[Safarley2901]

I'd like to begin by saying, that I did not expect such a response from people. For me it was more of a way to finalize the idea that we weren't doing First this year; an epitaph of sorts.

The problems are many. Lack of funding is one of them. We're sitting on about $1,500 in the account right now.

Our mentor feels that FIRST has lost sight of its goals; I agree to an extent, although that doesn't mean I no longer wish to participate. It wasn't a team decision, as much as it was our mentor bottom lining it for us. He feels we would get more experience out of something like the NRC (which the team as a collective are participating in.). The rest of the team had a bad response to the idea of not doing First, driving away even more people. His action basically stopped us from having to deal with irate students.

Danny, Chris and I (Steve) would like to find a team to latch on to, or even do First provided we find funding, although I feel it would be going behind our mentor's back. I may have made him seem like a Draconian driver, which he isn't, but he has been with us since I began, I guess you could call it a type loyalty

It seems from my view point, that when Alliance started doing FIRST, they attracted mostly freshman. But, from then on recruitment steadily decreased to the point that we have no new members this year. Three years ago, "Captain Hook"'s year, all of the seniors graduated, leaving us with maybe 10 members when we originally had 30.

Some of these problems seem irreparable to me, though that doesn't stop us from trying. Last year a number of students didn't meet the 70 hour requirement to go on the trip, and they argued until the Mentor just gave up, The horrible thing was is that the rest of the team with the exception of a few of us, stood there and just let it happen. She had been with the team since its conception, and gave up on it.

Again I appreciate all of the comments you guys have made; all of us do.

Instead of FIRST, Danny, Chris and I are doing the next best thing. Building a First robot during the 6 week build season and going to off season competitions, since the budget currently allows for it.

It hardly seems adequate compared to what we having been doing the past couple of years, but you have to choose your battles.

Even if we had the funding, the decision has been made. Jeff doesn't feel that we should do First, and we can't change his mind. We could do it anyway if we had the money, Providing we could get access to the account from the school, but its not worth losing another mentor over it.

Thank you all, for your support.

We hope to see you next year.

-Danny Lin and -Steven Farley