Competition is the adrenalin that makes us try even harder.
Every year we build a robot that we believe is far more sophisticated and more clever than the previous years. Seldom have we ever earn our way into a regional final and never have we won a regional (nor championship division) final. Many teams can relate to these W/L record.
Yet we are excited to compete every year because FIRST really isn't about the robot. It took a year or two before we really realized it. It is the attitude of the students; the time with our mentors and each other. It's the fun we have (and the shared emotions of losing, yet again). It's the experience of solving real problems that are not fake school assignments. It's the amazing number of our students who go to college and choose (Engineering at ASU has less than 50% engineering grad rate)
It's not that our students were acquiring superior technical skills. It was not the "training" they acquired that was producing these future engineers. It was the ezperience of working with each other; real life problem solving; seeking knowledge to overcome an obstacle (thanks Chief Delphi), Basically, learning life skills, forming networks, depending on the tea to work through real life problems and finding satisfaction and fun in the process. It was the competition; it was the journey; not the winning that that was important.
Our first year we submitted a Chairman’s because it was a NASA grant requirement. We did submit the second year, but it was secondary to the effort we pu into the robot.
Our third year, we spent more emphasis on the Chairmen’s writing and presentation. One of our grants that year was from Phelps Dodge. We asked them if they had anyone who would mentor us in presenting. Two executives volunteered, and like what happens to most mentors, they became close to the kids and a lot more than learning presentation skills happened. Our Chairmen’s writing and presentation had an amazing effect on all of us. We became very effective in “changing the culture” of our school, neighborhood, city, state and even earned a national reputation. Even though or robots, never won a top award!
We began to win our regional Chairman award, but not the Championship Chairman. The teams that were chosen certainly were phenomenal and although we realized they really were the best, we would spend the following Sunday morning trying to think of what more could we have possibly done? (And each year, somehow, we did more. Not so much to win the Chairman’s, but because we really wanted to best our previous efforts and we really were making a big difference, very positive impact on a lot of kids and adults) It was at one of those “day after” meetings when one of the kids said the most profound statement,
“Look how much we strive to improve when we lose. We try to think of more ways to affect people. Would we work as hard after winning? Maybe being close to first is blessing, winning could be a curse.”
In 2008 we did receive the Championship Chairman’s Award. The team agreed that even though we were no longer eligible for Chairman’s, we would still submit one because not only was it the most important document of our teams history, but it keeps us focused on what it really important about FIRST. Most of our old robots have been scraped or parts. Our Chairman submissions are still read every year by the whole team.
As a bonus, we have meet and have become friends with several authors and journalists who have given us insight into the writing that we never learn in school.
Sorry this post is so long, but I really believe the Chairman’s activity is very important and valuable. The competition is the “spice” that adds intensity to the process. Not winning, after the 2 hour emotional downer, really fuels greater focus on FRIST values and improves the team. The communication skills and experience acquired are extremely valuable. Maybe one of the most important engineering skills the kids acquire in high school.
842 FIRST award history:
2009 Arizona Regional Judges Award
2009 Arizona Underwriters Laboratories Industrial Safety Award
2008 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2008 Arizona Regional UL Industrial Safety Award
2008 FIRST Championship Chairman's Award Winner
2008 FIRST Championship Finalist - Archimedes Division
2008 Las Vegas Regional KPC&B Entrepreneurship
2008 Las Vegas Regional Regional Finalist
2008 Los Angeles Regional KPC&B Entrepreneurship
2007 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2007 Arizona Regional Finalist
2007 Las Vegas Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2006 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2006 The Championship Event Chairman's Honorable Mention #3
2005 Arizona Regional Chairman's Award
2005 The Championship Event Engineering Inspiration Award
2004 Arizona Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2003 Southern California Regional Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology"
842 Chairman submissions:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2302