[gr8dragon]

The teachers strike was really damaging to FIRST in Canada by removing a lot of veteran teams from regionals. The amazing part about the strike in my opinion though, is the fact that alumni/students/mentors, from teams that couldn't run this season, went on to help other teams. Personally I had the wonderful opportunity to work with team 1241 this year as a result. I think that in this way people have a chance to share how different teams run the season differently and take the best from here and there and put it together to be better overall. I imagine that if these people go back to their original teams next year, then they bring back all of this knowledge and can help their original teams do even better. In line with that is also that in Canada teams are starting to retain more and more alumni as mentors. I think that as a result their respective teams are getting better year after year. The alumni/mentor force is growing in Canada and is something I think that will help every team.

One thing I think that a lot of people may not know about Canadian regionals and teams is that, despite the rivalries all the teams don't forget to help each other out. At championships we cheer for each other, we share parts and we really do work like a community. To avoid sounding cliche, the fact that we can compete so much and compete the right way means that we can truly take the time to appreciate each others skills and be inspired by one another.

I would like to thank 1241 and any other teams that let members of "rival" teams join in their ranks. I am sure everyone else who had the chance had just as amazing an experience as I. It was truly humbling to be accepted into teams and be offered a job and be trusted to do what you do best.

As J -No said in his post big thank you to Canada FIRST for helping teams settle in during the strike period.