[KathieK]

- Relish you role, accept it as imperfect as it may be, and enjoy it. It matters not if you are a mentor, student, alum, or a support-person. You may never get a chance at it again. ***My role morphed as the year progressed, from last June through this May. Some of it I enjoyed, some I didn't. It's all about growth as a person, though.

- Choose one person on your team, the one no one else is paying attention to, and inspire.
- Choose another person on your team, the one who has really stepped up and hasn’t been noticed yet, and recognize.
- Choose a third person in FIRST, from somewhere other than your own team, and do one of the above.** not being on a team, I failed to do this. Perhaps I've inspired that one person, though, in the past?


- Only think of Gracious Professionalism as a standard to work toward personally.
- Never use it as a gauge to point out someone else’s shortcomings.
** ah, another one of those life lessons learned. I was less than GP at one meeting I attended but did apologize afterwards.

- Compete harder than you did last year.
- Share more than you did last year. **I'm not about the competition ,but boy did I work harder than I did last year! And I'm sharing as much as I can!

- Get to know a different part of FIRST this year, one you know very little about. **This is a huge understatement for me. Having only been a mentor on a team, and never having volunteered for an event, I jumped into it headlong and served on two regional planning committees and the conference planning committee and wow, what a different side of FIRST! My recommendation to EVERY FIRST participant, find a competition, demonstration, or off-season event and volunteer for it. Find a different FIRST program (there are four of them you know!) and learn all about it. Make it part of your FIRST experience every year.

- Do/Learn one thing this year that betters your future.
- Do/Teach one thing this year that betters the future of your team.
- Do one thing this year that leaves FIRST in better shape than you found it in. ** In the last year I've learned that I CAN stand up before a group of people and facilitate a meeting, or give a presentation, or organize an event. I've spread the message of FIRST to hundreds of people at conferences. I've built a website to help support mentors of the FIRST robotics programs teams. I've met a lot of people along the way that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

- Have the courage to carry the FIRST message into the rest of your life.
- Be willing to say, “I participate in FIRST because I want to change the culture for the better” even though you know many will not understand and may even laugh at you. **I talk about it incessently. My tiny cubicle walls are covered in FIRST posters and pictures and buttons and team giveaways. I wear my "Ask me about FIRST" button on my coat. Anyone who knows me knows about my passion.