Best experiences in FIRST
 

Recently a thread popped up about people's worst experiences in FIRST. I found this kind of demoralizing as I read all the posts. So why not talk about some of the best times people have had in FIRST?

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Being on Einstien when the confetti comes down.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/35698
Twice for the win as the final pick in the division.
Once for the loss as the first overall pick in the division.

This is only topped by...

The several full ride scholarships won by our students , because frankly I'm more proud of those kids and what they've done than with any of our on field exploits.

For reference this happened right before the photo posted above which is why that was such an amazing experience.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...5&postcount=41

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I'd have to say my favorite robotics experience thus far was Battlecry 2012. Battlecry has 16 alliances in eliminations instead of the standard eight, and we ended up being the 11th seed captain. We picked teams 175 and 716, and proceeded to upset the 6, 3, and 2 seeds on our trip to the finals, where we came up short against the powerhouse 1 seeded alliance (1519, 2168, 125).

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I'm not sure if this qualifies as "best", but certainly most exciting.

Championship 2012, Curie Field, Quarterfinals.
Our first time ever playing in eliminations at the World Championship.
We lost our first match by 2 points. Our alliance regrouped and won the next 2 matches by 1 point each.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Watching my autonomous code allow the robot to score in autonomous for the first time.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

In 2013 we came into the Queen City Regional with a lot of changes to make after the first time building a practice bot for after bag day. Believed we had everything we needed to succeed, including our multi-disc autonomous. Then, everything went terribly wrong between the transition of our withheld shooter and floor pick-up from practice bot to competition bot. After cancelling the plans with no practice matches on Thursday and stripping down to be just a cycle bot, we headed to the hotel thinking we didn't have a good shot at winning.
Friday, we came in got on the practice field to make sure everything was working, and everything seemed to be fine. During the first match everything went horribly wrong when we lost communications after running into an opposing team going to start cycling. We figured it was just from the bump, but it turned out it was larger than that and we were dead our next two matches. After getting it fixed we were doing well, but not what we think we needed to be doing because our shooter wasn't as accurate as it needed to be. We played a few more matches, and then went to our hotel after trying to fix the accuracy problem. We realized that although we were ranked in the bottom half, we had an OPR in the top 5 so we might have a chance.
Saturday, we played our last few matches, and remained in the bottom of the rankings with a high OPR so we figured we might get picked by a team with good scouting. After going through the first 13 picks, it looked like our weekend was going to end, but then we were picked by our friends 379 (who had picked us in 2012) and 1985. We won every single game in eliminations with our only close match coming in game 1 of the finals. This was my team's first regional win in 13 years of existence, although we had been close MANY times, and it showed us that all it takes is being good at one thing, and a lot of luck. Although this weekend looked like it was going to be one of the worst in my FRC career, it ended as the best, and I will never forget it.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

There are so many this is tough to just narrow it down.

As a student on a team I have 2, first one was in 2006 the game was Aim High. We had not build the best robot, the robot we shipped was not at all the best we could do. We got to the Pittsburgh Regional and it was not going well. Our shooter made one ball all morning, and we could not fine tune it. As a team we made a decision to do a rebuild, tear the robot down to the frame, use what we had and make a dumping/ defensive robot. Well long story short, 4 hours later we walked back on the field with a new look. We ended up ranked 9th out of the 30 some teams there. The rebuild was well worth it.

With the same robot we went to the Philadelphia Regional, luck was not on our side. We ended up ranking 39th out of the 42 teams there. The team went to the alliance selections with our heads low, we figured we had zero chances of being picked. Well rounds 2 of the alliance selection started, it got to the number 3 alliance, 291 they had already picked 177, and all of a sudden we here 306. Team whole team was quiet for a few seconds, we could not believe what we had heard. Then we jumped up and cheered, and ran to the pits because the last match of the day we had gone all out and the robot needed repairs. Long story short again, the alliance ended up winning the entire regional and got to go to Nationals, because of the combined power of all 3 teams 291 offense dumping, 177 shooting and defense, and our very powerful defense.

