You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

This thread is for the proud moments that have occurred. The ones that help you understand that you 'get it'. These can be from the distant past, the recent past, the present, or even about the future. They can be about something you have done, realized, or helped with. They can be about your observations of others or even the impact of seeing something someone has done or is doing.

It's kind of like the popular thread - You Know You've Overdosed On FIRST When... only different.

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I have been proud to be a FIRSTer when I can share stories of students, mentors, and teams that I've come to know, with my 81 year old mother, and she waits with eyes sparkling, to hear 'just one more story'.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

I'm proud to be a FIRSTer when I just started becoming a source of knowledge and information thanks to the amazing mentors on Chief Delphi and on my own team. :)

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When you know that there are 3 students that didn't make the picture...

When you can still bring the "I" and your "A game"...:cool:

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

when i wear my safety goggles all year round

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you know you're going to meet someone important, so you put on your robotics team shirt.

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When people call you a nerd or a geek and you thank them for the compliment

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When you wear this years team shirt so often its starting to fade.

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when you realize that, for every major event, (including the surprise party people threw for me today), you're wearing a team shirt.

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Good idea for a thread. Nice thinking!

when local schools actually count FIRST teams as a varsity sport/team

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Ohh man, I'm jealous.

When you're proud that you've managed to make friends on other teams, and that those friendships have affected yourself and your team in more ways than you thought possible.
...and when you know that the friendships that you form in FIRST will last a lifetime, and you can't say that of some of your non-FIRST friends.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

when you realize FIRST is one of the solutions to your school district's problems.

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an award a team gave you hypes the team up better then a FIRST given award.

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The possibilities are endless.

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Oh, c'mon I'd think this thread would be jumping by now!

...when a member states that he's learned more about IT/Media through FIRST than through any other way.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

My web design teacher gave a small class speech on how the beginning FIRSTers may be the head of big companies or an interviewer in college. When a person goes to interview for that job or college, the head may to talk about past experiences about their life in FIRST, and make it more likely to get that job or get into that college. Although that was the general idea of the speech and I can't remember much more, it made me proud to be a FIRSTer.
:)

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

When you've played baseball for 11 years, including all your years of high school, and as a senior...

...you quit the baseball team to focus on expanding your role on the robotics team.

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... You know one day you will make a difference.

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When you can be an asset a new team, and feel like you're helping them out by being a mentor.

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When people who used to wonder what the heck you did every winter now brag to you about how their kids are doing in robotics.

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...you realize that FIRST is one of the few things helping you keep a firm grip on your sanity.

True story.

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-A friend is trying to decide whether to start an FTC team or not, and after chatting on FB for a while, he changes his status to
"int Richard = Savior(everything);"

-You explain to someone how do do something, they go off and do it, come back and ask, "is this right?" and you say,



.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

when your mom asks you why your team shirts are always in the wash...because you wear them as often as you can !!!!

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When you meet someone and when you get on the discussion of what sports do you play and I say that I do robotics and they reply with, "Oh, are you involved with the FIRST program?" (and they aren't on a team). You can tell that FIRSTawarness has spread as a couple of years ago I would say that and people would be like, "Oh, I have no idea what that is?!" :]

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You walk into University for 1st year engineering and think, "yeah... I wouldn't be here without FIRST..."

*insert warm fuzzy feeling about program working*

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When KIDS from other teams go out of their way to find you at competition and THANK you for being a mentor.

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You know you're proud to be a FIRSTer when you choose to come and mentor for your team the year after you graduate.

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I am proud to be a Firster everytime time I see a student succeed, a rookie receive an award, a mentor tells me they will be coming back, or when that "light" in a student's eye blinks on when they have just answered a technical question for another team. I am proud whenever I see someone do their best, work with someone they don't know, discuss strategy like a pro, or congratulate another team on a job well done. I am proud when a non-team person who has been given a team tshirt is approached by hundreds of people and told "hey, I like your team!" or "You guys have a great robot". (This happens when we gave tshirts to visiting relatives at the Champs.) I am proud whenever I turn to a team during inspections and say "OK I just need two signatures here and I will go get your sticker, you passed!"
I am especially proud when someone I know receives the WFFA and I am able to be present to welcome them into the community.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

… you take vacation time from work to get up way too early and commute through rush hour traffic on a Thursday morning to get covered in grease and metal shavings helping a fellow FIRST rookie team AND when you look around the pit you have trouble picking out the rookie’s team shirts amongst the Kaleidoscope of team shirts all frantically helping side by side to get the robot ready for inspection and competition AND when you happen to glance down rookie row and see the same miracle occurring in every single rookie pit… Yeah, it made me proud to be a part of FIRST.

