Bayou Magic also struck 3946 this year. Our season goal was clear and simple - go to playoffs. We designed a landfill robot, recognizing that we were not yet capable of competing with the local power houses who would be building chute stackers. We were regularly making capped stacks of five or six in practice, even after we moved back to field ranges.
Unfortunately, most of our alliance partners in seeding matches seemed more interested in blocking or view or path or knocking over our stacks than in scoring. The two little victories on Friday were that we confirmed that we had built our most reliable 'bot to date, and that our principal and vice principal (football guys) would be making the hour drive to Kenner on Saturday - their first overt support of the team in all this time.
By about our fifth match, the drive team decided to focus more on showing off our capabilities than on scoring points. In particular, we showed off our tote flipping and double-stacking and probably still scored more points than most of our alliance partners.
On Saturday, our principal, Mr. Percy, came and
got it. He realized that this really was a competition, and was learning the scoring and cheering right along with everyone else (though he did cheer when 1912, Team Combustion of Northshore High School, our traditional football rivals, dropped a stack; Rome wasn't built in a day).
We wound up seeded #42. Our principal stuck around for alliance selection, expecting to see the end of our season. You could have supplied Monsters, Inc for a month with the screams and laughter when we were picked by 3937 and 3039 - we had finally made the playoffs!
Our showcase had paid off - 3937 and 3039 could each make two tall stacks, but there are only three RCs in the staging area. Our task was to mine the landfill to get to the far right RC. In seven straight matches, we dug out two totes at a time, shoved the rest of the upright totes left, flipped the inverted tote in front of the far right RC, and delivered the RC just forward and left of the landmark. Robin was littering like crazy, and we finished up by scoring as much as we could. The finals matches were both decided by far fewer points than 3946 had scored. Further, what we did was based entirely on our own capabilities, not on cheesecake - a truly great feeling!
The greatest victory of the past week was yet to come. After the admin and pep talk and fund raising and how-many-people-can-we-send talk at our meeting on Monday, Jack wanted to speak. I've known Jack since his family went to our church for a year or two back when he was in middle school. Back then, Jack was more than shy; he had difficulty speaking to
one person at a time. Now, in his junior year, FRC has helped pull him out of his shell - he announced the local FLL tournament, and is our mascot. He can now flirt in character as a robot, and stand on the table and speak to the whole team. Jack was followed by another, and another, and about twenty other students. The stories of lives being turned around were inspirational: loner to team member, meat head to gear head, and even stoner to leader. The difference we have made in these lives and in the society that they will soon be leading is what makes the team really REALLY worthwhile:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysterE
doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.
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