Another experience that is probably my favorite was 2007 Pittsburgh Regional. We went home with 2 awards that year, and one of them was the Woodie Flowers Award.
Andrew Blair and myself, had decided almost last minute to submit Mr Ken Morrison for the award, we had a small team and focused on the robot first then rushed the other awards. When we submitted it, back then students couldn't you had to be logged in under the mentor, so when he left the room we rushed to upload it secretively without him knowing.
Well when they started reading off the award we new instantly we had won, it was all we could do to hold back . I will never forget the look on Ken's face when his name was announced, we knew he was shocked and proud. We also knew from that point on he would never forget our team. The team jumped up and cheered him on, along with our sister teams from Erie pa. The award was 9 years past due for such an amazing mentor. That day is one that I will never forget.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I've only been on the team since 2012, but my personal favorite experience is winning the Regional Chairman's Award at the North Carolina Regional in 2013

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

By far my best experience was winning Chairman's in Oregon in 2013. As soon as the announcer said 'Team 1540,' all of the work that I had put in over the winter suddenly became worth it. It was one of the best experiences of my life so far.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Personally, my best experiences come from seeing/talking with former graduates from the team. Having them talk about their engineering classes, or about the technical internships they got, or about their new engineering jobs is something that completely validates all of the effort I've put in over the past 7 years.

Oh, and seeing one of our students win Dean's List at Lake Superior last year. The impact the award had on her is something I'll probably never forget.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Being the only Israeli team on the championship elimination round. Going to the field with the Israeli flag on my back in something that most of the teams will never understand.
Oh, picking one of my favorite teams (111) at the champs, 3 years after we were their last pick.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I've got two:

First one is also from 2010, back from when I was a freshman. The feeling that you get from walking through the tunnel in Atlanta for the first time and into the Georgia Dome to see all those FIRST fans cheering for their teams like there's no tomorrow is something to behold. It really gets you going.

Second one is the entire Razorback Regional for 2013. While we didn't quite take the regional with us, boy was it a lot of fun. Seeing all the robots that came from KC improved, including realizing a new, much more effective strategy for our robot, and getting to meet some absolutely amazing people down there too. (And possibly because so many people down there were like "Oh, you're team 2410? Do you know CalTran?" "Yeah, I know him...":rolleyes:) Topping off the regional would be getting invited to the second alliance, captained by our favorite KC team, The Kuh-nig-its (1939), as well as the "host" team, Baxter Bomb Squad (16), was the absolute best way to have ended my FRC career as a student.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Without a doubt, Peachtree Regional 2011 with 2815.

I suppose I should preface this with a little backstory. 2815 was the third team I've been involved with over the years. I had coached for a season and a part with 1293 as a college student, then moved over to 1618 for three seasons until they folded after 2009. In all of this, only once did my team reach eliminations (and that was quarterfinals in 2007 after being the beneficiary of The Algorithm; those who were around will remember.) 2815 started off with much better results with Stephen Kowski coaching, reaching the Palmetto finals in 2009 and semis two other times.

2011 had been a year of upheaval for the team--Kowski had graduated, other supporters had shifted away from the team due to job changes, and the robot that year had a very different look compared to the sheetmetal-tastic designs of the two years prior. Oh, and all of our non-teacher mentors but myself were stuck back in Columbia with a pop exam the Friday of the regional. So it's two teachers and me.

We kept making little hardware and software improvements to the robot on Thursday, to the point that we were in that straggler group where they start the practice match, run about twenty seconds of teleop, and then foghorn the match to make sure you talk to the field. Nothing seemed too far out of whack, so we left at pit closing feeling pretty decent.

Friday of the regional was easily one of the five worst competition days I've ever had in my ten years. Six of the seven matches saw a robot calamity of some sort or another. We kept grinding through them, chatting with other teams and sharing what was surely the worst luck a team could have in FRC. We had Palmetto the next week, so the dread wasn't there...but man, it would've been nice to start the season on a high note right? We relaxed that night, spitballed over things while eating some peanuts, and hit the sack.

Saturday morning, we had another issue--don't remember what it was. Then came our second-to-last match, where we played alongside 2415, the #1 seed. Before the match, their drive team comes up to us and starts looking at the drivetrain (4-CIMs, wedgetop, 6WD--nothing too fancy that year). They asked how fast it'd go ("About 14"), how our driver was (he drove since we were rookies)...could we play defense? I looked at Cameron and said "Sure, we'll give it what we've got."

We go out there, and the clouds parted for two glorious minutes of defense to shut down 1311 and company and get the W. We were feeling pretty good at that point, mostly since it was the second time we'd lasted two full minutes on the field.

Then came our last match, where our digital sidecar came unplugged. D'oh.

