I wasn’t involved with the first IRI way back when, but I went to the 2001 event as a spectator and that was one of my first FIRST experiences. Later that year, Andy asked if 234 and 393 would like to help, and move the event to Indianapolis. We said “yes”, and then Lawrence North said “yes”. Looking back, those have been a very important ‘yeses’ for Indiana robotics.
Each year the IRI has grown in teams participating and in the level of play. If it was a regional, it would be one of the toughest and one of the biggest. At the same time, we strive to keep the small event atmosphere and help everyone have fun while competing.
There are some special things that, in my mind, make the IRI the IRI. Talent show. DSATK. Human player game. Team dinner. Donuts and milk. Student MC’s and referees and field crew. Tetrettes (no where else but the IRI). Senior recognition. Scholarships. Mentor Driver Round. Volunteers from all over the place.
And, my two favorite things. Backpacks for 2nd graders. 75 2nd graders will get off to a better start in school next month due to your generosity. One team brought 7. One of the judges brought one. And the charity auction. The money raised far exceeded anyones expectations. Again, a group of children will have a better day because of you.
All of this happens because there are so many great people who volunteer to help plan and lead this event. Everything happens because so many people want it to happen. There is always risk in naming names, but here I go….
Andy Baker – kept things moving. Field shipments, volunteer recruiting, team coordination, referees, judges, and more and more. We were emailing while he was on the beach…
Mark Koors, for getting power to every pit, and along with Andy B, providing an IRI scholarship. And lots more.
Libby Ritchie – was working on this from her hospital bed. We kept giving her options to back away for a year, but she never took the hint. The booklets, press releases, team signs, recruiting, and lots more.
Amanda Morrison, David Kelly, Josh Hambright, Collin Fultz, Brandon Martus, Jerry Budd, Clark Gilbert, Molly Menges – the web site for registration and scholarships, the auction, the talent show, the scoring, the webcast (with Dave Flowerday’s help, I understand), managing the field, the music. If we asked, they did it.
Paul Copioli and Dan Green – the dynamic duo on the mics. Keeping everything moving, interesting, and light hearted. And, willing to share the mic time so that we can develop more announcer and MC talent to support FIRST events.
Tony Norman and JVN – IFI was there, to support the VEX and the IRI tournament, and to present their scholarship. They chose the IRI to test out some new radio controls and had special practice times late at night and early in the morning.
The huge number of volunteers – amazing that people are willing to come so far to work the IRI. You are all awesome.
Wildstang for the Human Player game.
ThunderChickens for serving us all breakfast.
Waterjet Cutting for the awesome sign.
447 and Ivy Tech and everyone who helped with the VEX tournament.
58 teams willing to come to Indy in July!
The parent crew from team 234 – hospitality rooms, lunches, dinner for 900, host homes for visiting students, field crew, registration, auction, field build and teardown, and lots more. What an awesome group of parents.
The parent crew from 393 – manning the shirt table, helping with dinner, helping with the field build and teardown, and more. Another awesome group of parents.
LNHS – Jeff, Jeff and Karen – whatever we asked for, they delivered. The gyms, the auditorium, sound systems, internet access, concessions, power, the kitchen and refrigerators. And Air Conditioning.
461 for storing the carpet, delivering it, and helping set up and take down everything.
Allison Transmission and Rolls-Royce – for providing scholarships to students and lots of other support to the event.
Team 234 – Scott Ritchie and Steve Wherry and the whole Cyber Blue team – they were everywhere – field set-up and take down, video, moving tables, field reset, tetra repair. Whatever was needed got done. It is great to be a part of this team.
This is probably my longest post ever. Likely I forgot someone real important.
Thanks everyone for an awesome event.
Chris Fultz