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Although I can't speak for UTC, I did do a little volunteering for them at the regional and I saw *no* indication that they would stop supporting the UTC regional. Heck they asked me to assist next year. If that isn't a positive indication, I don't know what is.
Speaking as a long time veteran of FIRST (6 years now), the growth of the number of teams (and therefore the number of people participating and supporting FIRST) has grown a lot. In my first year, the (and only) regional was here in Manchester, NH (different site though) and I thought the size and comraderie was terriffic.
Of course time change. The statement "as long as FIRST grows, we'll keep up" made at the kickoff 5 years ago by the Disney rep seems out of touch. I would have never imagined that a qualification scheme to attend EPCOT would have been put into place. In some ways it seems anti-FIRST. But I'm not here to bring up that topic, this is not the place for it. (Other places on the forum for that). With that in mind, the growth strategy has to be to emphasize the regionals. You already know of teams participating in multiple regionals and awarding regional Chairman's awards are right in line with that strategy. More people participate becuase the competition is more accessible and because the competition is more accessible, more people know about FIRST.
So let's stop the rumor right now that UTC will no longer host the NE Regional. They've hosted it for a number of years now and continue to do a great job. Each new regional being added complements each other and are in support of the goals of FIRST.
I can only hope that the next year affords our company the necessary time to make this regional worthy of being back in the city where it all began knowing the wonderful examples that companies like UTC, Motorola, and other regional sponsors have set.
Bryan
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