View Single Post
  #12   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 22-03-2014, 20:43
bam-bam bam-bam is offline
Registered User
no team
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: West Lafayette
Posts: 1,220
bam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond reputebam-bam has a reputation beyond repute
Re: 2014 Boilermaker

Thank you to all the teams that came out to BMR this year. This was a very exciting year, with many of the familiar faces gone leaving behind new ones. Thank you to 337, 1329, 2655, 2959, and 4213 for being new faces and bringing an air of competitiveness to BMR.

Congratulations to the winning alliance of 3147, 135, and 3301.

I don't think we all realized how much of a force 135 was until the final matches. It was incredible seeing how well that robot managed to score despite being double teamed. 3147 was certainly a crafty little team, working behind the scenes, and 3301 rounded out the alliance well with their defense.

The finalist alliance of 1756, 2959, and 3487 certainly are deserving of some recognition also. They had to get through an extremely difficult combination of 461, 868, and 1760 in the semifinals, and pushed the winning alliance to the limit. They would have won both matches if not for penalties. Congratulations to 1756 for moving on due to 135's wildcard. I know that 1756 will tear it up at the Champs- this was certainly not enough for them, and I know they want some more than this.

Congratulations to 2655 for their Chairman's.

Lastly, I want to send my sincere congratulations to WFFA Mike Taylor of 1529 and my good friend Dean's List finalist Alex Schutte of also 1529.

Mike Taylor was one of those mentors that you wonder would get nominated- he was certainly deserving of the award when I was only a student (back in 2010!). He is the reason why I had came back for my sophomore year after having deliberated for the entire 2010 season whether I should continue or not, and is indirectly why I have been within FIRST for all 4 years of my time in high school. I am sure that I would not be in engineering if it was not for him.

Alex Schutte is someone that I have tremendous respect for as someone that is a year younger than I am. I remember the day talking with him at the end of the 2013 Crossroads regional about how frustrated he was at the state of team was at the time. If there was one factor in changing 1529 from the rookie 'bot to a solid team that a shot at getting picked for eliminations, it would be him. He took the entire summer to seek out help from mentors from 829, 1018, and 1741, actively recruited as many mentors as he could possibly, start several FLL teams, and grew the number of students from a meager amount to a team full of freshmen and sophomores.

1529 was a team that was struggling down under, falling off from a promising 2011 year to a team that had no base. They had lost all out-of-school mentors during the 2013 season along with losing several sponsors. All of this happened while their school was undergoing a major renovation to their facilities, which resulted in forcing 1529 to move their building spaces for different rooms. To be able to be recognized for hard work from their students (in writing the WFFA essay), it means a lot to 1529, and will hopefully set up for future success one day.
__________________
FRC 1529: 2010-2011
FRC 1501: 2012-2013, 2012 BMR winners (thank you 1756 & 4028)
FRC 461: 2015
2014 FF Elgin Clock Award Winner(Automated Scoring)

Last edited by bam-bam : 22-03-2014 at 20:49.