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Originally Posted by Jared341
We all know that FIRST is not fair.
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Life isn't fair. This has been beat up pretty hard in other threads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jared341
Nobody can argue that the "have" teams can achieve objectively "bigger" things than those who "have not"...they have greater resources!
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"have not" teams can become "have" teams. It takes hard work and leadership in the mentors and the students. Too many times students interest is sparked and the adults don't sufficiently mentor the students and help support the team. The team could fail, or just survive. I see this tragedy more times than I can to mention.
The students that can push through those difficulties and exert enough leadership to help navigate the team into calmer financial, technical, and cultural waters are in my opinion excellent candidates for the Dean's List Award ( as a leadership, growth, sustainability award )
I'll just pose a question. Does having a lot of resources result in a 'culturally changing' high performance team ? Not necessarily.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jared341
But at the end of the day, all FIRST awards are most visible to us within the FIRST community. Outsiders do not (yet) really care.
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Absolutely. The pecking order of FIRST awards is mostly lost on non-FIRST'ers. And probably to a large degree it may not really matter, maybe......
What we are creating is what is called a "Public Value" argument. The general public just needs to say, FIRST is great, it is needed, it should be supported, etc, "I'm going to support what you do and now I'm going to the mall"...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jared341
"How much cultural change is this person/team really affecting?"
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The student that has the ability to demonstrate technical excellence and translate that into a public value argument that helps promote the growth and development of STEM programs like FIRST is the ideal Dean's List candidate.