you are not the size we've become accustomed to seeing win the Chairman's. That gave me a great deal of hope for teams that work hard, struggle, try their best, but deal with the smaller headcount when trying to do everything they want to, and know they need to, in accomplishing the goals of being an FRC team.

The second thing is where you hail from. I've met many people from out your direction (the East Coast) - and if I have learned one thing in the past few years, it is the pride that all the teams take in recognizing each others achievements and in honoring their struggles, out your direction. The award belongs to 236 but I doubt very seriously that your fellow teams will refrain from sharing in the joy, the celebration, and the splendor of this achievement and the light it reflects on the region. I'm happy for your peers and that they will have a year to congratulation you and enjoy this along with you.

The third thing is your blue tick mascot. Mascots are one of my favorite aspects of the FIRST competitions. They give the team a face to recognize and they give the team an opportunity to share its humor and fun. Some mascots are terrific, some mascots are just people walking around in a suit, some mascots can manage to execute a style of fun and cheer, all the while carrying themselves with grace and dignity. I'm still not sure how your mascot managed to do it, but I have to say that I've never smiled so much at a dignified tick in my life.

Congratulations and yay for all of you!

[Jon236]

Thank you Jane for your kind words. Thank you also for recognizing that we are a small team from a small school......and that small teams can accomplish quite a bit! This should be a word of encouragement for other smaller teams....I think a big part of it has been the continuity of our mentors and our alumni in our efforts. At least half of the mentors do not have any kids currently on the team. We've all been infected!

So to all of you from the smaller schools...nuture those mentor relationships and your alum....keep them contributing.....and your 'small' team will be a lot bigger than you thought!

[Katie_UPS]

I am vowing to learn the Tick Dance. :)

[ctartist236]

Thank you all for your kind words! I, like Steph, and proud to be able to carry the Techno Tick banner into the world. I graduated 7 years ago, and I still am amazed by the progress my team has made over the years. They serve as a model for the future, for FIRST.

I look forward to the future accomplishments of the Techno Ticks, as well as all the other FIRST teams I have grown to know and love.

[waialua359]

Congratulations on your award.
I should have personally said it earlier, but we've been busy as heck already fundraising for the 2010 season with our biggest event yet in a couple of weeks.
Your team has given us inspiration the past few years as we are one of the smallest public schools here in Hawaii, in a very rural area. Even many in Honolulu has yet to drive far to our little community.
We look at teams like you folks who inspire us to make a difference in our State, despite our demographics.
I actually had a chance on Friday at CMP to spend quite a bit of time in your pit area talking with a few of the mentors. The best pit I saw this year.
Very very professional.

[pgriswold]

Mike, John and the entire Techno-Tick community,

Team 155 would like to congratulate the Ticks on their much deserved National Chairman's Award. Your team is highly regarded in CT and on the East Coast, always bringing your best to every event. Without your help many CT teams would not realize their own potential, your example fuels many teams in the off season to continue their involvement in FIRST activities. Go TICKS!!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Paul Griswold
The Techno-Nuts