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Unread 26-04-2010, 11:08
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Re: Chairman's Award -- is the bar too high now?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rmyoung View Post
Is it worth suggesting some way to recognize the next tier teams, the 'almost there, keep going'? Not adding more awards or taking away from Chairman's, but sending the message that you're on the right track, or that you reached a milestone? Judge's feedback is nice but very brief and a bit vague, and ours has almost always been the same - nice job, keep it up, start some new teams.
Let me hop back on my FiM soapbox for a minute. With the 7 district awards, finally there is some recognition for the "almost there teams". In my opinion, FIRST does an absolutely lowsy job of recognizing really good efforts that aren't "the best". Who gets awards, the winners.
I wish they would take a lesson from 4-H and/or SAE design comp series. 4-H May only award 1 Grand-Champion, and 1 reserve Grand Champion, but they also award several "honorable mentions". While striving for the grand champion, it felt good to get one of these "honorable mentions".
For FiM, I have been suggesting giving of season seeding points for Chairman's. X points for applying, and Y points for being nearly there or "Honorable Mentions". I was told this makes the judges job tougher, but having judged many other competitions, I personally believe this makes it easier as you don't feel so bad leaving Team 4444 out in the cold because they were only 99.99% as good as team Winners. With 10 points this year going to the District chairman's winner, I would give 2 points for applying, and 4-6 for an honorable mention (judges discretion on number).

Just like FRC is not solely about the robots, and the robots are the hook, the Chairman's award really isn't about the award, but the award is the hook. Without the award, many would still do the work, but would they document it and share it they way they do now? I know our team wouldn't. In fact most of the stuff we have done the last 2 years, we have been doing for the last 6 years I have been on the team. The biggest difference the last 2 years is the documentation, and the fact that once the students won a District, they believed they had the ability to do more. Altruism is a lot to ask of most teenagers. Childrens brains are hardwired to be self-serving. This is for preservation of the species. That is why we work on sharing at a young age and continue to work on it into adulthood. We have a hard enough time making the freshmen save a piece of pizza for a mentor arriving late from a hard days work. By Seniors, most of them "get it".
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