[Mark Pierce]

Amid the flashy shirts, the highly decorated robots, the giant pit displays, and energetic teams in FIRST one team quietly goes about accomplishing great things.

Midway through the build team a major work project takes away one of only two engineers on the team. Others would throw up their arms in dismay, this team keeps plugging along. A request for help draws a this engineer, alumni, several parents, and friends to help (some for just a few hours) all welcome.

Still lacking thousands of dollars, the team leader juggles classroom, family, and team responsibilities with extra fundraising calls.

Readjusting the drive train for the fifth time, working at midnight before shipping. or finishing repairs as the final staging call is announced all call for steady effort. No theatrics or panic, just a quiet sense of urgency.

Changing a mechanism from servo to pneumatics is accomplished in a display of collaboration and teamwork that is rarely seen with people who have worked together full time for years.

A team member having grade and rule violation problems meets with not one but seven adults from the team and his parents offering to help him. Other groups would have stuck to the book: "Goodbye - You knew the rules"

We laugh, smile, and have fun, but we're unlikely to ever receive a spirit award. Our true spirit shows through in the consistent effort put forth.

This is my newly adopted team. My "enablers" for my addiction to this madness we call FIRST. From a small community that seems to be full of surprises, the team "Built On Brains", Team 85.