[Solace]

our team has had its problems, but the worst was probably the rookie year. though we had some funding, unrealistic engineers who didn't understand the concept of a deadline, accompanied by a steadily decreasing student interest, almost doomed our entire team. It was only because one individual finally stood up and singlehandedly built the robot (in the last two weeks) that we were able to pull through. It wasn't that bad of a bot either, we managed to take it on to win the rookie all star award at NYC in 2001. In the end, it wasn't a bad year because we did badly, but because no one really had any fun/

Our team dynamic has since improved dramatically, and we've managed to integrate students much more exstensively into the build process. However, the effects of that first year were long lasting, and it was only very slowly that we evolved to the state in which we could enjoy FIRST in the way it was intended.