[Jay O'Donnell]

The short amount of time between week 6 events and NE Champs and then the short amount of time between NE Champs and St. Louis is horrible. We're lucky enough to be a Chairman's winning team, but everyone else won't know if they qualify for NE Champs until Saturday, four days before NE Champs. How are they all supposed to coordinate getting absences excused, work taken off, rides coordinated, and hotels coordinated (if needed) in less than 4 days, along with getting ready for the competition itself? And then if you qualify for St. Louis, you have about a week to prepare for a large trip probably involving flying and hotels, missing three days of school, and shipping your robot. It's absolutely ridiculous. I feel bad for the teams who are on the border of making it to NE Champs right now, because they are going to have a rough four days of preparation.