Quote:
Originally Posted by kjolana1124
I'm not sure I agree with this. I personally like the fact that there is only one Chairman's or only one EIA. Yes, the districts do allow there to be more than one, but that's a little different. To have like runner-ups kind of seems to defeat the purpose. While I will (and have admitted) that it shouldn't be a reason to strive for Chairman's, people do attempt to go for this award because it's so highly revered. Giving teams a "well, we still kind of like you" option may cause them to settle and not have to worry about always pushing that extra button. The worst thing you can do if you want to win CA is to fall into a comfortable pattern. CA should be hard, like everything else worthwhile.
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The winner is still the winner. I am not saying hand out 3 RCAs at each event (I don't fully understand why they do this at MSC, yes I have been told the reason and I am OK with it..). What I am saying is to recognize extraordinary efforts. There is an area of the world (not Michigan or CA) where 2 teams end up winning about 50% of the Championship slots EVERY year. This is Robot Performance, EI, and Cahirman's. The only thing they don't win is Rookie Allstar. Nothing against those teams (they are great teams and very deserving and should continue to inspire excellence), but it would be very frustrating to continuously come in "second" or "third" when there is no associated award. An honorable mention does not cheapen the Grand Prize in 4-H. Having won many honorable mentions as well as many Grand Prizes, I never thought, man I wish they only gave out 1 trophy because that would make it even more special for me. Think of it this way, when you go home from a competition do you say "We lost", or do you say we were QF, SF, got 2nd? Does the fact that there is a SF round cheapen the victory for the winners? Does being a World Champion get cheapened by there being Division champions? That is all I am asking for. Right now from a Chairman's perspective, there is nothing that tells you if you were 2nd or 42nd. Nothing that tells you, you are almost there, keep your chin up. It seems like FIRST has the Ricky Bobby philosophy, "If you are not 1st, your last". Yes, I just quoted Talledega Nights in a Chairman's thread.
One of the best things about FiM is now there are a lot of teams that consistently made it to the QFs and SF that are now getting an opportunity to play in the finals and finally take home a medal. With the District Chairman's awards, they are finally getting the recognition they have been "deserving" for many years. Remember it is For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST does a really good job on the Inspiration part, but could use a
little work on the
Recognition part.
IKE
Still having trouble with the concept? Which would you rather do, pick 1 student on your team to give a $20K scholarship to, or pick 3 students (1@$10K and 2 @ $5k). Clearly the $10k student was most deserving, but it allows you to recognize a couple others that have also made significant contributions. Seriously, try this exercise.