pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

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I really wish 47 the best of luck in whatever goes down. I hope that your legacy lives on in the number of some other veteran team. :cool:

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Chief, whatever waits you next year with your school uncertainties we wish you luck. I believe I speak for the entirety of FIRST when I say that without the outstanding efforts of some fantastic people on your team the FIRST community would not be what it is today. As much as I HATE competing against CD robots I dread the day when I no longer have a CD bot to compete against. Here is to never having to see that day.

[The above words really don't say what I wanted them to, I cannot express the horror of a FIRST without 47, I really do hope you guys find a way]

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

That's a thing of beauty right there. Wow.

An inspirational story for a truly inspirational team. I wish your team the best, you're one of the reasons I'm proud to be a FIRSTer, and it would be a horrible day to find out that you'd be no longer with us. We'll see you at IRI.

Long live 47.


e: After watching the video I think you guys are in the top 25% of IRI robots. I can see you guys playing well past Saturday morning, especially if you guys do a human load auto. Amazing job.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

Very nice robot, you guys are truly an inspirational team. I want to wish luck to team 47 and students at Pontiac Central High.
It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun, good luck at IRI.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

I love the missiles...

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Beautiful bot. I really don't think we have seen the last of 47. Spending time with you guys has shown me that CD has some of the biggest hearts in FIRST.

Beautiful Bot! I am always impressed with what you guys turn out, and this is just another stellar example of an Inspirational team.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

Chief was probably the first robot I was truly wowed by, at the 1999 Philadelphia Regional when 237 was just a rookie.

To Mike, Joe, Mike, and all the other great Chief mentors of the past and present - you have put together a beautiful team that I have grown to admire. Your students are a class act and are a joy to work with.

Popular teams may come and go, but Chief is a Classic.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

I cannot bear the thought of FIRST being without FRC 47. Chief Delphi is a prime example for rookies to follow, on everything from team structure to robot quality. Chief has been a member of FIRST for countless years, and I hope to see them for many years to come. Best of luck in these times, Chief!

-Nick

P.S. That's a beautiful bot. I assume it will make it's appearance at IRI? If so, I'm scared, more than I was before.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday, James!

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

(Moment of silence)

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I see you will be at MARC, but are you going to oakland university this weekend?

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Based on what I googled, it looks like Pontiac Central High School (47) is merging with Pontiac Northern High School (65) and will now be called Pontiac High School?

That's a scary combination.

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Maybe first will let them pick a new number-FRC6547

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Namaste, 47. Your people, past and present, remain an inspiration to so many.

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Would a 70/494, 2 teams/1 school situation be feasible?

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If the teams were to merge, would they have to be rookies and get a new number? Because little would suck more than losing a spot in the Hall of Fame because your school merged with another great robotics team. Of course, which number and name to pick would also be an issue. What a messy issue.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

I don't think so. I think they'd have to pick a number.

But I prefer Travis's suggestion. Two teams, one school, collaboration optional.

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I would anticipate 47 staying the teams number and 65 leaving. The team image is more what I am interested in. Both teams (47/65) have very well known team spirit. It will be interesting if they decide on orange/black camo pants or if they stick to one or the other.

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Godspeed, Chief Delphi.

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Since 47 is moving to 65's school, from the school POV it would seem more logical to keep 65. From a team point of view, I would want to keep 47 as they get grandfathered into The Championship every year.

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The status of Team 47 Chief Delphi is a very complex issue. Pontiac Central is closing.... that is certain. All students will attend a single High School ( Pontiac Northern) re-named Pontiac High School. In conversation with the administration (superintendent) There will be a single unified team from the new school.

Several frustrating issues:
1. ALL staff, every employee has been "Pinked Slipped". The school District has not yet decided who or what the new school will be like, or even who will staff it. Even Me with 36.5 years as an educator is at this moment unemployed at the end of the school year. Yes I can retire.........

2. The new school....if I am rehired has yet to designate a space for me to teach or have a team. I am packing 14 years of robotics ... to where???? The New school (Old Pontiac Northern) will not have what I am closing.... 5 large rooms, storage areas, display areas for trophies, Office, display areas for 14 robots. The new school (Old Pontiac Northern) will be crowded above max capacity. There is at this moment no designated space for a team or a class for me.......

3. It appears that the district is eliminating ALL Vocational Education classes - except business, because they can cram 40 + students in a class.
Their philosphy is if a student is failing math, give them 2 math classes, double dose them in all core subjects.... IMHO a very poor path.

As the future unfolds there are many questions that will be answered....

Rest assured that Chiefdelphi.com will survive. The great people at Innovation First have been funding the site for the past few years. Their great support deserves a THANK YOU from all of us. Brandon is still committed to demanding quality in all aspects of this site. Thanks Brandon. you are great!!!!!

