[JaneYoung]

I don't think you can nail down the traits, characteristics, and qualities of a Dean's List Finalist. You can try, certainly, but you will never be able to pigeonhole them. It's like trying to count the grains of sand or the stars in the sky.

Another aspect of this is that, as the Dean's List Award becomes more ingrained in the FRC awards program, more and more mentors will take the lead in the submissions. There are aspects of a student and a student's life/work/effort that a mentor values and can see that the team or peers may not be privy to or even understand. Students and mentors are partners but they are not peers and never will be.

There isn't a tried and true recipe for becoming a Dean's List Finalist. There isn't a cookie cutter shaped to cut out a Finalist. It's more of a a wonderful homemade soup that contains secret ingredients, a good broth as an excellent foundation, fresh vegetables, lots of spices, and, perhaps, a bit of a magic touch.

In the Woodie Flowers Finalists Award and the Woodie Flowers Award, there are likely common ingredients such as knowledge, quality, excellence, ability to communicate well, impact, and goodness knows what else. (They have their own wonderful soup mixtures.) In the Dean's List, students can't always be compared to the mentors because they grow and develop so much during their time in FRC. They may not be the strongest of communicators or, they may develop that skill. They may not know beans (a great soup ingredient) about the robot but their impact on the team is extraordinary or, they may have an amazing touch with the robot but they are not interested in community outreach or aware of the value of impact. They may have a personal challenge that they fight to overcome and do so with a Herculean yet humble effort.

Our robotics community loves to analyze data and constantly tries to nail down exactly what it takes to achieve/succeed - WIN. Sometimes, 'WIN' is filled with grace, beauty, determination, and quality beyond measure. I think the Dean's List candidates and Finalists are probably made of this type of WIN.

Good luck with this thread. I will be interested to read the posts in it.

Jane