View Single Post
  #76   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 16-12-2008, 10:58
JaneYoung JaneYoung is offline
Onward through the fog.
no team
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Rookie Year: 2002
Location: Austin, TX USA
Posts: 5,996
JaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond reputeJaneYoung has a reputation beyond repute
Re: What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Your Rookie Year?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boydean View Post
You likely have heard it before, but I'll say it again. It's not about the robot.

There are three things that, in my opion, makes FIRST so great. 1) it's not about the robot 2) the people in FIRST are awesome 3) GP should always be the focus of the team.

Without those three things FIRST wouldn't be so great today.
I hear and understand everything you are saying and support a great deal of it. If I could talk a little bit about #1 for a minute though - I'd like to open that statement up a bit. (Kind of like cracking through the shell to get to the meat of the nut.) I hear that statement a lot: 'it's not about the robot.'

I think it is. In this way: the robot provides the interest/the draw for the engineers/mentors. They bring their knowledge, experience, and education to the table. The design table, the discussion table, the mathematical table, the table strewn with cables, chain, tools, rough sketches on wood or torn bits of cardboard. They bring their humor and their passion. It is where the students are offered healthy servings of science, technology, and inspiration. I understand when people say, 'it is not about the robot', but it is. It is about the robot building teams/people as much as it is about the teams/people building the robot. That's where you get #2 and #3. And all of those together bring/create opportunities for vendors and sponsors to participate, helping to strengthen the program.

Sorry to sidetrack.
Jane
__________________
Excellence is contagious. ~ Andy Baker, President, AndyMark, Inc. and Woodie Flowers Award 2003

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
~ Helen Keller
(1880-1968)

Last edited by JaneYoung : 16-12-2008 at 11:33. Reason: another thought..
Reply With Quote