QUESTION OF THE WEEK!!! [12-23-01]

[Ken Leung]

Hi all. Can you believe kick off is only 13 days away? Yes, that's right, that's less than two weeks... I don't know about you, but I am all excited and ready to go, except I won't like it a bit after double jet lag traveling back to back going to Hong Kong and New Hampshire... Come to think of it, I really don't know how you feel about getting so close to another "wonderful" 6 weeks of hard work and sleeplessness... So, with that in mind, here is the question of the week...

QUESTION 12/23/01: How do you feel about being less than two weeks away from kickoff?

Have fun, and have a wonderful winter break...

-Ken Leung

P.S. Extremely sorry about missing a question last week, but it was right before two finals, and I wasn't exactly known for doing things ahead of schedule, much less before the last day... I will make it up with another question this week!

[David Kelly]

i'm really looking forward to this season. as i am a senior this year and my 4th year on the team, this will be my last year to experience FIRST as a high school student. no longer will i be able to drive the robot in the comp or experience the most fun thing about FIRST. spending ALL your time at school building a robot. i'm really looking forward to this season being the best time in my like.

Dave-O~ who is excited and sad that this will be his last year of FIRST as a HS student

[Jessica Boucher]

I honestly can't wait.

I'm volunteering both days in Manch-vegas, and then I will be working with 237 until the 20th, at which I will then go back up to Babson.

After that, I want to visit some local Boston teams, so if I can drop by, please let me know

As for regionals, I will be bringing a van/busload of Babson students to UTC, and if schedule permits, I will be dropping by the NYC regional as well.

What I really can't wait for, though, is Nationals. I have been waiting a good long time for a Nationals like this one is looking like, in terms of the freedom I have.

Seriously, though, there are a lot of perks to being a HS student on a FIRST team....there's nothing like it...but there are also a lot of perks to not being a HS student on a FIRST team....such as, for instance, this is the first winter break Ive had since 6th grade where I dont have to do any work for school

So, thus, I can't wait.

-Jessica B

[Stephanie]

I can't wait. This is my first year on the team, so I have not yet had this experience of staying at school all day everyday to work on the robot. I'm really excited about helping at the remote kickoff in San Jose, and I'm looking forward to the Silicon Valley Regionals and Nationals.

[EddieMcD]

The time of hell is almost upon us...

If it's one thing the winter solstice means, it's that. But as usual, I'm excited about the upcoming season, despite the fact we might not make it to the Nationals. I guess going to both NYC and UTC make up for that. As long as we are all gracious professionals, we're set.

[Madison]

I'm a bit nervous, actually.

On one hand, I'm really looking forward to finding out what the contest. I love the whole brainstorming process, and design and everything.

On the other hand, I'm facing a lot of challenges that I haven't seen before. They're compounded, too, because this is my first time in a leadership role, and I am working with a rookie team.

But, they all seem like they just want to have some fun, which is great. It eases the pressure a bit.

[Christina]

I'm actually looking forward to the season (at least, until the point where I go back to school, and it makes my college life complete hell). I'm not used to being a "mentor" role, where people actually ask me questions...but, I'm getting used to it. I'm *really* looking forward to kick off itself, one because it's my first time at kick off, and second, I'm looking forward to seeing some of my friends. I'm hoping to see my team pull together (like I have seen teams do before). I have a good feeling about this season though so I'm hoping for the best.

~Christina

[E. The Kidd]

Ah yes the six week process. This year we will actually make it to a remote Kickoff (even if it is only a NASA downlink). Our team is looking to repeat last year (NYC regional winner, Number 1 seed NYC, and 11+ at the nats). We also have a wonderful combination this year of mentors, captains and team members so we are ready for this year.

[Ydnar]

Yhea i'm looking forward to it, luckfully i'll have a way to watch the nasa channel. What is a disappointment is that i'm a senior and this is my first year, but i'll make the most of it, it will be fun...

[A. Leese]

I guess I'm excited about the building period. To be honest and totally up front, I dont' touch the robot. I stay busy enough with the website and newsletter stuff to just sit back and let the people who want to do build/design do so. The six week period does bring forth a great amout of work on my part, however. I dont' mind. This sort of work is fun to me (yes..I am insane). One thing that's different this year from the rest is that we have a lot of newbies on the team (about 35 instead of the usual 10 or so) to deal with. It'll be interesting for us veterans to be outnumbered. Anyway....yea..I'm looking foward to those wounderful six weeks. I like living the in the SPAM pit anyway and it is a good place to get help on math homework. lol

~Angela who just remembered a million things she needs to get done before jan 5th.

[Tom Fairchild]

I don't think that you're going to find a FIRSTer out there who's not excited, yet at the same time dredding the coming date. Personally, I do take comfort in the fact that no matter what, it's only going to be six weeks. Looking at it from that aspect, you can justify it much easier than if you we could take more time to build. Commitment is one of the biggest lessons that FIRST has taught me.

~Tom Fairchild~, who can't wait to drive up to Richmond's remote kick-off. Anyone else going to Richmond??

P.S. Please pardon the spelling.

[Carolyn Duncan]

I wish I could be at the Richmond remote . But I'll be in an office building watching a NASA webcast, in Florida. I'll be thinkin of VCU tho.
I am very excited about kick off though, I'm not taking anyclasses so I'm not worrying about bad grades, all I have to worry about is fitting in dive time for my certification... But thats another story. This year I get to try my hand at being one of the adults, it should be interesting. I'm especially enjoying the fact that the high school kids on the team know more than I do about most book things...

[Elgin Clock]

Even though my presence on the team will decrease during my return to college I will give all I can give till the end of January when that happens.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!

[Joel J]

All around excitement. Normally firsters would cringe at the 6 week build cycle and all the "stuff" they have to sacrifice to keep up with it, but not this one. The late nights at the PF tinkering with and tweaking the robot until it becomes functional. The long days spent sitting in a room thinking up strategy that will allow the best use of our robot. I can't wait...

[patrickrd]

I can't wait for this season to start. Although we may end up going to only one regional (hopefully two), I look forward to settling down and doing what I like to do - helping mentor students on the team to build a robot and offering assistance where needed. The politics are over; the fighting with high school administration is over (for now); our regional trip has finally been approved; we have a bunch of new students interested in joining the team; the applications for funding grants are done. We have an engineer to act in the lead role in organizing the design/manufacturing process, so that hopefully means I can actually concentrate on some classes this semester. I'm looking forward to a relaxing six weeks.

Patrick