When I was first introduced to FIRST and the robotics program at my school, I took somewhat of an interest because I loved (and still do) doing math and science. When I began to hear about all the costs that went into making the robot and the fact that you received nothing if you win a regional (or the national), I failed to see why so many people on our team were sooo excited about it. This all soon changed though . . students on our team, along with the engineers slaved for weeks over a robot design that could effeciently carry out the task given. When they finally nailed down the design and put the robot together for the first time, I started to see why people were so excited about this program. The months went by and it was time for the New England regional (and my first regional, ever). I came to the competition not knowing what to expect and how we would even hold up against all these other robots that were present. The competition was stiff and we lost our first few (one or two) matches. Regardless of these losses, our team stuck together and cheered on our stage crew. It was at this point in the day that I realized that we do infact receive a prize..a prize much more valuable than any monetary sum, a prize that is given despite how well or how poorly we do: we begin to understand the value of teamwork and the desire that can be instilled within ourselves to push forward as hard as possible for the betterment of ourselves and the team. Truly a prize I can live with. We managed to come back from our losses and receive number one seed that year, but thats another story. [sorry, I am not the best at these things.]

FIRST has truely shaped my life, pointed me to my college, gave me a career to follow, and most importantly gave me some of the friends/memories.

I joined Team #21 ComBBAT as a freshman. At first I was a very quiet kid, kindof the outsider. I went to our kickoff meeting and saw how different i was from the veteran members. Afraid to be different I "forgot" to go to other team meetings then I realized people were asking why I wasn't coming. The way they accepted me gave me cofidence. By the end of that season i was one of the most outgoing people on our team. The social difference was night and day. In the oncoming years I accepted new members the same way and have made some of the best friends anyone could have. This year I am a senior and was voted student lead, and driver. In four years i went from outcast debating on wether to join the team now you can see what has happened.

This year the team is more cohesive than ever. We do everything together. On the weekends we are at eachothers houses, at school we sit together at lunch. This bond is what has lead our team to spirit awards and the sportsmanship award this year.

Thank you for your time,
R.J. Simpson
;)

Engineering is physics....but physics is not engineering!

I've got a degree in physics, I'm a member of Sigma Pi Sigma (National Honor Society for Physics), and I teach everything from Conceptual Physics to Advanced Placement Physics..........

But I couldn't begin to build a robot!!

Nothing is MASSLESS and everything has FRICTION! :p

What I love most about FIRST is working with the engineers. I am learning more about materials and applications all the time. Often I feel like an interpreter between my students and the engineers. I fill in the steps he skipped and the formulas he used......and watch it all "click". Priceless.

Another thing I value is the relationships born of endless hours of work and pizza! During school hours there is so much curriculum and so little time. Robotics Club has a lot of room for nonsense and silliness - the side of the kids I love!

Lisa T

A positive message about FIRST...
 

There are so many amazing aspects about FIRST, that picking one to write about was challenge in itself. What I find to be the most unique aspect is how the competition always remains friendly.

FIRST may be the only venue, where there is intense competition that never leaves the field. The natural comparison is with sports. Anyone who's been to any sort of high school sports tournament can cleary recognize this. At the end of games, teams grudgingly shake hands, and walk away with a lot of resentment for their opponents.

At FIRST competitions, it's totally different. Not only to the teams not resent each other, rather they grow to appreciate each other. In 1998, my first competition, I was left with my jaw on the floor after the first practice day. I saw engineers leave their own teams to go and help get their future opponents up and running. They were giving out design and strategy tips. Can you really see that happening anywhere else.

I'm not sure how Dean, Woodie and company have created this wonderful atmosphere, but it's a refreshing change from the rest of the world.

Everyone who's down in Florida right now, should stop and take notice of the friendly environment, and think about who special it is. Kind of nice, Eh?

- Karthik Kanagasabapathy (Go Team 188)

Amid the flashy shirts, the highly decorated robots, the giant pit displays, and energetic teams in FIRST one team quietly goes about accomplishing great things.

Midway through the build team a major work project takes away one of only two engineers on the team. Others would throw up their arms in dismay, this team keeps plugging along. A request for help draws a this engineer, alumni, several parents, and friends to help (some for just a few hours) all welcome.

Still lacking thousands of dollars, the team leader juggles classroom, family, and team responsibilities with extra fundraising calls.

Readjusting the drive train for the fifth time, working at midnight before shipping. or finishing repairs as the final staging call is announced all call for steady effort. No theatrics or panic, just a quiet sense of urgency.

Changing a mechanism from servo to pneumatics is accomplished in a display of collaboration and teamwork that is rarely seen with people who have worked together full time for years.

A team member having grade and rule violation problems meets with not one but seven adults from the team and his parents offering to help him. Other groups would have stuck to the book: "Goodbye - You knew the rules"

We laugh, smile, and have fun, but we're unlikely to ever receive a spirit award. Our true spirit shows through in the consistent effort put forth.

This is my newly adopted team. My "enablers" for my addiction to this madness we call FIRST. From a small community that seems to be full of surprises, the team "Built On Brains", Team 85.

Well, I guess one of the most recent things that happened was at the VA Regional. I usually scout teams 2 to 3 matches ahead to see what the other teams can do, how they work, and try to help if they are having trouble. I was talking to a rookie team we were going to play and they had their entire robot apart. I start talking to the student working on the robot and he tells me what the problem is and all the details. I helped him with the test procedure and realized I couldn’t do too much more since it was a software problem and their laptop was at the hotel. But just before I got up to go watch some more matches, the student from this team looked up at the rest of his team that was standing around and said “this guy is on a team that is playing us in a little while, yet he is over here helping us!” I just smiled back and you could see in his face that it amazed him that one of his team’s opponents was willing to help them solve a problem. At the same time, you could also see he understood what FIRST is about.

FIRST has done a lot for me over the last 4 years, and it always amazes me how much it is like the real world and continues to become more like the real world every year.

Steve

I want to take this chance to say yaaay Dave.
The Dave I am refering to is the Dave Lavery from NASA. He has been with 116 through two schools and I believe this is his 7th year. I've been with the team for the past three years. He has been one of the 5-10 most influential people in my life. I say that because it is so hard to quantify such things.
Mainy it is his overwhelming drive to be graciously professional.
I got alot of my sense of honor and fairplay from Dave. He was able to make it fun to do the best within the constructs of the game. In making my mind fit around the rules and finding a creative way to solve the problem. Of stoping work when we are suppost to, even though noone else would know.
The priciple became important, not the end result.
That idea of honor/GP has spilled over into the rest of my life as well, and I think that it has made me a better person overall.
Not only that, he puts in alot of time with FIRST as an organization, and works to get funding for many new teams from NASA.
I hope that someday I can work with a new team, and pass on the principles I learned from Dave Lavery.



Wetzel

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No ####, Dave is great.