[MissInformation]

I think that actions are often more powerful than words, but not always, especially when it comes to spoken words. A parent can tell their kids not to lie, not to cheat, not to smoke, etc... but if they themselves do not practice what they preach, their message is usually in vain. But when do words become action?

One of the things I remember most about the last (and only) Nationals I attended was a match I watched where an adult on one of the teams that lost yelled and cussed through the whole round, called the kids idiots and was generally a very nasty person lacking any gracious professionalism. His words crushed their spirits. I've seen things like this happen at other competitions, but luckily, there are more teams who aren't like this. FIRST is more than just winning, but there are teams where winning is the only thing that matters. And there are adults involved with FIRST who push the message that if you lose, you are a failure. That is not my kind of a team.

I am not an engineer, I'm not even going to mention my track record in math and science... the reason I joined a team at all was because I told a certain someone that if he was doing another year of it, we were getting a cat. He countered with a deal, that if I attend some of the meetings and liked it enough to join the team, we remain cat free. So I did and I fell in love with it. I think what FIRST stands for is wonderful, but it is not what keeps me on the team. I don't care that it's science and technology that is inspiring them, I just care that they are inspired. That they know when they lose a match (which they do, quite a bit) they are still winners. I love watching the whole process of creation come together and seeing how students change from the beginning of the season to the end, and from year to year. Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious and I've found myself more appreciative of engineering than ever before. So it is the actions of the team rather than the words of FIRST that are more powerful to me.

And I can go on and on, but I really need to get back to work, so I won't.

Heidi

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Like my grandmother always used to say "I can't eat without my teeth..." uh, wait a minute, that's not the right saying... er, never-mind...