[John Retkowski]

One of the most exciting things: Being able to do so much these past two years. In 2013 we were ranked 54th in the world, and won our first district in awhile. In 2014 we won both district competitions we attended. It was some of the most exciting moments I've had beating seemingly impossible odds and coming out on top when we weren't even sure if we would get picked for elims.

One of the most annoying/ saddening things: Lack of resources. Don't get me wrong we've been trying very hard and doing fairly well with what we have, but it sometimes feels like we don't have much. Our only facility is a small workshop based out of a (very gracious) community college. We have a couple drill presses a band saw a small lathe and some power tools. We're very fortunate and grateful to have this equipment but it can be very frustrating when teams are talking about having a state of the art nasa laboratory with cnc mills and a dozens of engineering experts on everything. ( I know I'm exaggerating somewhat but this is how it feels.) Another not so much annoying but more depressing thing is that we lost five seniors this year which made up most of our drive team, and most of our experience in general. Our team this year is made up of seven students and often it feels overwhelming being thrust into positions that were before out of the question for us to occupy. It is very frustrating hearing teams complaining about "only" have twenty incoming students for the new year. As of right now, we have zero new students.

The only thing we can do is keep trying our best for excellence. FRC has still been fairly kind to our team in recent years. No matter what happens it is still extremely fun, and without a doubt one of the best things that has happened to me.