[Cynette]

I really like the Dean's List Award.

To go through some of the points discussed in this thread...

Awards Ceremony - At Regionals - It will be nice when it settles into a routine. The first two years the award was given between the EI and the RCA award at the regionals we attended. This year at FLR they tied it with a special presentation and speaker which moved it to Saturday morning. I thought the presentation was wonderful and the special time slot befitting the award. However we had told the parents of the nominees that it would be Saturday afternoon, not morning. By luck, the parents were there of the student from our team who was selected as a finalist.

At Championships - I wish there was more time to make the presentation and that it didn't get sandwiched between matches making it difficult for teams to attend if they have a last match or first match surrounding the lunch break. But I wish that about many of the events at Championships. Everything is shoehorned in and that's the way it will stay as long as the whole event is a Robot Competition. I like that it is a separate event from the final awards ceremony, but I wish that they would bring all the finalists up for a photo op before making the announcement. I think the students enjoyed the party atmosphere and the ice cream was a great touch this year!

Someone mentioned having the students have a chance to get together at Championships. Every year so far there has been a grassroots effort to have the students meet, two years as part of Robo Prom and this year as a side event to the All Rookie Meet and Greet. Students seem all gung ho about attending, but only a few make it. I think the reality of the Championship schedules hit and the students realize how hard it is to add just one more thing to their schedules, especially if the students are the team leaders, on drive team, in pit crew, etc. And they often are, that's what makes them stand our in their teams to be the Dean's List Nominee.

As far as the criteria go, I think it is well written and developed. At least for our team as we've had a Dean's List finalist in each of the three years. We have always selected Juniors. To our mentors, the benefits of the award to the Juniors outweighs the benefits to the Seniors and has since the beginning. If we felt that we did not have a junior who met the criteria, we would certainly nominate a senior, but our preference has always been a junior. Our nominees have always had a level of technical expertise to include in the nomination essay, because our team stresses the technical aspects balanced with the leadership and the non technical aspects of team management, so we haven't hit a concern over nominating a non tech student for the award.

The only part of the nomination process that we do not like is including the student's GPAs. Most of our Juniors do not know their GPAs because they are just beginning the college application process. To get the GPAs we have to have the students interested on being nominated for the award request that their GPAs be released to the mentors preparing the essays. But it is good practice for the students to prepare for prepping college and scholarship applications, so we cope!

I don't really have an opinion on the impact of the colleges that have specifically worked with Dean and are showing an interest in the Dean's List Students other than I thought it was a great opportunity for the students to get more exposure!

I believe that all of the teams love their Dean's List nominees! I've heard other teams mentors tell me stories about their nominees and everyone of them sounds like they would be an amazing representative of FIRST. I do not envy those who select the Finalists at regionals and I would believe that that the Kamen Family and the other judges have a great challenge each year to select only 10 of the finalists as the Dean's List winners.