Quote:
Originally Posted by Landoise5
Both teams there had absolutely fantastic and inspiring stories and content. Blew me away  |
As an alumni of team 27, and someone with friends who graduated from 503, 33, and some other great FiM teams, I have to agree with you. (And yes, I will be biased here
even though I'm trying not to be)
There are many things that teams like 503, 27, 33, and awesome up-and-comers like 2337 do above and beyond in FiM and outside of it. But it's not always the "big name" teams doing this alone, there's a lot of inspiration (at least there was to me) from teams and people I (and the teams) have interacted with.
For example, when I was on Team RUSH, in 2011, we hosted a rookie team (3534, then Team Gizmo, now House of Cards) in our shop. It was an enlightening experience for me, a junior at the time. I hope someone from 3534 will read this, because I want to say that working with them, as weird as it may sound, motivated me to educate people about FIRST more, and inspire existing participants to continue on and inspire others. I would say that every rookie team has it tough, so coming from a team that operates like a well-oiled machine year after year, it was like a wake up call saying that there ARE teams out there that need(ed) help getting started.
And cheering for other teams. Cheering for the accomplishments of others is what made FIRST what it was for me. That's the point of this long and semi-off-topic post. No matter who wins the "big one" this year, I will feel inspired, as I always have, by their accomplishments and achievements, but also by who they interacted with to get there. It's not one team doing all the work, it's every other team they've competed with, competed against, built with, shared ideas with, and just had FUN with, helping them along the way. Of course I'd love to see 27 win it, but to be honest, I'd be happy if 503 won, or even teams I've never seen or heard of, like 604 or 2080.
FIRST is about inspiration. Every team I've ever seen has inspired me in some way. From the one-person team this year, to the stories of the original 28 in 1992.
My advice: don't let an award shape your team - if you do that you'll never be happy (And you'll never win
). Let your members shape your team, let your mentors shape your team, and let other teams shape your team.
Yes, that was a jumble of thoughts. Props if you read it all.
