the got shafted award
 

yeah, this should be an award for the team that got screwed over the most.... either that or the keep on truckin award

Re: the got shafted award
 

I get the feeling you need to get something off your chest... :o

go ahead :)

-Leav

Re: the got shafted award
 

Before this gets any further, judging by the way you wrote this I can tell you feel your team should've gotten a specific award and didn't and seen a team you felt was less qualified to get such award.

That being said I just want to remind you that the Judges have a very difficult time in awarding teams b/c there's so many teams and so few judges at each event. Judges try and do their very best in making sure that deserving teams are awarded. So if you feel you were cheated out of an award remember FIRST is not about winning awards. It's about forming Partnerships, forming friendships, learning and having fun at the same time AND assisting in molding in yours and everyone elses futures. FIRST is 1501 Teams strong... Not all 1501 Teams will get awards will try and do their best to go home with something. And if not who cares! Your still a winner for competing.

Now if you want to share your story knock your socks off just keep in mind that FIRST does their very best in making sure everyone gets awarded. Their biggest award to you is giving you the tools you need to form something memorable and fun while learning about it all in depth at the same time.

Re: the got shafted award
 

Sometimes it's not how you win that speaks the most about you but how you lose. The bests you can do is use this experience as a learning tool and get better.

Re: the got shafted award
 

Do you need a hug?! *Hug* I hope you feel better!

Re: the got shafted award
 

There is a joke award that quietly gets passed around in the Midwest. It's called "the shaft", and it's a 1/2" plastic rod. I have no idea who started it, or when, but every year, it gets handed out to a team that had a rough time for some reason or another. The team that gets it is then told to pass it on to another team the next season. My old team (830) had it at one point... I don't know where it ended up, or who has it right now, but I always found it to be an amusing tradition. The whole thing is basically just a joke, and the teams that give and receive it take it pretty lightly. It's all in good fun...

Re: the got shafted award
 

Well his team is signed up for Great Lakes in two weeks so I don't know what he could be so upset over already.

Just to state again, FIRST is not about the awards.

Re: the got shafted award
 

I think he was at Kettering's rookie event. Not sure what he saw/thought he saw there.

Re: the got shafted award
 

The worst thing about not getting an award though is that it is like your teams enormous effort went completely unrecognized. How can you tell if people have noticed you or not?

Re: the got shafted award
 

Unless you're talking about some other team...didn't StuyPulse get Engineering Inspiration in NY? If i'm correct, congratulations on that:)

Re: the got shafted award
 

I can sympathize with that... I think we all can... we all just want a real pat on the back and an honest "good job!"....
just because you didn't win an award doesn't mean that your hard work went unnoticed or unrecognized... sometimes it's just a hair separating the guy who gets the award from the guy who doesn't...

after you put in any amount of effort sometimes all you have is knowing that you gave it your best - but to know that about yourself and your team is worth much more than any prize in my opinion.

-Leav

Re: the got shafted award
 

Let's think about this. 50, 60, 70 teams at a regional. About a dozen judged awards. Seems like most of the teams don't get their validation through awards.

You tell if people noticed you by the conversations they have with you.

Re: the got shafted award
 

Yeah we did. I wasn't speaking of my own team. Not now anyway. At the NYC regional I know we were definitely recognized, even if we didn't win that award. This post reminded me of the NJ regional where we didn't receive anything and it didn't seem like any team noticed us at all. I really don't know though seeing as I have a very limited view of things. The only team that I really feel like appreciated us were one of our alliance partners.

Re: the got shafted award
 

I know its great when other teams appreciate and recognize you, but what about self-recognition? That's the most important part of FIRST, you have to recognize yourself before you can recognize other people.

Every team spent 6 weeks designing, building and learning. I think getting through that is enough of an award for everyone.

It is hard when your team works so hard towards an award submission (especially chairmans) and then you watch another team celebrate. (I know, it happened to us in Boston.) But look at that team: see what they did, and learn how you can improve your own program, your community, and your team's future.

The biggest award for me this season was when a freshman girl on our team wrote me a letter talking about all her big plans and how she cant wait to get the ball rolling for next year. She wrote that she was sad we didn't get chairmans, but was ready to try again for next year. Her excitement reiterated for me why I do FIRST.:rolleyes:

Re: the got shafted award
 

Are you kidding me!?! lol, MORT was under you guys cheering for you from time to time! You are never left unnoticed, trust me. I personally love StuyPulse's robots and the team members.

You were definitely noticed, sometimes they just can't show that to teams in the form of awards.

Re: the got shafted award
 

Well its not about awards for me at all. I guess I just didn't notice you guys cheering for us. Probably because I am dense. Just after NJ I didn't feel like anything was said about us. It was amazing though to be spoken about on predictions for week 6. That was all we talked about in school and it was awesome. Thank you for cheering for us and thanks to other teams who cheered for us. I think one problem is that I feel other teams dont like us because we have had leaders and other members in the past who were not so GP. We also have members now who are not so GP and may give the wrong impression. Really though. I am pretty much a noob on our team. I just feel like our team is so isolated from the grand first community unlike many other teams such as yours. How do we become more involved?
(I am not speaking for my team just for myself to try to help my team)

Re: the got shafted award
 

If you really do feel that way, learn from your team's mistakes or flaws. Evaluate them and see what changes need to be made. If you find a problem or someone that makes the entire team look bad, then try to confront them about it nicely. I know that people on here always say that team members create your team's reputation, but also don't forget that we don't truly penalize or judge the whole team based on a few people and we are all very forgiving.