[RoboMom]

This will be a long list. Thanks to:
• The 58 teams who had to battle vicious rain/snow/ice/wind/shuttle buses/ access passes/drop offs/sickness to make it to Halsey Field House.
• All those teams helping other teams, making for proudest moments in FIRST. This area had weather challenges during week six of the build, and there were many robots that needed a lot of help on Thursday.
• All our Student Ambassadors who did a fantastic job in showing their passion for the program and showing the VIP’s and the media what FIRST means to them. You impressed a lot of influential people.
• The judges who had a very tough job. We had a lot of new judges and their enthusiasm for the program and all of you will have a big ripple effect in this area.
• Every team who received an award and every team who deserved an award, even if they did not go home with the hardware.
• The group I introduce as the “future of FIRST.” The FIRST alumni who continue to mentor AND traveled from at least 6 states to volunteer at the Chesapeake and filled many of the lead positions.
• all the volunteers-our tireless Americorps crew (who are headed tomorrow to Louisiana to work on a Katrina aftermath project), the great ref crew, inspectors, team queuing, the pit divas, safety inspectors, scoring table, announcer, emcee, clean-up and set-up crew, and those great singers from the UK and the American teams.
• To all students and mentors who took time out to thank the organizers. You were polite and respectful and it made dealing with the problems so much easier.
• Our hosts, the United States Naval Academy.
The Needel family and Team 768 who designed and created the "Maryland Mentor" button, each personalized, for every mentor in MD.
• I hope you had fun and we want you all back in 2008!