Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve W
I have believed that the most important thing about the Chairmans award is what you get out of the process. It is great to win of course but that is not the thing that should drive teams.
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I am thinking the same thing. We do what we can to excite the community about FIRST and STEAM. We promote all levels of recycling and, over the course of the past 4 years, have kept over 6 tons of materials from the landfill (approx 1/4 of it e-wastes.) Those two things keep us busy and make us visible in the community. Yes, we have overcome many obstacles - those of you who have teams in rural, impoverished areas can really relate to that, I'm sure. But when you compare our stats to those in urban areas who start 10+ new teams a year, run countless events, and manage to attract $$$$ we come up short every time.
We aren't going to start a bunch of new FIRST teams at any level, simply because we have learned the hard way that there are few adult volunteers in our community that are willing to work with kids consistently. It's heartbreaking to start an FLL team, only to see it die after a couple of years. We struggle to keep the 3 mentors we have, and one will retire this year. Our kids work hard to help bring relevant STEAM activities to our school and community, but our manpower is limited.
Doing the Chairman's Award is a great way for our team to focus on their many achievements and successes. It also helps our team develop more speaking and leadership skills. Finally, even though we don't do a professional job on the video, the students end up with a great presentation we can share with civic groups and our sponsors later on. It's never a waste of time, even though we will likely never win the Chairman's.