[penguinfrk]

After chewing over it for a day or two, I've found a better way to organize my thoughts on this subject.

The way I see it--

A FIRST team is like a dandelion. It starts out as a seed, and then it grows. With unspeakable effort from the sun, the rain, the soil--the students, the parents, the mentors--it grows healthy and strong. It grows into a beautiful, delicate sphere, the pinnacle of science and technology, absolutely awe-inspiring.

And then, it takes a single individual to blow apart every seed apart. The dandelion gives its seeds selflessly away. These seeds twirl and whirl, and where they land, new inspirations grow new dandelions.

A Dean's List Winner or a Woodie Flower's Honoree is exactly that inspiring, charismatic, initiative-taking individual that blows the seeds of inspiration across the community they are in.

We are all part of a field of dandelions that owe its existence to these individuals. I feel honored to have worked so closely with one such individual.