Chairman Award Repeats
 

At our local regional the same team has won chairman two years in a row. Based on the rules this seems legal but is it. How can newer teams ever catch them??

wendy holladay

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Wendy,
This is certainly in the rules but you also must remember that there are very few teams that attempt Chairman's. I don't what your regional stats are but I heard of one regional that had fewer than 10% of the available teams at the regional make a presentation.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

The Chairman's award recognizes a team that makes a good role model for other teams, so one of the things your team can do is figure out what things they do that are worth emulating. And the best part of that is that Chairman's teams will help you do that. I know our team loves to share the things we do with other teams with the hope that it will make the other teams stronger as well!

And it isn't a matter of "catching" them. It's a matter of finding your own team's strength and using them to make the greatest impact on your team, your school (or sponsoring organizations, i.e. Girl Scouts, 4-H), your community, and so on. And its a matter of being proud of your efforts and taking the time to write the essay, make the video, complete the application, prepare the presentation and having a great time telling the judges who you are and what you've done!

Young teams "catch" older teams all the time. I wish that all the teams would take the time to apply for Chairman's. To me, the process of documenting your team's efforts is worth so much in developing student leadership and presentation skills, and is useful for selling your team to your school and sponsors.

Please continue to GO FOR IT!!!

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

up here in canada, 1114 (Simbotics)has collected 3 RCAs (WAT-2006,2008, GTR-2009), and are 5-time defending champions at GTR (2005-2009). Also 1305 (NNSRI) has collected 2 RCAs from WAT (2007,2009).

Its hard for judges to not award it to the same few teams when theres a limited pool of teams to choose from. I'm not sure its the judges who are to blame, but rather the teams that arent making themselves stand out.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

The strive for the Chairman's award is by far more important than the award.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Do not try to limit those who succeed. First be them, and then beat them.


+0.02

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Or rather, it's the teams that don't submit for whatever reason. That makes the pool smaller, leading to a certain number of repeat submitters, leading to more repeat winners.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Also remember the Chairman's Award represents a sustained effort and excellence, not just a one year effort. Teams with this sort of sustained effort stand a good chance of earning consecutive regional Chairman's Awards.

I also like to think of the Chairman's Award as the recognition of a team's effort to be the embodiment of FIRST's mission, not necessarily a contest to be won. It's better to focus on the meaning of FIRST in everything the team does, and be sure that is part of everything you do, then the Award will be one of many ways that the team receives recognition.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Competition is the adrenalin that makes us try even harder.
Every year we build a robot that we believe is far more sophisticated and more clever than the previous years. Seldom have we ever earn our way into a regional final and never have we won a regional (nor championship division) final. Many teams can relate to these W/L record.

Yet we are excited to compete every year because FIRST really isn't about the robot. It took a year or two before we really realized it. It is the attitude of the students; the time with our mentors and each other. It's the fun we have (and the shared emotions of losing, yet again). It's the experience of solving real problems that are not fake school assignments. It's the amazing number of our students who go to college and choose (Engineering at ASU has less than 50% engineering grad rate)

It's not that our students were acquiring superior technical skills. It was not the "training" they acquired that was producing these future engineers. It was the ezperience of working with each other; real life problem solving; seeking knowledge to overcome an obstacle (thanks Chief Delphi), Basically, learning life skills, forming networks, depending on the tea to work through real life problems and finding satisfaction and fun in the process. It was the competition; it was the journey; not the winning that that was important.

Our first year we submitted a Chairman’s because it was a NASA grant requirement. We did submit the second year, but it was secondary to the effort we pu into the robot.

Our third year, we spent more emphasis on the Chairmen’s writing and presentation. One of our grants that year was from Phelps Dodge. We asked them if they had anyone who would mentor us in presenting. Two executives volunteered, and like what happens to most mentors, they became close to the kids and a lot more than learning presentation skills happened. Our Chairmen’s writing and presentation had an amazing effect on all of us. We became very effective in “changing the culture” of our school, neighborhood, city, state and even earned a national reputation. Even though or robots, never won a top award!

We began to win our regional Chairman award, but not the Championship Chairman. The teams that were chosen certainly were phenomenal and although we realized they really were the best, we would spend the following Sunday morning trying to think of what more could we have possibly done? (And each year, somehow, we did more. Not so much to win the Chairman’s, but because we really wanted to best our previous efforts and we really were making a big difference, very positive impact on a lot of kids and adults) It was at one of those “day after” meetings when one of the kids said the most profound statement, “Look how much we strive to improve when we lose. We try to think of more ways to affect people. Would we work as hard after winning? Maybe being close to first is blessing, winning could be a curse.”

