Quote:
Originally Posted by aepstein
Similar to sports, we want to have an end of year party / banquet / awards dinner for the team. If you have such a gathering, what individual awards do you hand out to exemplary team members, such as: Most Valuable team member, Most Improved, Coach's Award, etc.?
Thanks.
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MOE (365) has an end of the year picnic each year, and our "Guest of Honor" usually gets their photo on CD.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/21630
During the official ceremony, we have individual recognitions rather than "awards". Each student is recognized once for their many contributions to the team and the robot, and often they will receive a gag award with their recognition.
During the "Stack Attack" year, our robot had about 16 programs for autonomous. It also had a tendency to chew up the carpet on the field. The mentor for autonomous that year collected some of the carpet fiber we destroyed at the Championship, and mounted it on a plaque, along with a floppy disc containing the autonomous programs. That went to our lead autonomous programmer.
The drive team each year will receive one of the Lexan covers off the robot, which the whole team will sign. Other students will receive similar robot mementos, especially if it is a task they had to repeat or were frustrated by during the season. (One student made 16 or so battery boxes one year, so you know what was mounted on his plaque.) Reminders that regardless of how difficult the task may be, it can always be mastered.
As with everything MOE, the recognition is serious, but it is done with a very humorous spirit. In past years, the mentors used to recognize the students for every sub-team they participate on through the year (not just during build), but the ceremony became excessively long. We also cut out the "mentors recognizing mentors" part of the ceremony. The students are free to do recognitions of their own during the ceremony without limitation.
Seniors graduating from the team will receive additional recognition, as they share their plans for college.
We invite sponsors, family, alumni and the team. On display, we will have our robot, any awards or banners received from FIRST or other teams, and a video of our year and the robotics season. We have fields for volleyball, baseball or kickball, and there always is a water balloon or Super Soaker fight near the end of the day.
It's always a fun time to wind down a bit from one year, and begin to prepare for summer robotics projects and next falls MOE University.