[Taylor]

The timing of the announcement/deadline doesn't bother me. They probably have their reasons for making the homework due on a seemingly random autumn date. Perhaps they're processing the submissions to have a polished video for kickoff? Or the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade?

FIRST HQ is full of pretty smart people. I'm not going to question their methods. Given, sometimes they get excited and push ideas out before they're fully developed or with poor timing (first year of Dean's List, for example). But I'll forgive them that because the ideas they push out are good ones.

When Dean gave the homework, it was at a collection of (most of) the best and brightest and most motivated teams FIRST has, across the spectrum. Dean is surrounded with folks constantly asking him, "How high would you like us to jump today, Sir?" To expect a more-than-paltry result from his homework request is not out of line. Especially since a good chunk of the teams at CMP have experience making videos for Chairman's - along with strong footage and b-roll from their Chairman's video that could feasibly be tweaked for the homework

I do wish they had hyped it more on twitter and facebook and other social media to reach and charge the students and keep the task top-of-mind.