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Originally Posted by Sperkowsky
2. The prestige of EI and Chairmans motivate many teams to do outreach that they otherwise would not do. After a bit of outreach many teams realize how rewarding it realize is and continue. If making the Deans list award seem more prestigious therefore inspiring more motivated Student Leader then whats the issue? Who cares why someone was motivated to become a student leader if they are good at it, learn something, and inspire others then the award succeeded with its goal.
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If a team only does outreach to get an award, they're missing the point. My team does outreach because it's part of being in FIRST. It's part of changing the culture. And it's part of raising awareness and money for the team itself. One of my team's Dean's List Finalist's a few years back watched kickoff her first year on the team, and walked away asking, not about the robot, but why a certain large company here in the cities wasn't more involved with the program. By the end of the following summer, she had that company involved, sponsoring a hand full of teams, sponsoring local events, and bringing teams in-house to help with their own STEM-related events and outreach.. That company is now part of our local CAB. I would say that's just about the pinnacle of outreach... All done because she just understood what FIRST was all about.
From what I've seen on my team, Dean's List is not a driving factor for the students. They're part of the team and working towards their own goals and interests in technology, business, and leadershi. While all of the mentors hope our nominees win, we don't submit them because of what they get when they win. We submit the nominations to recognize and thank those students for efforts above and beyond what is expected on the team.