With the writing surely on the wall, we were in the pits discussing changes we could make that afternoon before crating up for Palmetto. After the last qualification match was played, we sent our programmer Stacey out for alliance selection...and I snuck up to the stands to watch. 2415 was the #1 seed, and they picked #3 seed 1771. That right there was pretty much the ballgame; someone would have to break or an idiot partner would have to draw red cards for them to lose the regional at that point. The draft went down to 8 (still unpicked, no surprise), then back up to #2 (still no surprises), then the announcements before everyone broke for lunch. If you ever saw Bob Barker cut away from the price tag saying whether you've won the car or not, you know the feeling here.

Finally, the moment of truth. "Teams 2415 and 1771 would like to invite team..." At this point, Stacey (now at CalTech) has put his foot back and is ready to walk back to the pits, and even I'm thinking there's no way on earth.

"...2815."

I was the only person from 2815 in the stands, but apparently I covered for my teammates with the jumping up and down and cheering until Stacey got there and accepted for us. (Heck, I'd have been happy to be in eliminations at all, let alone playing with them!) I zipped back to the pits, where it took a little convincing--no this is not a joke, yes we really are picked, yes we are on the #1 alliance, yes we need to get ready!

We jumped into work fast as we could, knowing we were picked for defense. The robot was ten pounds underweight, so we decided to ballast up. Coming up dry in our spare parts and toolboxes, we went over to 1771's pit and asked if they had anything that might work. They loaned us a lead hammer, which we covered in electrical tape (safety first, after all) and zip-tied to our frame in the front where it'd stay out of trouble.

All through this, I'm thinking "don't screw this up, don't screw this up, don't screw this up". Quarterfinals went through easily (114-2, 128-0), with us just herding tubes and starving the other side while 1771 and 2415 covered the grid in logos before nailing the minibots. We killed the autonomous code to play it safe (it was just a bottom-row routine), and the claw only came out to snatch a tube from the wall. Other than that, block the middle, shuffle tubes our way, and stay out of trouble.

The tempo got faster in semis, new territory for me (remember how I said I'd never gotten out of quarters as a coach?). We were posted up in a corner of the arena now, all three robots and drive teams just staying loose and checking everything. Our batteries weren't getting topped up in time, so our partners spotted ones off their cart. (I'm talking a library book cart with batteries and chargers here, people!) Semis came and went with relatively more struggle (114-36, 92-23), but holy crap were in the finals.

I remember that 1771 was trying to fix their minibot between semis and finals, but the crew rushed us onto the field for Finals 1 before they really had it 100%. I tried to calm them down--2415 had theirs, we were running miraculously, and we'll just push on through. We counter-defend 1649, our partners get three logos, and 2415 gets first place in the minibot race. 84-53, red alliance. Blue calls their timeout (more time to breathe and fix that minibot), then handshake time. Check the iPhone, people are tweeting and Facebooking me left and right from the webcast. Zip-tie the battery in, check everything one more time, and it's go time.

1771's back up to full speed, and we execute the routine just as we had five times previously. Two ubertubes for us, one ubertube for blue. (1649, like us, didn't run autonomous; 1261 missed.) Both our partners load the top rack up, but I see we're slowing down. Look at the Classmate, and sure enough our battery is starting to go on us with about 45 seconds left in the match. Get to about 30, and 2415's stopped moving (one of their digital sidecars apparently blew out). We have the big screen directly in our view from that end of the field, and we're up about 30...but we need 1771's minibot to put it away. Ten seconds left, the race starts. It's on the pole as the clock hits nine, but it's not going. They shimmy a bit, then it starts going up at 4. Blue never gets one away, but ours gets all four lights on the top with two seconds left. The webcast cut to our player station, where we'd already started jumping up and down with all twelve of us going nuts (plus queuer extraordinaire Sue Wayman sneaking in to tell us to get our robots). 67 seconds later (yes, I played the tape back to recount this story), the score goes on the screen. For our driver and operator that'd been together for three years, it was a long-overdue taste of gold. For me, it was the end of seven years of almost, of woulda-coulda-shoulda, of wait-til-next-year, of is-it-ever-gonna-happen?.

I still have that driver badge at my desk, clipped to the medal from that day. There are three others with it, two of them gold, but that one remains the most special not just because I coached but because two really great teams saw through all the crap we were working through, liked working with us in quals, and took a gamble by passing on the 24 other robots left in the field to pick us.

Years may pass, drivers graduate, you might move on to another team, but you never forget the first time you hang a banner.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

That's funny. I used Razorback 2013 in the other thread. Y'all were a lot of fun to work with. It was just frustrating not living up to our alliance's potential.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Wait so students on your team got full rids because they got onto einstein?

