Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

i would just like to echo what waialua359 said and really thank all the mainland teams for coming down. this has been the first live FRC competition that i have ever seen, and it was amazing. one of the reasons i want to especially thank them is that the mainland teams made the competition really interesting. for example, the 2nd semi-final match was one of most awesomest and amazing events that i have ever seen. im happy that all the mainland teams enjoyed hawaii and i hope you come back soon.

Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

Some of our dear friends took 100's of pics with links to them. Email waialuateam359@yahoo.com and I will forward the link. Its has many of the mainland teams also in there as they took pictures of everything the entire weekend. :D

Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

Besides the great competition, I thought one of the best parts was the (by my estimate) approximately $50,000 team social. I've never ever seen or heard about a social that was that big and entertaining. The food, the fireworks, the entertainment were all great. I only wish I had heard about the poi chugging contest. Sadly, I was on the far side of the luau and didn't hear about it till hours afterwards, otherwise I definitely would've been there to down some poi.

Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

Aloha teams!

As the captain of Team Kika Mana (368), we would like to thank the many people and organizations involved in making the Hawaii Regional a success.

To Governor Lingle and Dean Kamen, we're very thankful to each of you for getting the Hawaii Regional started in record time. The Governor and Lt. Governor's "Innovation Initiative" is the cornerstone of economic change that our team has been advocating for years.

To NASA and Dave Lavery, we're very thankful for the generous grants you donated to the Hawaii rookies as well as veteran teams throughout the country which made this regional so competitive. Without your support, the budding Hawaii Regional would not have even been conceivable.

To Jim Beck and Alex Ho, Western and Hawaii Regional Directors, we would like to thank each of you for taking on the enormous task to bring about the sudden emergence of a new regional especially with all the unique challenges that needed to be overcome. We would also like to thank both of you for your everlasting support of our team.

To Mark Leon, we thank you for supporting our team and Hawaii throughout the years and for bringing your entertaining yet insightful message with you. To Blair Hundertmark, we thank for coming all the way to Hawaii to be such an awesome game announcer and emcee.

To Art and Rene Kimura, two very special people who started robotics in Hawaii, we owe you our thanks. For all that you have done to advance robotics in Hawaii over the many years, it was most appropriate for you to receive the first Volunteer of the Year Award for the Hawaii Regional.

We would also like to thank Team 359, The Hawaiian Kids, for choosing us to be an alliance partner. It was awesome to be finally working together with you after five years and with your guidance, we once again made it together to the finals.

We would also like to thank Team 2437, Lancer Robotics, for being such awesome rookies. When we talked strategy, you girls knew what needed to be done without a doubt. Without you, we definitely wouldn't have made it to the finals.

Congratulations to Team 233, Team 254, and Team 2454 for winning the first-ever Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional. We would have liked to have given you folks more of competition in the finals, but we unfortunately suffered a major mechanical failure and became crippled in the end (a roll pin in our AM SuperShifters failed and broke into three pieces, causing our clutch to be stuck in and out of neutral for most of both final matches).

And finally, thank you all the judges, referees, volunteers, Hawaii rookie teams, and mainland teams for making the inaugural Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional so fantastic!

See you all in Atlanta for our last Overdrive!

John Paik

Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

The Hawaii Regional was definately the funnest regional I have ever attended, I made quite a few new friends and had quite a good time with kids from team 254 and 1138.

Also, I was completely amazed with all of the Hawaii'n teams and how amazingly GP they all were. The govenor gave us a Very very warm welcome every day of competition and Hawaii itself was just plain beautiful.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, kids, mentors, and volunteers that attended this competition.:)

Btw: Go Poof Pants : D

Re: Hawaii Regional 2008
 

By the way, the photo montage played on Saturday before the elimination matches can be found here for those who want to relive the memories.