[PayneTrain]

It might be worth it to point out that FedEx wrapped up a contest in February and Dow is running a contest now alongside FIRST where video submissions can turn into prize money for your team.

This is going to sound pretty stupid, but just because there is no direct contest that applies to what you are in doesn't mean you have no reason to not make compelling media content for your team. I know what you're thinking; we don't build the robot to achieve a game challenge and never intend on competing with it; we never intend on completing a chairman's submission without actually completing all the parts of it after the paper's due date, etc.

I can feel my eyes roll back farther and farther into my head when a team or HQ tells me/us that it's not about the robot. Well, no duh! Our team has one goal: be ourselves. It's awesome! I've loved this season and this specific team so much because we have finally built for ourselves an identity that does not revolve around the robot, FRC, our school, our state, etc... Our team exists to tackle the challenges we see as those we can address best through our methods and behaviors.

Our video lead found the vanilla approach to the Chairman's Award video submission exhausting, so we worked together to create a video that, while unconventional, actually gained meaning in the personal fulfillment those who participated in the project received, as well as the benefit the team has using a video that can reach people from all sides. We're also looking at other projects we can execute in the short and long term to further enhance our team profile and create resources for the community and ourselves.

If you want to go do something, don't let FIRST be something that boxes you in... the idea of that sounds maddening to me and it is clear you are not a fan either.