[wendymom]

This is the submission for Exploding Bacons Woodie Flowers

Our Grand Pooobah.....Doug Leppard

Every kid needs a role model- someone to look up to, to teach them about the world, to teach them how to make a positive impact in society. These days, young people find their role models in all sorts of different people- politicians, athletes, celebrities. One of the best places to find a role model is in a mentor who works with students on a daily basis. We here on Team 1902 believe that we have found our role model in Mr. Doug Leppard. Although he never was a student in FIRST, he still takes the principles of the program to heart and has worked alongside of our students to instill a love of science and technology.

Mr. Leppard has been an enthusiastic, active member of the FIRST community for six years now, two of which as a mentor for team 1902. He is currently employed by Campus Crusade for Christ, a program dedicated to bringing the virtues of Christianity to all corners of the world. While not pursuing his beliefs, Mr. Leppard spends an extraordinary amount of his free time working to better our team, both as a general mentor, as well as in his role as head programming advisor.

While accomplishments and statistics serve well to convey a person’s dedication to an organization, I believe that it is the personal aspect that really defines a person’s character and provides a holistic sense of a person’s true impact. As this is the case, I would like to communicate my sense of gratitude as the programming team student co-lead, as a person who has worked alongside, shoulder-to-shoulder with many great people, for the dedication that Mr. Leppard displays.

This past year, team 1902 has grown tremendously, and as a result of our sudden doubling of size, we have been faced with an increase in our programming team. What has amazed me, in particular, is the ability to coordinate the tasks among our many student programmers and keep all of us actively involved that Mr. Leppard has exhibited. While I will not deny that we have had our disagreements within the programming sub-team (something that is neither uncommon nor surprising in the stressful conditions of build-season), Mr. Leppard has personally been an example of calm compassion in the face of such disagreements. One such example that has left a personal impression was a speech that Mr. Leppard made during the midst of the final two weeks. In it, he quoted Vince Lombardi saying: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” I believe he both captured the spirit of team 1902 and is a living testament of this belief.

Team 1902 has a reputation for being among the premier FRC teams, with a very sophisticated and reliable autonomous mode. This is a direct result of our planning, and the endless hours of hard work put in by the student programmers under Mr. Leppard’s direction. Being that he is the main mentor for the programming sub-team, Mr. Leppard’s advice and mentorship have been critical in the programming of our robot. Without his help, we wouldn’t have the effective hybrid mode that we developed this season.

We owe a lot on our team to Mr. Leppard. Without him, we wouldn’t have our tightly-knit organization, we wouldn’t have had such a good autonomous for the last two years, and we wouldn’t have the same sense of inspiration. His dedication to our cause is astounding and nothing short of respectable. Truly, he can be called a role model not only for our team, but also for the community in general.