[IKE]

I would like to add that it takes more than just hard work, it takes smart work. What I mean by this is that you have to work hard at smart things.

In college all too often I saw people spend hours and hours working on a homework problem only to turn in an incomplete problem. While hardwork is admirable, that was not smart work. The students that get the good grades either worked in groups, or talked with a TA/prof when they ran into roadblocks.

This is one of the beautiful things about FIRST. Teams are more than happy to explain their methods for success. Having a few years of bad runs. Talk to a team doing well. Philosophically opposed to their way of doing things then talk to another team whose accomplishments you respect. If you repeat this enough times you will either learn from a team with a similar philosophy that has success, or you may learn you have a loosing philosophy that needs to be refreshed in order to be more competitive.

One philosophy that all the good teams do is find a way to compete in more than one regional, and if they can go to the Championship. Reason being is that they get more exposure to great ideas that way and can find out what is working for others.

Having competed in a lot of other high school and Collegiate design series, FIRST is one of the only programs I have seen that will literally give you all of their best secrets just by asking. Pretty amazing really.