[Programmer3941]

Team 27 RUSH -- The interest so many student members showed in my team and the smiles with which they listened were truly inspiring. It was even more inspiring to listen to them explain many of their innovative outreach endeavors and bear our hundreds of detailed questions about each. They also encouraged teams in the most inventive way I have yet seen...they gave out their own "Spirit Award" to a team in Curie that (although their robot did not perform well) understood what FIRST is really about -- STEM, learning, attitudes, and values.

A mentor from team 836 Robobees -- This patient individual responded immediately to our call for help about intermittent BaneBot motor response, and remained in good humor when the motors showed no signs of failure once he showed up. He later returned to help us with camera issues and was a huge part of why we got that camera working.

Lastly, the longsuffering inspection crew of Curie -- Three of the inspectors stayed with us in our pit for hours as we fixed previously overlooked bumper infringements and wiring errors and re-mounted components after having completely leveled our robot for modification Wednesday night. They not only waited for us, but actually aided us in fixing each problem...thanks to their help, we were able to pass inspection (we were the last Curie team to do so) at 12:45pm, exactly 15 minutes before our (and the division's) first match at 1:00pm.