Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Please pardon my self indulgence but a few years ago I posted a short blip on my teams Portland experience where I won the WF award and I knew it would be hard to share that with the rest of the world. And I find my self in a similar position now.
On monday I will be heading into work and will be asked the normal question of "How did you guys do?" I suspect I will try to say "We did well, we seeded in the top 8 and had a strong alliance, we won a team award " They will say "great job" and that will be about the end of it for them.

But not for me.
At the Microsoft Regional I saw a lot of stuff. I watched a member of team 1318 make excuses to his ride home while writing code for a rookie team.
I saw 64 teams packed into a space for far fewer, but everyone maintained composure.
I saw a 183 pound robot go to 112 in about 3 minutes with the help of at least 3 other teams (thanks 488 and 1983 )
I watched my Captain, Sarah, speak in front of the crowd Saturday morning, sharing her experiences. (I knew what she had to say and it still brought tears to my eyes)
I saw a team from Turkey get more out of this contest than should be allowed :-) (2905, we have been working with them since last year when a couple of students and a teacher came to Tacoma for the Regional to try to understand how to do FIRST. We also sent students over in the Summer as well as an Alumni of the team during the build)
I watched my team Alumni doing volunteer jobs like Pit Announcing, Game announcing, FTC Assistance, VIP, as well as running their own teams.
I watched a Rookie Teams nomination for the Woodie Flowers Award honored with Mike Criner from 2922.
I made new friends.
I saw teams pull parts out of mechanisms to share a bearing or special bolt with a team they had just met the day before.
I saw a laser light show at the team social. It has been years since I have seen one of those. It ended with the FIRST logo in laser light.
I watched most of the matches be web cast because of the efforts of one of my Alumin and friend, James Byrne.(please do not hold him responsible for the mistakes on the site, he was busy keeping the field running to end ahead of schedule!)
I watched my team act as a unit, speak to the public that came through, judges, other teams. Send out tools, parts, Lexan and what ever as needed.

And to who ever yelled out "We love you 360" during Awards. Right back at you!!
I was a proud mentor.

So how did our weekend go?
We seeded 5th. Picked a strong alliance they didn't quite get through the quarter finals (thanks 2046 and 955!!!) Watched some amazing teams play. Saw team 1425, 488 and 1569 win a hard fought battle to take it all.

And yeah, we won a team award.
The Chairman's !!!
Baby!!!!!!

Thanks for listening. See some of you in Atlanta

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

That is amazing, I'm assuming it's even more special because as a mentor you can stay with a team and develop a closer connection to the team than a student. This regional sounds heart warming, because something close to you won such a prestigeous honor as well as being gracious and professional, and see the generosity of the student you inspire. This is awesome and I can't wait to be a mentor and have a similar experience.:)

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Thanks, Eric, for sharing. WE know what you are saying as you just hit the tip of the iceberg of what went on in Seattle. Congratulations again on winning the Chairman's Award at MSR...

Connie

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

I hear that Eric told his team that if they won Chairman's he'd get a shave and a haircut...

(Congratulations to 360 and its mentors. Even the newly-groomed Eric.)

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Coming from a Skunkwork's member means a lot. I know what a power house you guys are in ALL categories.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

We first met when we (2046) were rookies and you took us under your wing. I watched in wonder that year when you won the Woodie Flowers Award.

A big part of why I continue in FIRST comes from those first experiences. Your team has continued to support and encourage us and with time grow a little common history together (We're still waiting for the next chapter in the travels of Chandy. Thank you Paul).

This weekend, we got to play together again - and it was just as much fun as always (our kids treasure those aprons).

And this weekend, I had what I consider the most special FIRST honor I could recieve - of being nominated by my team for Woodie Flowers Award - doesn't matter that who won it for the regional - for me, I won it right there.

And that is the rest of the reason I continue with FIRST.

And like you said - I want to share that with someone who understands.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Congratulations on getting the Chairman's, my mantra throughout the whole regional was "well it looks like 36O's going to get the chairman's this year".
I loved the "just like portland" cheer when the match was reset. I loved the mini rave at the seattle science center. I loved how Deb Mumm-Hill got rickrolled/serenaded by martin and marshal. I though it was hilarious how everybody from tacoma booed when [I can't remember the name] said that the key arena was a much better location than where it was last year.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

This was the low point of a great event. You cannot begin to understand how depressing this was to a field crew that had been running on-time or ahead of schedule for the whole event. The only delays to that point had been speeches that had caused us to start late. We finished Friday six minutes ahead of schedule, and when we had to reset the field we had already made up four minutes of the late start. When we restarted the field we were still one minute ahead, meaning the reset cost a total of three minutes.

The chanting was disrespectful and the people who did it should be ashamed of themselves.

