[TomWx]

To all of you who have said thank you to the volunteers: You're welcome. :-)

Seeing what happened this past weekend is the reason that I keep getting involved with FIRST. As the Volunteer Coordinator, I want to thank all the teams that made this an amazing event. (Team 2539, I'm still waiting to see those videos of me dancing at H-H.)

I've already emailed everyone whose email address I have in VIMS, but to the volunteers who I could not email directly, thank you for your help this past weekend. Your time, dedication, and commitment is what makes the event run so smoothly. The number of compliments I've received is astounding, and that's directly because of your efforts. Thank you.

I want to share with you all two items from SCH. For those teams that were there or watching, you know that we had a delay on Friday due to some issue with the field area. (I still don't know exactly what happened, and I don't really care.) I was approached by several people after the fact that told me they had no idea there was a major stoppage! Everything else continued to run smoothly while the field personnel worked on the problem. To me, that's a major tribute to the volunteers and event staff to keep everything running so smoothly.

Second, I happened across several students this weekend (when I had free time to go in the pits) that truly get the concept of Gracious Professionalism. This is why I keep volunteering. When I see a student helping another team, doing what is right over what is more fun at the moment, working to make others' FIRST experience better, I am willed with an incredible sense of pride. Thank you to the students of 1218, 708, 2729, and the myriad other teams I know I'm forgetting who helped me see that what we're doing as mentors and volunteers is paying off. (A special thanks to one particular student of 365 who, after we spoke, made me cry out of happiness. You know who you are.)

To those of you continuing on to other districts, regionals, and championships, I wish you the best of luck. For those of you who are done, be proud of what you've accomplished. One person, one team, one event at a time, you are changing the world for the better. I know because I've seen it first hand.

-Tom

Thomas Wexler
Volunteer Coordinator
Chestnut Hill FIRST Robotics District Competition