[Barry Bonzack]

Starting a team this year from complete scratch was not easy. I am proud of the accomplishments of the entire team and how far 1604 has come since just last October. The entire school already knows that we exist, and there has already been talk about the community about what a cool program HHS has. The school curriculum guides came out this month, Lowe and behold next year there will be engineering classes offered, tying FIRST directly into the Harmony High School curriculum. The team is growing, the younger students are becoming more dedicated, the administration has been great all year and support is getting bigger, our teacher sponsor is getting more involved... I finally was able to step back realize in March that next year the team will continue without me, and it will thrive. We set the bar high, we made goals, some simple "have robot built in 6 weeks," some highly improbable seemingly unattainable goals which were also met this year. The main goal was achieved, Start a team that will last in the community and will continue for years to come to inspire a future generation of students. 1604 was not started this year by the seniors for the class of 2005, it was founded for the class of 2015 who may not even realize yet that they want to be engineers. FIRST has the power to completely change a student's future. If only one student is completely inspired to became something great, then the entire effort was worth it.

I simply can not wait to move forward. I do not wish to go back and relive this year, I have my sights set on helping mentor as a college student. I will be coaching possibly more than one team next year and do not be completely involved in any one. I have projects I can't wait to begin, I hope to be involved in getting FLL going for the local teams to take over and mentor, and i have various plans just for the summer to improve myself and how I can help out even more.

The Harmony High School motto is "I am here to take so I have more to give." and that is exactly what I have learned from my entire High School and FIRST experience.