[LauraN]

Well I'm going to go with the theme of telling a bad experience and explaining what I learned from it...this is a good one, I promise.

It sounds cliche and it sounds like something we all already know, but I really think it is something we need to experience in order to learn: I learned not to judge people before I met them.

There were two people from Team X who really did not get along with my team. There had been problems for a long time and then there was a big issue with these people spreading negative things about our team to other teams. This was definitely a very frustrating and hurtful experience and I would say it was probably my "worst FIRST experience."

Most of these problems occurred at a regional, and on Friday morning our team was upset to discover that we were to be allied with Team X for one of our qualifying matches. We were all upset and apprehensive about having to interact with this team who we thought harbored such negative feelings towards us. A teammate and I decided to approach the team awhile before the match to try to "break the ice."

We went to their pits and before we knew it we were standing around with them for almost half an hour, talking about the competition, congratulating each other on standings, comparing the designs we used on the robot, and talking about school and friends and other everyday topics. They became one of our favorite teams and we cheered each other on throughout the whole regional, and to this day I'm still in touch with one of their members.

So I have definitely learned my lesson about judging people before I meet them.

Happy endings are good. =)