Quote:
Originally Posted by Shankar M
Thanks Mark for pulling up this detailed set of data on WFA winners.
While four of the essays we have submitted for our mentors have won the WFA (Roland Anderson in 2004, Shawn Lim in 2006, and Mark Breadner in 2007 and then in 2008 at the Championship Event), we're also quite proud of our 3 alumni who have also gone on to win the award.
Karthik Kanagasabapathy in 2005 and Ian Mackenzie in 2008 (both mentors of Team 1114) along with Tristan Lall in 2009 (a former mentor of Team 188, now a mentor of Team 2505) were all once students on Team 188.
Five of these winners were involved with 188 when it first began in 1998, while Tristan joined the party in 1999.
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These are really cool numbers to see! Although I'm no longer affiliated with 188 now that I've become a teacher at 1310, the experience of being on 188 is something special that stays with you forever. I won't try and speak for Karthik, Ian or Tristan, but I know how we all felt in 1998 at the EPCOT centre when we saw Chief Delphi's swerve drive for the very first time. Mark Breadner instilled FIRST's ideals in us, and even though we didn't have the resources to build a competitive robot at the time, we were inspired to work hard so that one day we could do better.
The statistics will say 3 for 188, but it's astonishing to know that the team has produced 6 individuals who have gone on to win the award.
Here's a neat little link that sums it up nicely:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/18519
Karthik and Ian with their new team, 1114, in 2004 - the year they built the SimSwerve drive, which was undoubtedly inspired by 47's 1998 swerve, but mounted on pods that extended and retracted vertically, allowing it to climb a 6" high platform. A swerve drive that could climb... whodathunk?
Can you a imagine a team with Mark Breadner and Roland Anderson running around trying to keep 14 to 18 year-olds Karthik, Ian, Tristan and myself from cutting off our own fingers? I was there, and I have the scars to prove it =). Good times!