[beurwonderwall]

The past four months have been simultaneously the best months of my life and the worst months of my life. And I learned that it's okay.

I learned that you won't always go to Championship.

I learned that FIRST is family.

I also learned that being on drive team is one of the most coveted positions on any team, but it is also one of the hardest.

To elaborate on all of my statements, this is season is my fourth and final FRC season as a student. I entered the season with huge hopes and huge fears; losing our two programmers to graduation was terrifying. I tried my best to learn from them over the summer, but, in the words of Coldplay, sometimes you try your best and don't succeed. I was the programming group leader, but I wasn't the best programmer and I learned that it's okay. My job was to offer support and guidance, not single-handedly program a robot by myself.

After attending Championship for three years in a row, I became very accustomed the idea of attending. I was so excited to go to St Louis. After our performance at FiM St Joseph, I could feel that dream slipping away. But then we went to FiM Lansing and we were picked as the second overall draft. We went home with the blue banner, but I knew we still had work to do. So, we moved on to FiM LSSU. We won Chairmans for the first time in my team's history. Personally, it was my ninth presentation and I was the only person sustained from the first presentation in 2014. I was so proud. I was excited for MSC.

I never thought I'd have to say that we won two blue banners, but didn't make it to Championship.

For awhile, I was bitter. I was sad and I wanted nothing more than to experience Championship as a drive team member.

But I learned that sometimes it's just not your time. Not everyone can go to Championship every year and this was our year to not go. It sucks, but all of the teams that went from Michigan deserved it so, so, so much. I'm so proud of the way Michigan showed at Championship. Am I sad my team couldn't be there? Yeah. But am I still bitter about it? No.

This post is getting super long-winded, but I wanted to touch on one more thing. One week before Lansing pits opened, my mom died. My team was absolutely amazing. Everyone was so supportive and was there for me in anyway I needed. Three of my teammates came over after I found out with food, card games, and hugs. I've never felt so blessed. That's when I learned FIRST is family.

So, if you read this, I learned a lot this season and I hope that my experiences inspire someone in some way, shape or form. If you're like me and didn't get to go to Championship this year, use that as your motivation next season. If at first you don't succeed, try again! When you do get to go, it'll be awesome. I promise.