[ashley212]

Several of you are complaining about ONLY having $2,000 or $5,000 which you should all be gratefull for. I'm from 212 and we arent allowed to fundraise, nor do we get ANY money at all. Several times weve gotten up at 7 am on a saturday to go outside in the street and have a garage sale, selling old clothes, books, furniture, and anything. Our school wont even let us say its name in our cheers so were not affiliated with them. All we have a bunch of kids with blisters from sand-papering down holes, and sleep-deprived kids who work all night programing and building becuase we have NO professional help or ANY sponsorships. Our only engineer is our teacher and mentor, and several parents who put their hearts into our team. We made it to 1st in the UCF regionals and werent gonna be able to go becuase we had NO money in our account.. AT ALL. The only reason we made it to nats is becuase THE FLASHBACKS (team #168) who won 1st with us at the UCF regional gave up going by plane, staying at a different hotel, and getting the meal plan - all to go on a 24 hour bus ride, squished, stay at a different hotel, walk almost everywhere, and pay for their own food with us. Thats what FIRST is all about - thats the meaning of togethrness to me. Its become too much of a competition based on the sponsorships and what team has how much money.

Its not the schools responsibility to give money - if they do; great, if not; oh well.

Withal, our team loves each and every moment; sleepless nights, stressed out times etc - becuase we know that wherever we get is becuase WE did all the work and WE made it that far - we dont have anyone helping us build our robot, or more like building it for us as many do - and we take much more pride in our accomplishments.

<3 ashz!

212 UCF REGIONAL CHAMPS WITH 168 and 108!!! whooo!!!