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Posted by Dave Leenhouts, Engineer on team #176, Aces High, from Windsor Locks High School & Suffield High School and Hamilton Standard.

Posted on 4/2/99 11:09 AM MST


In Reply to: We're all in this together...so is everybody ready for Florida?!?! posted by colleen on 3/31/99 7:58 PM MST:



Hey Colleen!

Great attitude . . . what you are expressing keeps me coming back year
after year. This is our teams fourth year . . . that means next year we
will have no students who started the team with us, it's kind of sad, but
it's also pretty cool!

This 'FIRST' thing has been a wild ride for me . . . I've learned an awful
lot from a lot of people.

I think of FIRST as 'entrepreneurial' . . . each team and each team
member gets as much from the program as they are willing to put into
the program. I did not expect that our team would mature technically and
emotionally through the years but that is what is happening . . . and I
like it! We're getting pretty good at making robots and the 'old timers'
on the team are beginning to turn their attention to other aspects of the
team. Such as how do we make our team more inspirational?, how do we
make it more influential?, how do we have a larger presence and more
recognition in our community?, how do we make our team more gracious and
more generous?

Florida? I almost hate to say it but we'd really like to win! We were
on our way to the finals in the New England regional but I forgot to plug
in the robot battery during a semifinal round . . . ouch! We're taking
my mistake as an opportunity to make ourselves better . . . we won't
forget the battery in Florida.

I've always preferred the regionals over the nationals as far as The
Competition goes. When you get more than one stage it's gets difficult
for a spectator (heck even a participant) to get a good 'feel' for how
the event is progressing. Then again, the nationals are amazing simply
because of the grand scale!

That's my input. Good luck in Florida everyone. Good luck in school
next year seniors . . . hope to see you starting your own FIRST teams in
college and when you get out into the work force.

Engineer_Dave