Excellence (if you can call it that for me) stems from...in my case...a lot of hard work.
Example: in 2009, I was one of the three students who built our robot in three days. We planned on taking a little more time than that, but between the snowpocalypse in Philly, and some other team politics (which I hated), it was T-3 days to ship day, and just a driving base with an intake. Our lead mentor had just joined the team three weeks ago, and being an EE, he wasn't too familiar with the mech aspects of the robot. Thanks to the senior class of 2008 for teaching us the ropes, and some hard work we had a robot that was fully functional the morning before ship day. It happens to be the only 304 robot with a picture on CD
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This was one of the most exhilarating and teaching experiences I've had, as a student and possibly as a mentor. To, in three days, take a drivetrain and make what some considered was the second best defensive robot at Philly that year. It all happened with a lot of hard work.
That's excellence for me. My rookie season (2008) was a learning experience. My next year was when it really got slammed into gear. A lot of hard work and dedication. I hope it's something that's rubbed off on the team I'm mentoring right now, they are an awesome group of kids.
