[Mikell Taylor]

Hi everyone,

On behalf of the planning committee, I hope you all had an absolute blast, because we sure did. We put in a lot of effort starting in September to make this event happen, and seeing the energy, excitement, and flat out incredible robots reminds us why we do this. I was so impressed with the quality of play, the GP of every team, and the spirit you all showed. Well done, and thank you for helping to make Boston awesome!

Thanks also for your kind words on here. I always love to pass them along to our committee and volunteers. We really do appreciate feedback (good or bad!).

One quick thing, an email regarding lost and found went out from Steve Cremer this morning. There are a number of items missing and we would appreciate it if you could look through your packed up equipment to see if something mistakenly worked its way into your pit and home with you. In particular, one of our VIPs (a dean at BU) had someone accidentally take home his coat instead of their own, so we would really like to find out where that swap happened and get coats back to their rightful owners. Please, if anyone on here was or knows anyone who was at the VIP luncheon, double-check to make sure your coat is actually yours!

And on a personal note, as was announced Saturday afternoon, for personal logistical reasons involving a few upcoming intercontinental moves, this was my last year as part of the Boston Regional Planning Committee. I was a founding member of the committee in 2006 and have been President for five years. I admit that usually around early March each year I'm questioning why I volunteer to do this -- it becomes basically a second full time job for several months and by March I'm pretty stressed out -- but during this particular event, I had several very poignant reminders. As the opening chords of "Thunderstruck" started on Friday morning for opening ceremonies and everyone started yelling and cheering. As Eric relayed the GP tale of TJ^2's fall. The incredible excitement of the finals that had me jumping out of my seat behind the scoring table and screaming along with everyone else. The brilliant smiles (and sometimes tears!) on teams' faces as they came through the award lines. The outstanding group of volunteers that make Boston go, whom I have been privileged to get to know over the past years. It has been an incredible, rewarding, humbling experience to be a part of the Boston Regional, and I can't thank all of you enough for being a part of our event and making it worth every bit of stress. I will miss it.