Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

I am sorry that your team has this policy. Everyone that comes up for the award has had something to do with the team's success. We have many subteams, all of them valuable to the team and some who never come to the shop. The shop workers allow the animation team the time they need to work so that they don't have to spend time working on the robot. We have an active parent organization and even if we didn't, getting up late to go drive students home or early to get a student to the bus for a trip is still a real effort.

If you wear the shirt, you participate with the team. It's the price you pay for wearing tie dye.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

So now some awards are second class citizens? Yup, great way of encouraging students right there...


Al, I won't tell a student they can't come to a local event. But on 397 our policy was if you participate we cover your costs and excuse you from school. If a student didn't put in the effort during build we just didn't cover their costs to travel or excuse them from school. THOSE are privileges and needed to be earned. This policy was partially based on a student who we DID excuse from school thursday/friday and then never showed up saturday.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

OK Andrew,
Again that is where teams differ. Our students can all attend the Midwest Regional if their grades meet our minimums. However, all students have to do a minimum of fundraising in order to get a shirt. Travel teams are selected on each students level of participation on their subteam, their grade in robot class and their grades in general. To participate in a pit crew or drive team the students have a higher minimum grade expectation and is a valued member of those subteams (mechanical, software, electrical, strategy/scouting, drivers).

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

Behind the sceens every team has a lot of hard working robotics parents. They may not code, or build the bot but they do provide support, meals, rides, trailers, tools, help with funding etc. These are the things that keep the team going. So If a parent wants to acccept the award with the team let them. They have earned it.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

THANK YOU! I could not have said it better. For our team, if our parents did not make dinner for 50+ people every night we would go hungry or hate pizza, if one of our parents did not graciously pull our trailer and haul our stuff around this country we would only show up to competitions with the basics, if we didn't have a few dedicated parents that build our practice field in full each year, our drive team would just have carpet to drive on, and if we didn't have a select few dedicated parents in our rookie year, today we would not have some of the awesome mentors that we do today (I know many of you have mentors that started as interested parents many moons ago, watched their kids graduate, and are still around today (some 17 years later)). Oh, and one more small thing, if we didn't have a few extremely dedicated parents a some 15 years ago that went to every board meeting every month and praised our team, we would either a.) be a non existent FIRST team, or b.) not have what we do today.

While these are only a few examples from my team, I know that from the stories and friendships formed with teams across the country, I know that many will agree that it is our parents and family members that are a HUGE aspect of each team.

ANY AWARD the team may get is a team effort, whether some want to believe that or not. Yes, our website team is two students that code everything, but the content of the website has come from ideas from every person on our team, and I'm sure it's similar for others. Even if it was only two students, the team is going to support them and congratulate them in their win by going up and receiving the award with them. Same for animation, yes we have an active subteam for animation, but it was ideas that stemmed from every student on the team, including manufacturing, that helped our team create the idea for the animation story that they did.

This is a TEAM for a reason, we all put effort into every department, students, mentors, advisors, and parents alike. We are a team, but most importantly we are a family. We support each other through and through and that bond should be celebrated.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

I whole heartedly agree. I mainly meant that as a point towards Akash's few points. That you should show recognition privately to the student of what their TRUE accomplishments are done.

If there's a student that hasn't done much but maybe has been there, listened and done things that they were asked to do. They deserve recognition for being a team member and doing the appropriate things.

I will say that there are some students that clearly deserve more recognition in certain aspects (i.e website, animation) than others for that aspect. I do not believe just showing up and "being" there qualifies you to be a member of the team, and I mean that for students ONLY.

Like Al and Andrew talked about, there are certain expectations that teams have of their members (not to mention their mentors), and if those aren't met they cannot travel. Travelling and going to competition in the team (where the team covers most of your expenses) is a privilege, and without working for that privilege then you will not be able to recieve it.

