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Originally Posted by phrontist
...certainly not the Chairman's Award.
...and I look foward to counter-flaming
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I was making it a point to ignore this part, but it keeps bugging me and since you are looking forward to the replies, here we go
... I could take so many directions here, but let's look at just a few personal examples I know about
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1. Visit Al Ostrow and Team 341. The've won a division at the Championship and would love to win it all I'm sure, but they've also won two Regional Chairman's Awards and were named a Chairman's Honorable Mention in 04 in Atlanta. Ever sit and talk with these kids and Alums? They're all fired up about their futures, FIRST, and sharing with others. NBC10 Tech Fest, Ramp Riot, Food Drives, mentoring, helping the disabled, visiting sponsors, demos, presentations to young kids promoting science and technology, on and on. These are people, very young people, who know every day that they do this they are positively affecting the future, creating limitless opportunities for themselves, and are seeing tangible changes for the better in their school, community, all of society, and most importantly in themselves. Make a visit and see if you come away remembering their robots.
2. Chesapeake Regional 2003 - 357 Royal Assault wins the Regional CA. Tears, joy, excitement. The students of 103 spent some time with them afterward. All they could say to me was, "We want to feel like that." Visit 357 and you'll see a huge LEGO effort and hundreds of young - REALLY YOUNG - kids fired up about learning, sharing, and the future.
Joy Troy and his crew are nothing short of remarkable for what they do for kids and for FIRST. Robots? Really?
3. 2004 SC Regional - Team 433 submits their first ever CA entry. They don't win, but they do win a Sat Judge's Award and come away with the respect of thousands. Small team with limited resources has impacted a community and the future in amazing ways. I suggest you talk with Meredith Rice about what she has learned in FIRST and what excites her.
4. Team 103 in 2003: I can write a book here, but let me just say that all of our lives are richer today, we have friends across the country, students and adults have had educational, professional, and job opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, a town with more cows than stoplights is known for technology of all things, and after winning the CA, we all began to work harder to help others because it was our responsibility. Every time I write a letter of recommendation for one of these students and list their accomplishments, contributions, and the people they have encountered (Kamen, Lavery, Abele, Flowers, Wosniak, CEO's, Astronauts, ...) I think, "Holy $%&#! These kids are so far ahead and have so many opportunities because of this."
Man would I love to celebrate on Einstein someday, but there's no way it'll have the profound impact this has had. Get out there among these teams and spend time with them away from the craziness of the six weeks and find out what's important. They're all over the country and I could list dozens more team numbers here.
When you find a person (rare) or a group (much more rare) that is fully aware of the positive impact their efforts are having, believe that they really do make a difference in the world, and sense their own part in it as it is happening, the energy that is created is boundless and infectious. Some people spend their whole professional and personal lives in search of this feeling and they never experience it. From what I have seen, this occurs in FIRST more than anywhere else in our society and it is because of the CA and Gracious Professionalism, not because of the competition and who wins it.