This was my experience at 2009 DC regional. Memories: Priceless.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

Tonight was a great night to be a FIRSTer. We held our sponsor Thank You Dinner

I got to:

Watch a young lady who didn't speak the first year she was on the team give a presentation at our sponsor dinner in front of 50 something people without batting an eye

Brag on one of my graduated seniors who is now ranked in the top 20 of programmers at UCF and he is a freshman.

Watch my son who started in FIRST 6 years ago mentor the students in the presentation tonight

Listen to every sponsor who came up to me and told me what an inspiration these kids are

See kids who have only been on the team for a month or so jump right in so that only someone who knew....would know that they were new.

Enjoy seeing many of our alumni come back to visit and still want to be a part of the team

Have a BLAST with a great bunch of people who have become my family

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

-When your school has no sports and your FRC team is the school's Football Team.

-When you hear people, especially little kids, talking about the robot you helped build as if they had just seen it, when they actually saw it 5 months before.

-When you are able to help someone by using a skill you learned because of your involvement in FIRST.

-When you see a rookie student that reminds you of yourself when you were a rookie when you were learning how to use the machinery in the shop.

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When you are thanked by a friend's parent, because they're so happy that you're helping your friend with a skill, through FIRST, that they can use in the real world.

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When you're hosting a competition in October, and you start counting down in March already!

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For me, when I heard about team 3125's bus accident, and saw the reaction teams from around the world had, I was proud to be a FIRSTer. It really proved to me once and for all that GP works, and just how much everyone in the program takes it to heart. The thread that contains the condolances already has about 1/3 of the posts that the second game hint got before build season. I know that right now we are all busy designing robots and thinking more about soccer than we ever have before, but that so many teams, students, and mentors took even 5 minutes out of their busy day to send a simple message to this team was amazing. I don't know of any other sport where this would happen.

Team 3125: know that there is an entire international community out there thinking and praying for you, and that in some small way we hope the messages we sent to you will help you get through this difficult time a little easier. If there is anything we can do, I am sure the entire FIRST community (even those of us a world apart) will rush to your side. Good luck, and have a great season.

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In the scheme of FIRST, I realize that I am a mere mentor puppy, as I am only going on 5 years with FRC and three with FLL. To put this in perpective, our lead FRC mentor has been to all of the FRC Championships and remembers flying to NH to pick up the kit - that was the only way to get the parts back then... A few favorite moments over my brief tenure:
1. When a home schooled student on our team designed a control system for Rack and Roll that won the Leadership in Controls award; he went on to pursue an engineering degree at UC and also still assists our team every year as a technical advisor at the Ohio Thunderhawk FLL regional which we host...
2. Coaching a week long FLL training class over the summer and burning up the entire curriculum in under 3 days; even the kids who had never seen an NXT kit were line tracking and using all of the sensors by that point, which triggered a mad dash for us to create new challenges for the students!
3. Seeing my FLL team win the Teamwork Award at this year's Thunderhawk Regional in Ohio...
4. When the Kilobytes (FRC1024) came to Atlanta a few years ago, they found thier tools and parts ended up somewhere else... We were pitted next to them and opened our pit to them. GP at its best!
5. Getting my 13 yearold son engaged in FIRST...
6. Getting my employer involved in supporting FIRST...

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

First competition as a freshman, i spent the first hour in the pits, helping other teams program their bot. Missed our first match too. But extremely happy to help other teams get their bots on the field and have a good match!

Having the first FLL kids realize what FIRST is like and how awesome it is, and beg to be on the FRC team not knowing there isn't a restriction on getting on the team.

Making my resume and having a giant skills section all because of a year in FIRST.

Finally, have given 20 little kids something to do with their lives that's not video games that's just as fun

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

When your relatives drive 2.5 hours just to come see your competition

When you complain about not being able to wear your team's shirt once every week or so

When the only time you can wake up early is if you're going to Robotics

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

Your dad drives 2 hours to see your FTC Competition.

You still participate though you lost your Xbox 360 in Portland last year.

You still wear your old shirts from previous years.

You mentor FLL or FTC teams and want to be an FRC mentor after you graduate.

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When you have connections in high places and get your teams photos into the school yearbook.

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You can honestly say you are just as proud for the FTC team that won competition as you would be for your own team.

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le Bump

You're proud to be a FIRSTer when you consider it more meaningful to be Team Captain then when you got your Eagle Scout

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You know you're proud to be a FIRSTer when you always see the need to correct people about Robotics not being a sport!

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This is only temporary. Your Eagle Scout will stay with you your whole life. It is far more important to your parents (and me too!) I bet.

Re: You Know You're Proud To Be A FIRSTer When...
 

Well yeah. But for the time being being an FRC Captain is far more fun :D

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When your main goal for 2012 was to teach a new generation of students that will replace all the team members in just one year. we had one year with a shortage of students and next year all the members will be the freshmans of this year.
This goal was greater than winning in the competition and I think I achieved it.
Also I chose what I want to learn in university just because my involvement with FIRST.