I decided to post this thing that I messaged to Beth after I realized that perhaps I had been misunderstood--or not made myself clear.
Quote:
Post: Re: Community Service For Chairmans Award.
Reputation Score: neutral
Reputation Reason: I'm tempted to give you neg rep on this one. Maybe it's not that FIRST doesn't care, maybe it's that your Chaiman's presenters didn't do a good job of showing it off, or that no one but your Chairman's group obviously showed that they cared about CA
|
We obviously disagree, and I don't think there is any need to associate disagreement with a negative reputation.
I can tell you right off, however, that
A) As head of the Chairman's group for three years, we definitely made our humanitarian activity the focus of our presentation
B) Our entire team did publicity for our organizations,
and worked extensively collecting funds
What was most painful to me, in fact, was not that we didn't win. I mean, you can't
expect to win Chairman's. That's just stupid.
What bothered me was that what we were doing was radically different from anything other teams were doing--and purported to integrate FIRST as a benevolent social network--and that it received no more than a cursory amount of interest from the judges. It showed me that we had had the wrong aim.
In fact, if memory serves, our feedback from the judges put more emphasis on needing to develop more promotional activities (in addition to our FLL tournaments and robot demos, which did, for all you rooks, receive high marks) than in noting the innovative things we did in terms of utilizing the FIRST network for social ends.
This isn't sour grapes. I'm merely noting, for the benefit of those still active as members of FIRST teams, that
my experience in Chairman's suggested to me that it is
the promotion of the FIRST organization (and, indirectly, its ethos), rather than
an effort focused on humanitarian ends that draws accolades from the judges. I am not criticizing. You play to the rules of the game, and I'm trying to help enumerate the rules, based on my personal experience.
So please don't take this as a criticism of FIRST, or of the Chairman's Award. It's a great award given to great teams. I'm just trying to give some points of what not to do, to counterbalance what all the other teams are saying to do.
To sum,
nothing gains higher marks than a positive promotion of the FIRST organization and the spread of benevolent technology within your community.
--Petey