Re: 2014 Boilermaker
 

Here is the webcast link http://www.ihigh.com/school34333/

Re: 2014 Boilermaker
 

Thank you to all the teams that came out to BMR this year. This was a very exciting year, with many of the familiar faces gone leaving behind new ones. Thank you to 337, 1329, 2655, 2959, and 4213 for being new faces and bringing an air of competitiveness to BMR.

Congratulations to the winning alliance of 3147, 135, and 3301.

I don't think we all realized how much of a force 135 was until the final matches. It was incredible seeing how well that robot managed to score despite being double teamed. 3147 was certainly a crafty little team, working behind the scenes, and 3301 rounded out the alliance well with their defense.

The finalist alliance of 1756, 2959, and 3487 certainly are deserving of some recognition also. They had to get through an extremely difficult combination of 461, 868, and 1760 in the semifinals, and pushed the winning alliance to the limit. They would have won both matches if not for penalties. Congratulations to 1756 for moving on due to 135's wildcard. I know that 1756 will tear it up at the Champs- this was certainly not enough for them, and I know they want some more than this.

Congratulations to 2655 for their Chairman's.

Lastly, I want to send my sincere congratulations to WFFA Mike Taylor of 1529 and my good friend Dean's List finalist Alex Schutte of also 1529.

Mike Taylor was one of those mentors that you wonder would get nominated- he was certainly deserving of the award when I was only a student (back in 2010!). He is the reason why I had came back for my sophomore year after having deliberated for the entire 2010 season whether I should continue or not, and is indirectly why I have been within FIRST for all 4 years of my time in high school. I am sure that I would not be in engineering if it was not for him.

Alex Schutte is someone that I have tremendous respect for as someone that is a year younger than I am. I remember the day talking with him at the end of the 2013 Crossroads regional about how frustrated he was at the state of team was at the time. If there was one factor in changing 1529 from the rookie 'bot to a solid team that a shot at getting picked for eliminations, it would be him. He took the entire summer to seek out help from mentors from 829, 1018, and 1741, actively recruited as many mentors as he could possibly, start several FLL teams, and grew the number of students from a meager amount to a team full of freshmen and sophomores.

1529 was a team that was struggling down under, falling off from a promising 2011 year to a team that had no base. They had lost all out-of-school mentors during the 2013 season along with losing several sponsors. All of this happened while their school was undergoing a major renovation to their facilities, which resulted in forcing 1529 to move their building spaces for different rooms. To be able to be recognized for hard work from their students (in writing the WFFA essay), it means a lot to 1529, and will hopefully set up for future success one day.

Re: 2014 Boilermaker
 

This was the best Boilermaker Regional that I've attended.

Kudos for having it be brighter! In the past, my main complaint was the venue was too dark, but this past weekend it was actually great! Someone informed me that they usually cover one of the windows, but that they didn't this time. In my opinion it made a huge difference and was awesome.

As usual, all of the teams were so friendly and the volunteers top-notch.

Thank you especially to our referee staff, led by Volunteer of the Year Andrew Corrington. This game is difficult to work, but you did an amazing job communicating with each other and reviewing all calls as needed. I appreciate the tough job you have this year.

The laser light show at Awards Ceremony was THE COOLEST THING EVER! Seriously, I love that you were able to do that for the second year in a row. It's a great way to decompress after long days of competition, and it's great that awards are in the auditorium with comfy seats!

Lastly:
Congratulations to Mike Taylor, team 1529 Lead Mentor, tireless volunteer and creator of #BotChat. It's about time you were recognized as a regional Woodie Flowers Award Winner!

On a professional level, Mike has mentored me as I finish my teaching certification and apply for jobs. Having him as a resource through this process is priceless. I see how he works with his students on a regular basis, and I see the love that they have for him. He inspires in more ways that he will ever know.

On a personal level, Mike is one of my best friends, and one of the very first people who welcomed me with open arms when I moved from FiM to Indiana FIRST. From hikes in the woods, geo-cache adventures and food truck missions, Mike always has an ear to listen to my endless talking and gentle words of advice when I need it. He made moving to Indiana the easiest thing in the world.

Thank you to the Woodie Flowers winners who read his essay and decided that he deserves to be recognized for his work in the classroom and FIRST. I know it means a lot to Mike, but it also means a lot to his students, alumni, family and friends.

Re: 2014 Boilermaker
 

I'm not sure those little ceiling fans would have made a difference. Probably why they never turned them on Friday when it got a little warm in there.

I also had 4 complaints from 2 of our sponsors and 2 parents that the video feed worked less than half the time. I'm embarrassed that as a Purdue alumni, there wasn't a little more bandwidth available (This is Purdue. C'mon). Last year it was not that bad at all as I watched most of it from work and rarely lost video.

Overall a great time though.