In 2008 we did receive the Championship Chairman’s Award. The team agreed that even though we were no longer eligible for Chairman’s, we would still submit one because not only was it the most important document of our teams history, but it keeps us focused on what it really important about FIRST. Most of our old robots have been scraped or parts. Our Chairman submissions are still read every year by the whole team.

As a bonus, we have meet and have become friends with several authors and journalists who have given us insight into the writing that we never learn in school.

Sorry this post is so long, but I really believe the Chairman’s activity is very important and valuable. The competition is the “spice” that adds intensity to the process. Not winning, after the 2 hour emotional downer, really fuels greater focus on FRIST values and improves the team. The communication skills and experience acquired are extremely valuable. Maybe one of the most important engineering skills the kids acquire in high school.

842 FIRST award history:
2009 Arizona Regional Judges Award
2009 Arizona Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award
2008 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2008 Arizona Regional UL Industrial Safety Award
2008 FIRST Championship Chairman's Award Winner
2008 FIRST Championship Finalist - Archimedes Division
2008 Las Vegas Regional KPC&B Entrepreneurship
2008 Las Vegas Regional Regional Finalist
2008 Los Angeles Regional KPC&B Entrepreneurship
2007 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2007 Arizona Regional Finalist
2007 Las Vegas Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2006 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2006 The Championship Event Chairman's Honorable Mention #3
2005 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2005 The Championship Event Engineering Inspiration Award
2004 Arizona Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2003 Southern California Regional Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology"

842 Chairman submissions:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2302

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

It is most certainly legal.

How can you catch them? First, talk to them. Ask about what they did to deserve Chairman's. Ask about their presentation. Ask how long they've been doing those things, and the impact they have had on the team and the community. Have a good, long conversation.

Then get your team to do those kinds of things. Not exactly what the other team did/does, but things you team can be passionate about. Make the world a better place, starting in your little corner of town, and work outwards from there. As a team, you CAN make a difference. Do it for the right reasons and you will be recognized.

Oh, yes: You can (should) also talk to other Chairman's winners. Same thing as above. Make friends, change the world.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Allan,
What teams should know after reading your post is that Chairman's is attainable. I am proud to know your team and their accomplishments. I am also proud to know the other teams still trying for Chairman's. So many are deserving, it must be very difficult to be a judge.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

What better way to illustrate how a team can overcome a streak of regional Chairman's Awards than the list on N7UJJ post of FRC842's awards. Notice they earned the Arizona Regional Chairman's Award 2005-2008, four years in a row.

What happened in 2009?

A second year team 2486 The Coconuts earned the Arizona Regional Chairman's Award.

It can be done.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Not to take anything away from 2486, but if I recall the 2009 rules correctly, all Championship CA winners were restricted from winning the RCA. Then again, that's still a tough field with a number of veteran teams that could submit. And the fact that 842 still submitted shows that they'll be winning it again--they'll have 5 years of practice when they're eligible again.

There is another streak that's probably about to be broken; 236 has 6 straight RCAs and finally got their Championship CA. This leaves the CT RCA up for grabs in a tough bunch of veteran teams.

So that's one other way to catch up: have your local team that keeps winning win the Championship CA.;) That'll give you a few years where it's anybody's award.

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

By continuing to build on the team strengths and by identifying the team weaknesses and working to strengthen them. In FRC, the growth and development of a team never stops. Dr. Cameron from FRC 842 posted in this thread and directed you towards the team's Chairman's submissions. Take the time to read them. 842 is now a Hall Of Fame team, having garnered the Championship Chairman's in 2008, yet they continue to develop and strengthen their team by setting new goals and working towards them each year.

What impact does your team have on the community that you are a part of? Look at that question and see if you can identify the community that I'm talking about. :) Examples: your school, your town or city, your state, your educational system - and keep on going.

Team development is rather like peeling back the layers of an onion - you accomplish goals that you've set as a team - that's one layer - then you look and there's another layer that hasn't been looked at, thought about, worked through, or achieved. Each year, as the team focuses on achieving the goals that are set, it makes for a stronger contender for the Chairman's Award, and perhaps, other awards as well.

Don't give up - get busy.

All the best,
Jane

Re: Chairman Award Repeats
 

Here is a link to a powertpoint on google docs that we use to get teams to submit chairmans and why its important
https://docs.google.com/present/edit...l2cjZnZw&hl=en