[Philip W.]

These participation medals don't satisfy me either. What are they congratulating me for? For putting countless and sleepless nights into building a robot, and spending strenuous days on the greatest competition I've experienced when the other guy gets the same medal for coming into the shop every other week for an hour and goes around in the pits looking for give-aways? Everyone gets the medal no matter what they've done, whether they're the ideal and devoted FIRST participant or the guy you never knew was on the team and because of this, the participation medal has no value as an award. I suppose I can keep it to represent what I've done during the past year in robotics, but to me, the robot itself does that. I could also use it to bring back memories when I take it out of an old dusty box twenty years later, but why keep it when it's only worth 5 letters and a few words when I can keep pictures worth a thousand?

An award, may it be a medal, pin, ribbon, certificate, or even if it was words out of someone's mouth, that congratulates me in some specific way, I would value it plenty more than a participation medal. Karthik's four year pin idea is great that way, it's a specific award that commends a feat. Even the driver's pin (although I am not a driver...yet) would be worth more to me than that participation medal. An award for my work in the pits, or time spent during the build season, or during the off-season, or anything similar would be ideal. Of course, how is FIRST going to know I've done all this?

Even words are better. Having someone congratulate me on work well done is, as I said, worth more to me than a participation medal. Meeting Dave Lavery and hearing him commend me for a robot function that I've helped design and create was worth a lot more than any participation medal. Even my self-gratification is better I'd say.