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I would have to agree with this one.:cool:

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Watching one of my best friends win his first regional.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

No. Re-read the post: He's MORE proud of the students getting the full rides than he is of racking up 2 Championship wins and 1 Championship finalist (or any other on-field performance). The two are not related.


There are a number of full-ride scholarships offered to FIRST students, and even more scholarships that are for a given dollar amount. Apply to as many as you think you want to.


My best experience... Too many. I'll have to think about it. There are a few that jump to mind, but it'd take too long to list them. I'll probably be back some other time to fill in a couple.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

No completely unrelated. They earned those on their own based on the scholarship requirements. However had they not been part of FIRST they would not have been eligible for the scholarships.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I'd have to say our first ever Regional win at Peachtree this year (Thanks 4026 & 4080) on the day of my son's 18th birthday. His fourth year in FRC, and serving as Team Drive Coach.

His comment "Best...Birthday...Ever".

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I worded my post in that thread wrong. I was asking about like things that went wrong with their robot I relalized this after I posted it, but oh well.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

One of my favorite moments was watching one of our team's mentors, the great Don Rotolo, win the Woodie Flowers Award. Don was also a personal mentor to me, as well as many other students, and really inspired me to follow my passions. He is one of the greatest people I know, and watching him win that award actually brought tears to my eyes.

But overall, just being a part of FIRST was the best experience. Whether it be working with Don and other mentors, my head coach (Mr. Kevin Killian), my fellow teammates, and other teams, I had a blast. Not to mention, watching your own father become a valuable mentor to your team is pretty awesome.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

My best experience in FIRST was coupled with one of my worst personally. Mid season last year we were blindsided by the sudden death of a mentor and one of my best friends. We had a event that coming weekend and I would also be gone to attend/orate the funeral. This left our team down to 2 non-technical mentors and a heartbroken yet determined student base. I was astounded as mentors from other teams dawned our t-shirts, student alumni stepped into mentorship roles, students rallied and focused their emotions, and we raised our second blue banner. This is my best experience and I wasn't there.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I think when the robot actually performs how it's supposed to and you get to see the results of your work on the field, it the most rewarding feeling in the world.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I want to go a little different route with mine.

My best experience is being involved with FIRST as a whole. Before my team's rookie season in 2007, I was shy, nervous in front of people - big crowds and small - and just had trouble overall speaking and communicating. In the teams first year, I helped with presentations to local engineering companies, even though I was deathly afraid of this, especially since I was in front of a lot of older professionals.

Long story short, I moved my way up to team captain in 2008 and 2009 for my junior and senior years, I was on the presentation team for Chairman's, and would regularly do any public presentations for the team. Being a part of FIRST allowed me to become extremely comfortable with any sort of public speaking. I regularly have to do presentations now that I'm in my final semester, and I don't have a problem being in front of 100 of my classmates or industry professionals.

FIRST is such a great organization, and that's why I've volunteered for 5 straight years now, and hope to do many more. I know what the kids learn from being on the team, and that makes me want to help out even more.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I have many favorite experiences, each having their own reasoning (for lack of better term).

My best (inspirational) experience was watching Einstein field in 2008. Since it was my first championship I went to, it was very inspirational to see other beautifully designed robots compete against one another. Certainly something I will never forget; it inspired me to build a better robot for next year, despite having done my best share in the team as possible. Having been a freshman, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was certainly excited for it.

My best (favorite) experience was being on the drive team in 2010. My team won our first competition that year when I was the human player. Next competition, I took on the role of drive coach. Being drive coach was a great experience in itself, but winning that competition as well was a great feeling. Come to championship, I took on the role as drive coach again, and competed in the eliminations of that year. Doing my best with some of my closest friends on the team, we did the best we could, won matches that I thought we were not going to win. Being knocked out during the finals against 1114, 469, and 2041, it was an absolute pleasure losing to that powerhouse alliance. It was also great getting hardware from championship that year. I still think about that weekend, and it helps remind me why I do what I do.

My best (feeling good about myself) experience was mentoring the team for a few weeks while I was home. We had a brand new CAD team that year, and having been the CAD person during my years on the team, I felt the need to teach the new-comers what they needed to know. Taught them the basics of modeling, went over more complicated applications, and set up tutorials for advanced portions of Inventor. The day before I had to go back to school, they all thanked me for helping them out. They stated that I taught them a lot and they were able to apply it to their work on the team. I left that day feeling good that I was able to give something back to the team that gave me so much.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

That makes sense. Sorry for misunderstanding.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I'd probably have to go with this:

In the span of one week, I went from a heartbreaking World Championship Finals loss with my VEXU team, to a Cinderella story-like FRC World Championship win with not only the hardest working group of students and mentors I've ever worked with, but also many close friends on 1241 and 1477.

