[Red2486]

Some of these points have already been made, but this is an excerpt from our Chairman's Guide:

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1. It is documentation of everything you have done that year. If nothing else, your Chairman’s Award submission is an excellent way to document your team’s growth and accomplishments each year. The Chairman’s video is also a great way to get your team and FIRST out there for potential sponsors and community members.

2. It will allow your team to analyze the program you have in place. You might be disappointed by the numbers, but you may also be very surprised. The Chairman’s Award submission is also a good tool when it comes to setting team goals.

3. It will change your team and your community for the better. If your team has traditionally only been a “robot” or “build season” team, submitting your first Chairman’s Award is a huge step in advancing your team towards becoming a “Chairman’s Team” and leaving an impact on your community. The award submission introduces videography, writing skills, public speaking, and more, thus pulling in more students who may not have been interested in robotics before.

4. It refocuses your team on the values and messages of FIRST. It can be easy for teams to forget that the real reason FIRST exists is not to build a robot, but to inspire others to pursue and appreciate STEM. Applying for the Chairman’s Award steers teams back to the core values of FIRST because in the process you have to explain why your team embodies FIRST’s core values. The more you look at and embrace these values, the easier it will be for your team to embody them.

5. It allows your team to teach itself your mission and history. When you create a Chairman’s submission, you are forced to look at almost everything you have done as a team. This usually means going back pretty far in the history as well as figuring out what your current mission is. Team history and a team mission are two things every team member should know.

6. In general, Chairman’s teams seem to perform better on the field and at competitions. The reason Chairman’s teams do so well is two main reasons: a) When you have a strong, sustainable program with lots of partnerships (like many Chairman’s teams have) you gain more mentors, funding, build space, machines, team members and many things that contribute to a better robot on the field. b) Chairman’s teams understand and embody FIRST. They are quality teams and understand that FIRST isn’t just a competition, but also a celebration. There are many examples of Regional and Championship Chairman’s Award winning teams doing well in both aspects of competition. Annually, in division finals, 1/3 of teams are Engineering Inspiration or Chairman’s Award winning teams. In 2005 The Hot Team won Championship Chairman’s and on Einstein. 7 out of the past 10 Championship Chairman’s Award winning teams have made appearances on Einstein; many of these teams have even won on Einstein. It is no coincidence that these teams are successful in so many areas; it’s because they have incredibly strong partnerships in their community that gives them access to the tools they need to succeed.