Chairmans Award.

[LaserWorks]

I'm the team Public Relations Officer and I'm in charge of our application to the Chairmans Award. And Personally I'm a little lost as to exactly what I'm suppose to be doing. Our Rookie Season was just last year, so we still have a lot on the ropes.
We Are trying to do community Service, but really we've only managed to do two things community service wise.
1.) The Lego Robotics with the younger kids we had members act as judges
2.) A Homeless blanket and jacket Drive that were getting kicked off.

Any Ideas?
Some Guidance?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by LaserWorks

I'm the team Public Relations Officer and I'm in charge of our application to the Chairmans Award. And Personally I'm a little lost as to exactly what I'm suppose to be doing. Our Rookie Season was just last year, so we still have a lot on the ropes.
We Are trying to do community Service, but really we've only managed to do two things community service wise.
1.) The Lego Robotics with the younger kids we had members act as judges
2.) A Homeless blanket and jacket Drive that were getting kicked off.

Any Ideas?
Some Guidance?

That's a very good start.
You could try Habitat for Humanity.
Help feed the hungry at a Homeless Shelter.
Assist with the local food basket.
One thing you want to do is try not to look like you are doing this just to get the Chairman's Award. You need to make these activities part of your team structure and they should be used to spread the word of FIRST to others.
You could help start robotics teams at other schools. Help mentor rookie FIRST teams in your area. Get your school more involved with FIRST and if you guys are REALLY ambitious you could try to start an off season event or a pre season scrimmage.
And demos. Lots of demos.

[Cynette]

To quote the FIRST website, "The Chairman’s Award was created to keep the focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on our ultimate goal to transform the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encourage more of today’s youth to become scientists, engineers, and technologists."

The leadership of your team should work to develop team goals for activities that would fullfill that ultimate goal. There are numerous ways of doing that. You may want to research past winners of the award to see what type of activities they have chosen to do. One of the things you will discover is that each team used very different methods to create an impact on their team, and the community and beyond.

I hope you don't end up choosing activities just because it might help with a Chairman's Award. I hope your team picks activities that have a personal impact on your team and on your community!

For this year and going forward, use the Chairman's essay and video as your chance to document your team's history. Answering the Chairman's questions gives a look inside your team beyond the 6 week build season and the competition that follows. I love reading our teams first essays to see how we have changed through the years!

[LaserWorks]

Is the Chairmans award Essay actually just the chairmans award in general? Or is there specifically just an essay??? Also we are doing things to help people, not simply to win the award, thank you for the information?

[maryliz:)]

Teams must submit a 10,000 character (maximum) essay by Feb 17th detailing all of their various outreach projects, in addition to conducting a 5 minute presentation at the regional. Teams also must submit a 3 minute video. Each of these items is a way to show the judges how your team tackles the challenge of serving as role models to the community.

[RoboMom]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=88211

Some suggestions in this thread re: preparing for submission.

[Chris Fultz]

Here are a few suggestions that will help.

Read the Chairman's Award criteria. There are several "sections" to the award criteria. The request is for your impact on students, on your school, your community and your releationship with your sponsors.

Try posting each of the main ideas on a board and then "brainstorm" things you are doing and the areas you are having an impact. You might be surprised about how many areas you will have material for.

Then, write the executive summary. There is a template for it on the Awards submission page. Then, write your submission. Use the brainstorming information to tell your story.

One tip is to write it in Word or a text document. Once you have it edited and ready, then cut and paste it into the submission file. You have to select a regional to submit.

Your next step is to prepare a presentation for the judges. This is a 5 minute presentation and 5 minutes of question / answer. You can take in materials, posters, slide shows, what ever you like. (But don't assume there will be power available for you.) You also need to create a short video that supports your entry. The video is not judged, but must be submitted.

You will find out a lot about your team from doing the brianstorming and writing the document. It can be a fun adventure.

There are some submissions posted here on CD, and many other teams have theirs on their websites.

Good Luck!

[Carol]

At Atlanta that last two years there has been a conference presnted by many of the Hall of Fame teams on what they did to win the Chairman's Award, with a Q&A fromt he audience. I know the slides and possibly a recording has been posted on the FIRST web site somewhere, but I don't have the link (and should logoff get back to work now anyway). It might be useful to look at it though.