The shoe fit.

-Nick

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I've got two:

1) In 2009 it was my first and only year in FIRST as a student and that year my team won their first regional at the Lone Star Regional and we went to Championships. I think this was the second to last year it was at the Georgia Dome and I'll never forget that feeling when you walk into the dome from the pits and you just hear all the sounds from the different fields and see the hundreds of teams queuing up at their respective fields. It was that "First time at championships ever" feeling and it's what got me hooked on FRC for life.


***Best overall experience*** I don't think anything will ever top this one.

2) 2012, I started FRC team 4209 the TigerBytes. We went with a Pacman design for our shooter (not sure why but it just happened) and we made it a goal of ours to have it "waka" on the field at least once before the regional was over. So in one of our final matches on Saturday we were able to get on the bridge and balanced and you could just feel the excitement from the kids brewing because they knew it was going to happen. When the "waka" happened they were so excited. Just seeing the kids that happy that we accomplished a goal we set just for fun regardless of the outcome of the regional made my weekend.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

As the Judges of the 2010 FIRST Championships in Atlanta, GA, said, FIRST Team 1305 put the criminals on ice.

We were heading back to our hotel Thursday after competition. As it was tax season, our bus driver opted to take a back road back to the hotel. While driving this back road, team members noticed something out of the ordinary: a brightly coloured FIRST FRC trailer. Who would have their trailer in an auto recycling yard? It was Team 1730’s trailer, Team Driven. We knew something was up, we were staying at the same hotel as them.

When we got back to the hotel, police were there. Team 1730 members were speaking to them, looking visibly distraught. Immediately our 2010 captain, Alex Wilcox, went to talk to them. And so ensued the race back to the auto recycling yard. I remember that Alex wasn't even that the team meeting that night, too busy with the police trying to locate the trailer. A few other
mentors and members also went, along with Team Driven, to find it. It was probably the most memorable thing that ever happened on any of the World Championship trips.

Team 1730 got their trailer back, much due to the fact that we’d spotted it. A few of us watched as the police drew their weapons and stormed the property. As it turned out, the suspects were part of an illegal drug ring who were on the run from the police for a prior arrest warrant. 1305 felt a bit like a team of super heros that day, but we were only doing the right thing. If it
had been our trailer, we would have only hoped some other team would do the same.

The Missouri team thought their trailer was "gone forever or probably all torn up" said team mentor Clint Ott. The next day, Team 1730 came to our pit, presenting their “Pass It Along” award. A team award, it is given to team who does something nice for another team, and the recpients then pass it along to another team who helps them. Since then, we passed it to FIRST Team 1241,
THEROY6, from Mississauga, ON. This award truly emulates the attitude of FIRST Robotics.

In recognition of this act, among others, we were awarded the Gracious Professionalism Award by the judges at the Championship. It was an awesome way to end my first year on the team.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

My best FIRST experience has not happened yet but I know exactly when it will occur. Next May, my twin sons will graduate with degrees in Mechanical Engineering, not because I am an engineer because I am not. Rather, their imaginations were captivated by their exposure to FRC and the efforts of an extraordinary engineering mentor on team 2122. Thank you, Dean. Thank you, Mark.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Having a student you mentored announced as one of the 10 Dean's List winners, two years in a row.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Most memorable honestly has to be when I started volunteering with FLL. It was right before awards and the students who had been going all day were yelling "we love legos yes we do, we love legos, how bout you?" back and forth. That is until I wheeled the trophies and medals in, then they just cheered and went nuts.

This experience has always resonated with me as FLL Is 9-14. While these kids don't get as worn out as JrFLL it's still a long day for them waking up early to make the trip to competition and be there awake and excited all day. I honestly even rank this experience over the 1 time my team (well I guess now former team since I've moved) made it to Championships.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

My best expierence in FIRST was probably joining this year (2013 was my rookie year). FIRST competitions are probably the most fun I have had ever.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

Herman - the sole member of FIRST Team 4625 from Fort Mcmurray, Alberta, competing in playoff action at the first Western Canadian Regional. The team is registered again for 2014.
http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/m...irit-of-first/

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I'd have to say that my favorite experience is one of two things:

1. It was Thursday afternoon at the 2013 Inland Empire Regional and a few team members and mentor from FRC 3512 sought us out in our pit. They were looking for our Chairman's team. So, we rounded up our Chairman's team and started to talk. It turns out that they had no idea what they were going to do for their Chairman's Presentation the next day, and were essentially freaking out. The team was even considering backing out of the presentation all together. We spoke for about two hours and together we came up with a structure for the presentation, some materials, and a few other ideas.

