[Yohan]

Aloha teams!

As the captain of Team Kika Mana (368), we would like to thank the many people and organizations involved in making the Hawaii Regional a success.

To Governor Lingle and Dean Kamen, we're very thankful to each of you for getting the Hawaii Regional started in record time. The Governor and Lt. Governor's "Innovation Initiative" is the cornerstone of economic change that our team has been advocating for years.

To NASA and Dave Lavery, we're very thankful for the generous grants you donated to the Hawaii rookies as well as veteran teams throughout the country which made this regional so competitive. Without your support, the budding Hawaii Regional would not have even been conceivable.

To Jim Beck and Alex Ho, Western and Hawaii Regional Directors, we would like to thank each of you for taking on the enormous task to bring about the sudden emergence of a new regional especially with all the unique challenges that needed to be overcome. We would also like to thank both of you for your everlasting support of our team.

To Mark Leon, we thank you for supporting our team and Hawaii throughout the years and for bringing your entertaining yet insightful message with you. To Blair Hundertmark, we thank for coming all the way to Hawaii to be such an awesome game announcer and emcee.

To Art and Rene Kimura, two very special people who started robotics in Hawaii, we owe you our thanks. For all that you have done to advance robotics in Hawaii over the many years, it was most appropriate for you to receive the first Volunteer of the Year Award for the Hawaii Regional.

We would also like to thank Team 359, The Hawaiian Kids, for choosing us to be an alliance partner. It was awesome to be finally working together with you after five years and with your guidance, we once again made it together to the finals.

We would also like to thank Team 2437, Lancer Robotics, for being such awesome rookies. When we talked strategy, you girls knew what needed to be done without a doubt. Without you, we definitely wouldn't have made it to the finals.

Congratulations to Team 233, Team 254, and Team 2454 for winning the first-ever Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional. We would have liked to have given you folks more of competition in the finals, but we unfortunately suffered a major mechanical failure and became crippled in the end (a roll pin in our AM SuperShifters failed and broke into three pieces, causing our clutch to be stuck in and out of neutral for most of both final matches).

And finally, thank you all the judges, referees, volunteers, Hawaii rookie teams, and mainland teams for making the inaugural Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional so fantastic!

See you all in Atlanta for our last Overdrive!

John Paik