Sorry to sully Eric's thread. On with the rejoicing!

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Anders,

I would strongly encourage you to reevaluate your regional experience. Boos are rarely ever hilarious, they are almost always disrespectful. As Rick has already expressed, jeering at the field problems is an insult to the field crew and all the hard work they do. Someone getting rickrolled should not be a highlight of one of these events.

The first post in this thread has some amazing examples of the great experiences and memories that can be take from a FIRST competition. If you think hard I'm sure you can come up with something better than boos and condescending chants.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

You might note to your friends and colleagues that your team won the highest award. They might still not understand what Chairmans means like we do - but they do understand "top".

Congratulations.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

I would highly emphasize that you won (paraphrasing the words of the speech given before you won) FIRST's most prestigious award! :)

It's something that is often a missed opportunity when describing or selling your team to outsiders who have never head of FIRST; that is, adding to the conversation the true caliber of the award you won.

Whether you win a technical award, a business award, a spirit award, a safety award, or even a judges award, I would not just stop at "we won a team award" when describing your accomplishment(s).

You won an award that very few teams have over the years (relatively speaking). :cool:

Play that up for all it's worth when speaking with anyone!
Your team earned that right to use that to your advantage now to grow the program & earn some respect both inside & outside the FIRST community! :)

Oh, and congratulations by the way & good luck in Atlanta!

Edit: Looks like Gary (post above me) & I are on the same page! lol

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

all i can say is wow... congrats

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

We get what you're so excited about, and congrats! All of those accomplishments are SOOOO important to FIRST. See ya in ATL.

BTW.... that weight change is incredible... I'd love to see before and after pictures.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Congratulations!

Why not share the award winning essay with people who ask you how the team did? Make a packet of photos and the essay with some quotes included from the team members of what it meant to them and you could include a copy of the team video. Curiosity and interest can always be developed a little further with some encouragement and awesome information.

Again, congratulations to you and the team,
Jane

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

When that team would come by heading to or from the pit, sometimes rather than the usual "ROBOT COMING THROUGH !!" they would yell "HALF A ROBOT COMING THROUGH !!""

I love the resilience of youth.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

How was your weekend? Why not start with awesome, mind boggling... the top award, the most prestigious award... and say that you spent the weekend with an estimated 5000 of the most amazing teenagers in the Seattle area and beyond! :yikes:

Oh yeah, and tell them they should have been there, because it was an event that everyone should have a chance to witness.

Congratulations!

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Eric,

Your team really outdid yourselves this year, and put in enough effort to win two chairmans' awards.

I am so excited to see you guys in Atlanta! If I had to pick the 5 Washington teams that I would be most excited to have going to ATL along with us to represent our state, 360, 488 and 1983 would definitely be on that list. Your achievements and drive for excellence both in Portland and Seattle made the regional a better experience for all of us there, and it is a part of what has made my senior year my best year of FIRST. Thanks.

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

I told people that I was a summit for world leaders for our regional. We had two that are current world leaders and over 1000 that will be ones in 2029.

It sounds like you had a great weekend, congrats on your Chairmans!

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

Thanks as always for your inspiring words Eric.

FIRST has without a doubt been the defining feature of my high school experience. The incredible collaborative attitude that I have experienced both on my team and at the regionals the past three years has been nothing short of amazing. It always makes me smile a little when I explain how I spent my regional helping other teams, and people at my school look at me strangely and ask why I would want to help my opponents. It's good to know that there is a worldwide community of people who "get it."

Over the past three years, I have worked closely with incredible mentors from Flow, Microsoft, Boeing and several other local companies. With their guidance, I have channeled my passion for science and technology and learning into three years embedded systems programming experience, great internships, acceptance into awesome college degree programs (UW CSE!), and most importantly, a way of looking at and solving problems that we call "engineering." Without a doubt, this will affect me for the rest of my life, and for that I am forever thankful to the FIRST robotics program.

When I saw that there were teams at the regional who were struggling, I felt that it was the least that I could do to help them out. By the end of Friday, I'm not sure how many teams I helped get their firmware up to date or their autonomous working, but it was quite a few. It is hard to describe, but it just felt so...right to help share my few years worth of experience with other teams. Getting to see their faces light up with happiness when the robot moved by itself, having teams come over and say how they hadn't lost a match since they got their autonomous working, it's just so amazing. Thank you to all of the teams who let me help you. If you learned something interesting, pass it on :)

-just some programmer from 1318 ;)

P.S. shout outs go to teams 945 and 2865 for being awesome alliance partners!

Re: Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)
 

I recognized a kid in my chem class yesterday (first day of this quarter was yesterday) that was in an intro to ME class I had last fall. I remember him saying he was on team 360 in high school, I'll be sure to inform him about the win in case he hasn't heard.