[Rich Kressly]

The other thing I find in the "powerhouse" teams is that, no matter how good they get, they continue to learn from their community. Their own pride/ego is always in check and they never stop considering that there may be great ideas out there they can use.

Ex 1: Just this year, 148 (through JVN's blog) tells us that perhaps the best part of their manipulator design cam directly from the 2007 Team 67 robot.

Ex 2: Team 1114 in 2006. They had already been exceedingly successful on the field and with awards. It was the same year they manufactured a part for 1712's rookie robot and then delivered to to PA from Canada! Yet, anything but full of themselves they wanted to improve their chances with Chairman's. They were certainly a worthy team, but hungered to know what I knew/thought about it since I had been with 103 in 2003 and spent time as a Sr. Mentor as well. So, over instant messenger, for maybe a 2 hour period I brain dumped to Karthik everything I knew about the award, the entry, maintaining the team's integrity, giving his team the best chance to win, but doing it the "right" way as well. This involved some review of their previous work and pushing some files in his direction. Mind you this all took place after midnight the way I recall. Karthik then turned around, took the info to his team, and they implemented from the lessons learned where they could. Egoless. Hungry. Work ethic. 1114 happened to win a regional CA that year. Because they deserved to, because they worked at it, and because they learned from others. While still on the field with the trophy, Karthik pulled out his phone, dialed my number, and I heard a crying student say "thank you." Class act. I have no idea how much I helped them, but I can tell you that the feeling I had inside from that phone call was nearly equal to my own team winning the CCA in 2003.