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Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard
Am I the only one that hates the term "Powerhouse Team"? It implies there's something fundamentally different about them than the rest of FRC teams. It also promotes hero worship. I'm personally not a fan, but that's just me.  |
You're right that it distorts perceptions of teams and those teams don't always judge other teams accurately. Look at how we were judged on Curie in 2013. And I think Citrus Circuits illustrates, at least in part, how a team can do better with more focus. Until this year we used shipping containers and a shared classroom for our workshop, yet facilities did not limit really us in the end. Now we're getting better resources and that will make our efforts more productive. We've had some lucky opportunities, but we haven't let them pass us by (let's start with our qualifying schedule in 2013.) The most important task we have is sharing with other teams and programs so they can get better too.
In no way am I defending the tag, but only telling one story of how a team, now program, has become more successful.
And as for hero worship, too much is not good, but Dean did want to emulate the sporting culture to promote STEM--to make heroes of engineers and scientists. And we're getting some of that now. It's the nature of sports. Think of Babe Ruth! Interestingly the most visible mentors are not the standard white males, and that probably helps bring a wider diversity into the STEM fields.