We all know that FIRST team members are awesome. I've been hanging out with all these really flippin' fabulous people on my team and I wanted to write about how cool they are so....new thread, for telling about students on your team or others who've been an inspiration to you, or just people who kept you going during the insanity of build season. Quotes, stories, shout-outs to other teams, whatever. You know how it feels when you get an award at a regional and you run down to the field, past dozens of teams giving you high-fives? They know how much work you put in, they are excited for you....that is peer recognition and it is awesome
[Here's hoping there is no obvious existing thread that my search missed...]
Our team captain last year [also lead driver...we have a small team] is one of several girls in her family who've been on the team over the years. On graduation day, she was down in the robotics lab helping my dad [coach] and me with fundraising stuff. She spent part of her summer working on fundraising.
This year we have an almost entirely new team [I'm a senior and afflicted with senior nostalgia]. There is an exchange student from China who is so incredibly ENTHUSED about FIRST: it is an inspiration just to be around her. I was so worried about finding a student to take on my job, of public relations, fundraising, organization and so on....and it looks like she's it
Freshmen! They're awesome!! Maybe we just have a really cool freshman class this year, but the two freshmen on the team are so fun. They're just really...enthused. I am glad to know the team will be in good hands.
I have boundless respect for Oregon's Regional Director. She works tirelessly for our teams: finding grants, speaking with Oregon officials, and so on.....yet she is accessible by the lowliest team member by phone, and leads workshops at FIRST Fare, an event hosted by the awesome Team 1540.
The sense of community that FIRST engenders is almost clichéed by now, and for good reason. I am overwhelmed by the sheer awesome-factor of knowing that anyone at a FIRST event will help you out [team alumni: 'Someone in a robotics shirt! They're just a friend we haven't met yet!'] My first year on the team, I was pulled in as scout right before the competition and I had no idea what was going on....at a local scrimmage, I was overawed and a little cowed. 'Hello, can I talk to your....
um....scouting leader?' Team 2521 [rookies themselves] kindly brought over their scouting captain to the scared little rookie. Four years later, we still keep in touch with this team in another part of the state.
It's not just high schoolers.....I'm mentoring a couple of FIRST LEGO League teams [I've got the 4th-6th grade bunch] and they are amazing kids. There is one little 4th grader who's the captain of his team, takes every responsibility seriously, really listens to me [that's nice, believe me...]. His sister is pretty genius too: she took on the FLL research project, because she's just obliging like that. I look at these kids and I think, these are the engineers of the future! Tomorrow's leaders...*tears up heroically*
I could go on...but one last story. There is a local team, here in Oregon, that is an absolute powerhouse. Team 847 is visible [very..very YELLOW. And orange], outgoing, and hugely organized. They arrange all-team bonfires and off-season events. This year we lost our programmers to graduation, and an alumni of Team 847 [PHRED!] volunteered to help our team out over Christmas vacation, endeavoring to pound programming into our newbie heads. It's amazing, and it's what FIRST is about. Y'all are awesome.