How do the poofs do it? Well obviously it is the quality of the mentors!

Seriously - Lot's of things have changed about the Poofs - the one thing that has stayed constant is Steve Kyramarios - who was their mentor in 1999 when the students were from Broadway Continuation High School, and the teacher expertise was english. (You might remember that teacher - his name was Jason Morella.) Lot's of things have changed - the mentors(all except Steve), the students and teachers (now from Bellarmine Prep.) Their shop location has changed at least 4 times, from a class room to a basement to a old warehouse to an vacant wing of a sheet metal shop.

Here is a list of what also doesn't change:

A strong streak of competitiveness
willingness to work hard and always do your best
Grace to admit your mistakes and learn from them
Lots of practice driving your robot.
Realizing even though the build cycle is 6 weeks, there is an awful lot you can
do before the build cycle to get ready.
Thorough strategic analysis of the game.
Careful scouting of potential allies and opponents.
Collaboration with and assisting other FIRST Teams.
Staying cool and calm and focused during competition.

I am very proud of this team as they not only represent their school, they also represent NASA Ames Research Center and the NASA Robotics Education Project. Dean Kamen always gives out homework assignments to FIRST teams. The Poofs always do their homework. A little history here - Not only have the poofs won SVR 6 times in a row, They have only ended up as finalists in one of the total of 9(?) regionals they competed in. I am pretty sure they have reached the elimination rounds in every national they have competed in, and were National finalists in 2001. They also are two time regional Chairman's Award winners.