BTW..... side note.....

I am extremely proud of my team.... after a long hard season and all the stress, they decided that they wanted to continue the learning experience. Lead by College Mentors... Josh Murphy and James Keifer this additional robot is a work of art built by the STUDENTS>>>>> The entire team embraced my saying" you get out of this program what you put into it". Day after day long afternoons and evenings, very dedicated team members made it happen..... ON THEIR OWN!

True inspriation is the backbone of FIRST and is on display here!

I will make sure the Community of FIRST is kept aprised of events as they unfold to me in the coming days or weeks....... Yes we are in turmoil with a uncertain future.... but so are many other FIRST teams. We need to support and encourage each other the best we can....

More later........

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

There are no words to describe the feeling of watching a strong FRC team lose its foundation. I do have a relevant bit of TechnoKats history to relate, however.

In 1998, the team lost its workspace in the school building during some construction. The school approached the local power company to ask for room in their warehouse, and the team has built an amazing workshop there over the past decade. We have enough room for a full-size practice field, we aren't restricted to using the space only during "school hours", and we don't need to worry about whether the custodial staff will leave things alone.

If the Pontiac school is going to be too crowded for a good FRC shop, partnering with a business to use a facility outside school property might be a good step.

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

*joins*

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I think Chief changing schools will show other teams how a real team adapts to change. They won't whine, they won't complain like kids, they'll act and move on, maybe becoming even stronger. (with 65 +47 who knows what can happen :D )

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Could not have said it better.

It was an honor to be on the same field with you, and a joy to share the stands with your support team.
Newton 2008
Galileo 2009

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

Thank you for doing so much with so little for so many. Marie

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Either 47 or 65 could become an independent team (4H club?) disconnected from any school. - A team is not a school and a school is not a team - Good luck!

Blake

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

Several people have suggested it:

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Mind boggling. I don't understand the trend over the past years to eliminate the vocational education classes and remove the necessary space for movement and development. There is so much that can be learned and gained by working with tools, equipment, and space, all the while obtaining new skills. I'm not getting the math thing either, that would have taken me out. I would have felt totally lost.

To think of all the experience and knowledge gone with a pink slip. Your strength, determination, and courage is something that your team has seen role modeled throughout the history of Chief Delphi and something the rest of us can continue to learn from and be inspired by, Mr. Martus.

Wishing you and 47 the best,
Jane

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

If the school hires the mentors from 47 (and 65 inherits their sponsors and students), but requires the use of the 65 number, would 65 become a Hall of Fame team?

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In general when teams split they don't get to take their award status with them, so I'd imagine the reverse is true as well.

Who knows though. That would be a pretty much unprecedented situation for FIRST to have to deal with.

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Not quite. 22/4, for reference. 4 didn't get the status.

But yeah, it's a highly unusual situation.

Mike, what's happening to the Pontiac Central facilities? Sold, torn down, etc.?

Re: pic: Chief Delphi - The Last Journey - CDXIV B
 

I trimmed my "Duh" message

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I really hope 47 is able to continue on their own path. It would be such a shame to lose such a strong, stable, and inspirational team. I'd second the suggestion of making team 47 separate from the school. Would Delphi be willing to continue to sponsor the team, even without a school as the base?

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To whatever comes of this situation, to who/whatever may go...

"Farewell, Aquarius...and we thank you."

A 2 liter of Mountain Dew at MARC to whoever nails that quote.

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You guys are crazy, it looks amazing.

Can't wait to see it rolling at IRI. Hopefully, as an alliance partner. :P

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Those 6 famous words were uttered by Joe Kerwin, capcom for the Apollo 13 mission, after the Aquarius lunar module was jettisoned in Earth's atmosphere, I think on April 17, 1970.

Crap, I won't be at MARC!... But I still want my Dew!

-Nick

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Whatever comes of Chief Delphi, I would like to say this robot is awesome. The speed, capacity and effectiveness blew me away today at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. I am excited to see what happens as their drivers get more used to this robot, it will certainly contribute to an alliance at IRI and hopefully beyond that.

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This has taken be by surprise. Chief Delphi is a super class group of people. I have a great admiration for the whole team, students and mentors. I have never heard a bad word or seen a bad example by this team. For the years I went to Detroit, and I saw a team in trouble, I always went to Mike and he had team members or mentors go right over to help the other team. They have given of themselves with time and supplies to other teams that came up a bit short.

I would also like to thank Mike Martus for being such a great friend and role model. Mike, you are calm and thoughtful in all of your trials. This is just another on your road. I am sure that even if you are not rehired and you have to do that terrible R word, you will still find a way to help other teams.