Also back to Akash, what I meant (stupid phrasing on my part) is not that YOU would say it, but someone else COULD say it, and we both agree that it's not right. Likewise, I would apply that to the website and animation. That the award is given to the TEAM not those two students, hence its a TEAM award, and within the TEAM not only is it the responsibility of mentors to recognize the student(s) that were a big part of that award but also for the team to recognize its own members. You can even extend this to Chairman's or the Robot Awards, that the Chairman's presenters/essay writers are the actual people that PHYSICALLY did the work for that award, and the drive team and "building" teaams are the one that got the robot to win BUT it's a TEAM award, and we should within the team recognize these people and their PHYSICAL contribution to the award.

To further clarify in like a sentence or two. Publicly its a TEAM award, privately it is still a TEAM award. But Privately ONLY privately it is (I believe) a duty of mentors to make sure that the students that put in a lot of work (and this could be all 30 students on the team, or in our team's case all 20 students that actually worked on the bot) get recognition for the work that they did. And furthermore, all students that did work should be recognized, and encouraged, IF they did contribute to the team IN ANY WAY.

(Thanks Akash!!!!)

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

Indeed!
Just heard that the abstract I submitted for the Championship conferences was accepted. It is on omnidirectional gear ratios.
Just kidding. It's on "RoboParents: Parental Involvement in FIRST". Nothing earth shattering to those who have been involved, but I hope to include some stats and useful resources.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

I remember in 2004 our team won the website award, and we were so shocked and surprised, the girl who worked on the website ran up and took the award, and no one else from the team went up...

In retrospect, winning that award was the only thing our team had to be proud of at that event. Does anyone recall this?



Regardless of who worked on the award, it was still a team effort. Even if it was just providing content about the history, or feeding her copious amounts of caffeine.

But back to the topic at hand. I know we are all a bit tired after FIRST competitions, but I have seen far too many a student sleeping in the stands (I think I'm guilty of this too) The judges spend a lot of time recognizing YOUR 6 weeks of hard work, don't you think they deserve the respect of about 40 minutes of attention?

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

I wanted to add an update. This past weekend my team 4096 competed at the Midwest Regional and I never even really spoke to them about GP and Coopertition, but at every single award or any mention of someone I stood up during Friday and the team followed suit.

On Saturday during Awards ceremony, the students stood up immediately, and I followed suit. They were exhausted after three days and were still dancing, cheering for the winners and clapping. Every single award.

They stood for like 15 minutes straight as 111,71 & 2151 got their finalist awards, and if anyone was there. There was about 80 people for 11, and another 50 or so for 71. So it took a while.

From now on, regardless of whether I stand or not, I know that these students will stand and in fact encourage others to make sure the respect that should be given is given.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

How about not working AT ALL in the pits during any awards?
Any noise you make is readily apparent, and people sitting in certain parts of the stands can see you; if you work in the pits during awards, everyone knows you gave a few minutes of your own time priority over celebrating and supporting other teams.

Sunny - Putting the shoe on the other foot, would you mind if another team was decompressing/brainstorming in the pits while your team wins an award? If not, then I think you're approaching things reasonably, although I must confess, this would bother me.

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

Whenever we collect awards, everyone goes. If you get a shirt or loan one out, you're a team member. We would have starved, walked to competitions, and be stuck with ugly bumpers without our parents, and that's just a start. However, I know that the way we collect awards has a purpose. When we won the Motorola Quality Award in 2009, we made sure the designer of the conveyor (the reason we won) went first. When we were finalists in 2010 and 2012, we let the drive team go down and collect both of the trophies before everyone else. When we won the Coopertition Award in 2011, we let the two people who worked on our minibots go first. Everyone chipped into the team and all should be recognized, but the people who worked the most to get the award get to go down first. Also, our mentors always come down last because they are the group that pushes us all forward (and back to the stands so other teams can collect awards)

Re: Courtesy during awards.
 

I volunteer at the CT Regional as FTAA. We are on our feet every day just like any other regional. I am there for the students & cheer them on during awards. It is their time, not mine. Congrats to all the teams that win. I have also been on the receiving end for awards with my team & am so proud of them to have won the award. If they are at the event, the whole team goes up to get the award, including all those background people who help mentor the team during build season. You can't leave out team members for awards. They might have an emotional connection to the team getting that award.