The next day we arrived at the venue and rushed over the 3512 to make sure they had everything together for the day. They had a presentation ready to go! So, we all sat down and watched their presentation and it literally brought me close to tears. It was incredibly impressive.

In eliminations we were third seeded and 3512 was our first pick. We got knocked out, but in the process our teams had become really great friends. Although they didn't win the Chairman's Award this year, they were definitely inspired to come back bigger and better this year. They also helped to inspire our Chairman's Guide.

2. The other experience is from Championships, where we were competing for the Chairman's Award. This year at Championships we hosted a "Chairman's Exchange" (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...09#post1260809) and had a great turn out with about a quarter of the Chairman's teams attending. This was Thursday. The next day, during our presentation, our team of 50 gathered outside of the judging room like they always do to cheer our presentation team on. The judges noted this year that we had our own "cheering section". Anyways, we went into the room and did our presentation, and when we came out, our team had seemingly multiplied. About a dozen students from teams that had attended the Chairman's Exchange had waited with our team while we were in the judging room. It was really incredible to have that support from our team AND other teams. Definitely one of my favorite moments!

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I am the mechanical engineering/design mentor for FRC Team 1983. I have two “Best” experiences in FIRST. One was the 2013 season and the most significant happened in 2008.

I won’t bore you with the details of our difficult 2013 Build Season. Late in week 4 we realized that the architecture we were pursuing was not going to work. We needed to make some hard decisions. We reorganized what we had and put together a machine that could play the game, more or less. It was/is a weird machine, very difficult to operate.

Our first competition was at Central Washington University and it started out horrendously. We seeded 32 out of 50, probably our worst showing ever. I was thinking this season was going to be a fiasco. The rest of the team, however, only saw a challenge to be met. The entire team came together like I could never have imagined. The Pit Crew and Drive Team put in heroic efforts to get the most out of what we had. The Scouting Team identified the best alliance partners who could augment our capabilities throughout the season. We continued to gel: winning three regionals (Central Washington, Seattle and Spokane) in three consecutive weekends along with Chairman’s in Seattle. In St. Louis, we were undefeated and seeded 2nd on Curie, but lost in the semis due to mechanical problems. I am inspired by our team’s perseverance and belief in their abilities. It was an unexpected and unbelievable season.

My absolute best experience in FIRST happened in 2008 as a rookie mentor. I didn’t know what FIRST was about or what my role was. I just loved working with students on a challenging problem … still do. We had a good season and I was happy with that, but I was clueless about what was really happening. After the season was over, a student gave me a long, heartfelt letter explaining the impact I had changing the direction of her life. Engineering was not a career choice encouraged in her family. She now has a BSME from WPI and is married to a FIRST alum. She is also the Coach for our two new FTC teams. She is an intelligent and highly capable woman and I am proud to have her as a friend.

FIRST changes lives and I am humbled to be part of it.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

The quote in my signature references what happened at the 2007 Granite State Regional. A bit of a throwback, but I took a break from FIRST while I was in college. I just got back into it last month with my old team, so my stories are all going to be from 2008 and earlier.

Anyway, Team 1991 was the only rookie team at the event that year and they hailed from the American School for the Deaf located near Hartford, CT. My team sat behind them in the stands during the course of the competition and we noticed that instead of clapping, they all rapidly waved their hands in the air to signal applause.

So, when 1991 was called out for their inevitable Rookie All-Star Award, instead of clapping, we waved our hands in the air just as they did. Slowly, but surely, the sound of hands clapping died and the arena grew silent. Judges, referees, volunteers, students, and mentors alike all signed applause to honor the rookies.

It was easily the most touching moment I have experienced in FIRST. I think it'll be tough to top that.

Re: Best experiences in FIRST
 

I was the OP and never actually said what my best moment was.:ahh:

We helped to start up team 2133 (Ridgebotics). 159 Alpine Robotics is tied to Poudre High School and 2133 Ridgebotics is tied to Fossil Ridge High School. 2133's first season (2012) they won the Rookie All-star Award, which was super exciting for both us and them. Then this year (2013) they had an amazing robot that was kicked butt in qualifiers. Seeing 2133 expand has been a great experience for me.

They grow up so fast.