Thread: A bit unfair...
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Unread 21-02-2002, 12:56
Paul Copioli's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero Woodie Flowers Award
Paul Copioli Paul Copioli is offline
President, VEX Robotics, Inc.
FRC #3310 (Black Hawk Robotics)
Team Role: Engineer
 
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INSPIRATION

O.K., I have read every one of the posts in this thread and have to say a few words. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Detroit Metro Area, let me let you in on a little secret: Many teams from our area (Mostly Northern Oakland and Macomb Counties) come from middle to upper middle class homes with one or both of the parents in a professional type career, however, Chief Delphi (Pontiac Central High School) is NOT one of these teams. As Mike Martus explained in an earlier post, Pontiac Central's student body contains mostly low income (very low) students from underprivilidged homes. Delphi's number one goal is to inspire as many of these students as possible. They do it in a manner which they see as most effective.

Too many times in this forum I have seen teams bashing Chief Delphi and the Big Money Schools and seing these teams as huge powerhouses. Maybe the engineers on Delphi do most of the design, who cares? The students on Chief Delphi are the most inspired students in the FIRST community and ask any one of them how inspired they are and they will talk your ear off.

In addition to inspiring their own students, people like Mike Martus and Joe Johnson have inspired entire corporations. My team (Team 217) got Ford as a sponsor because Mike Martus and Joe Johnson did a presentation for us to Ford. Ford Motor Company has taken Chief Delphi's model and sponsored several underpriviledged schools in Detroit in hopes that Ford can be 1/2 as effective as Delphi has in inspiring troubled youth.

We should not look to Chief Delphi as a Technical Powerhouse, but an Inspirational Powerhouse that we should all strive to become. Someone may choose to inspire differently than Delphi, fine. I won't criticize your method if it is different than ours, because we should be here for the same focus: Inspiration & Recognition.

Mike, Joe, and all the other Delphi mentors & engineers: I applaud your efforts and am proud to be associated with people like you.

-Paul
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