pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Well, sorry the photo is blurry - it looked fine when I uploaded it... I thought.

We had mentors from:
Anderson - FRC 2158 - AusTIN CANs
http://www.austincans.org

Eastside High School - FRC 3320 - Eastside GTs

The Girl Scout team - FRC 2881 - Lady Cans
http://www.frcteam2881.com/

Liberal Arts And Science Academy - FRC 418 - LASA/Purple Haze
http://www.lasarobotics.org

Manor New Tech High School - FRC 2789 - Techsplosion
http://www.team2789.com/

Westlake High School - FRC 2468 - Chap Robotics
http://www.chaprobotics.com/

Westwood - FRC 2583 - Westwood Robotics
http://www.westwoodrobotics.org

The Woodlands - FRC 1477 - Texas Torque
http://www.texastorque.org

Jane

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Why is Danny holding a pool cue? Must've been some meeting...:D

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

James Tonthat- one of the coolest mentors down there in Texas :D

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Interesting story there... that is a crutch. Bertucci is using Danny's other crutch. Danny did some damage to a foot doing something athletic and is in a boot. It's really kind of pitiful. Anyway - Danny told the team 3 years ago that if we achieved a goal, that he would take a tap dancing lesson from one of our team members and do a little dance. The team achieved the goal and he owes us. It just so happens that he injures one or the other of his feet every single year. We are on year 3 now and no tap dancing performance by Danny Diaz as yet. I think that next year we should say - no participation in anything athletic until - after - the lesson and tap dancing performance. And.. although it is tap dancing, I'm thinking of making Danny a purple tutu. A nice big fluffy one. He really deserves it.

Akash, James is pretty cool. When he heard about the meeting, he asked if he could attend. I like that.

EDIT: Let me try to explain the reason that I asked the mentors to gather. It's something I've been wanting to do for 4 years and have pursued actively (off and on) for 3 years. My thinking was and is that there are ways to help teams in areas with their sustainability challenges and also with the huge learning curve that rookies have. I've wanted to call the mentors together to explore possibilities of forming an alliance or coalition in our area. The meeting on June 9th was to provide an opportunity for the teams' mentors to get together and talk about it. I gave us all a homework assignment so that we would have an opportunity to learn more about each other and think about forming a group. They all agreed to one more meeting this summer to discuss the purpose of the group.

Jane

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Kudos to Jane for organizing this foundational meeting and to all the Austin, Texas area FRC teams for committing to brainstorm on the mission/goals/means of such a support group.

Grassroots and regional efforts such as this are likely to be in critical need as the Texas Workforce Commission grant goes forward:)

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Ah, yes - a purple tutu. Apropos.
That begs the question: "What is the sound of one foot tap dancing?" :p

Good idea on the mentor meeting Jane, we need to try something like that up here in NJ.
Also, when you see Danny, send him my wishes for a speedy and lasting recovery. He helped us a lot a few years ago when we just started with LabView, and I'll never forget that. I was pleased to be able to meet him in Atlanta this year.

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

That was basically my question. :)
I'll pass on your kind words, Don.

Jane

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Thanks Akash and thanks Jane.

I've been off of Chief and away from FIRST for a while, it was a great meeting to get back into the mix of things.

Re: pic: Austin Area Mentors and Mike Henry, FIRST Senior Mentor
 

Just a quick update on FRC 3320 at Eastside Memorial HS in Austin, TX USA.

Their handle is now the "M&Ms". That is for Miracles & Machines: FRC Team 3320.

They are now on www.facebook.com/FRC3320
and their website is: http://www.eastsiderobotics.com/

Thanks for your interest in our team!