To all members of Team 47, you should be proud of your accomplishments and proud of what you stand for. You are definitely a Hall of Fame team!!!!

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Which supports my point...that the original team keeps the award status, not the new team.

I assume the same thing holds true in the event of a merger.

Whatever happens, it will be a shame for the FIRST community to lose a team of 47's caliber, even if the loss is in number only.

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Jane and Mike, a quick thought about the two math class thing. During high school one of my friends in the math and science program (OSMTech at the time) struggled with math for both of their first two years. They decided to take one of their electives and take two math classes, turns out they had missed some of the basics the previous year, going through the class again with a different teacher who has a different style greatly benefited the student. In SOME unique cases what Pontiac is doing can be effective.

As for schools eliminating VocTech programs in recent years, Mike said it best, "Except business because they can cram 40+ students into a class." VocTech programs are generally expensive on a per student basis. Yes they are tremendously beneficial to those students who have access to them but they are also not an cost efficient way of teaching. Regrettably we live in a world where money is more important than helping others and the more expensive programs will, of course, be cut first. In all honesty though this is where Pontiac schools needs to be, according to news articles Ive read and a family friend who is a teacher at the district they are in very poor financial standing. They are close to borrowing their limit. They have struggled to pay teachers and are not adequately preparing students according to No Child Left Behind. This isn't to say that the teachers are not doing their best, I rarely find a teacher in an area like Pontiac that is there for the money, but they simply can't do much more. I know a teacher at Pontiac Northern who teaches Chemistry, how do you teach Chemistry without running a couple labs? How do you run labs with 40+ students in the classroom? It simply isn't safe. Add into this the fact that a half the time teachers are struggling with students who don't want to learn. This same family friend was attacked in his classroom last year by a couple students who didn't want to be in school. There are major problems that Pontiac schools needs to focus on before they even worry about VocTech OR FIRST. (I can already hear the angry responses for that little comment, PM them if you could, keep this thread from turning into a debate)

That being said, CD, I am going to be trying to get to IRI, I want to see this thing in action and I want one more time for CD to awe me.

Edited because I needed it to read correctly.

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Surely whatever team 47 and team 65 become at Pontiac High will be able to keep 45's Chairman's Status because we all know the students and mentors of both teams have the spirit and ability to keep the program running the same way it has always been: spreading the word of FIRST wherever they go and teaching the students and mentors alike. They both deserve to keep this honor. Good Luck Chief Delphi and Huskie Brigade with whatever comes next.

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I saw this bot in action this weekend. Pretty sweet bot.Better watch out if it is aligned against you!

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Was this the TARDEC event? If so, does anyone have any video?

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I think one of the martians (70 or 494 I get them confused), shot some video. It was a pretty neat demonstration. It was a 4vs4 on about a 2/3 size field with no outposts. Both supercells were active (i.e. no empty conversion). The surface was all regolith.
Overall it was really neat. The stage was about 1 foot higher than the seat which gave it a really neat "boxing" effect. Having 8 supercells in play at full points was a bit too much of a game changer for most. Probably reducing them from 15 to 7-10 would have made it a bit more balanced. You were almost better off not filling your opponents traler as the Supercells would bounce out.
Sorry to take the thread a bit off track. Very cool demo. A Huge thanks to the TARDEC guys for putting it on. It exposed the kids to IGVC.

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You can't have your Dew if you're not going to be there. Why did you answer if you're not going to be there?!!

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Wow, I went numb reading this! Taking #47 out of FIRST is like taking water out of your diet.

Teams should realize nothing is secure, this could happen to ANY one of them. 47 is just one of the most well known ones and gets the bigger spotlight. There may be some options out there that hopefully 47 will look into, like off school space donated by a company like was mentioned. The major thing with that would be liability, who it falls under.


The removal of vocational programs from schools has been going on for years, which is sad since not every student is college bound. Learning a trade is becoming a dying possibility. Even schools that have been lucky so far as to keep thier voca classes have had thier budgets cut as the funds are diverted torwards science, math and other classes before the "shops" get the "scraps". With these class offerings disapearing you realize why some people graduate high school and still can't read a tape measure or know how to use tools and build something. There are some FIRST teams that actually brought tools and shop space back into a school and educated students in mechanical, electrical and programing that they otherwise would have never been exposed to. Sadly some schools/Boards of Ed are blind or ignorant of that.


I wish Team 47 and it's members the best,

Jason

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Why wouldn't I? I saw dew and ran, reading that I had to be at MARC to claim it.

I might even be there, who knows.

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Well, tell you what: If you make it out here, I will personally hand you two (2) cases of the newly rereleased Mountain Dew Game Fuel.

You may consider it a bribe.:]