[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

There have been related threads in the past well worth reading:

What is GP really? (2003),
Jessica Boucher's paper on GP originated here:
Early GP? (2004).

To me, Gracious Professionalism is about showing respect, being helpful and developing trust.

When we share knowledge, support one another, and strive to improve our community, we're "walkin' the talk" of GP.

Thanks, David, for the links to old threads. And to Jessica for sharing her writing assignment as a CD whitepaper. The threads and the paper are well worth reading, or re-reading, for all of us.

Just another data point that might be of historical interest. The first time I saw the words Gracious Professionalism used in connection with FIRST was during Woodie Flowers' talk at the 1997 FRC Kickoff in Manchester. He used a rapid-fire set of PowerPoint slides, about 60 or so for a 15 minute talk. It was aimed at adult mentors, because that year only two adult mentors per team were invited to the Kickoff. The GP slide simply said, "Teach Gracious Professionalism" in big letters, splashed diagonally across a purple background. I don't recall the exact words Woodie used to describe the concept, but I vividly recall that he summarized with the now-famous acid test for GP -- it makes grandmothers proud.