Team 1114 Student: Taylor

[Karthik]

Let me take a moment to introduce to the young man on the right of this photo. That's Taylor, who this past weekend was honoured as a FIRST Dean's List Finalist. Taylor's nomination focused on his efforts within the FIRST community. This year he was responsible for the design, CAD and assembly of Team 1114's shooter/turret. He also did a good chunk of the robot assembly and also led the wiring effort on the robot. Taylor also was very active this off-season, here's a list of some of the things he did.

- Designed an interactive robot that was featured in an exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre for 5 months
- Mentored two FLL teams
- Designed, built and programmed a VEX robot that qualified for VEX World Champs. Also held the world record for the VEX programming skills challenge for two months.
- Led the design of a new robotics curriculum module that has been implemented by the school board in the grade 7/8 design centres
- Formalized the instructions for the Kitbot on Steroids and led the creation of the instructional video.
- Was the project manager for the SimPhone App

Pretty spectacular stuff. For anyone who wants to claim 1114 students don't design or build their robots, you're basically insulting this young man and his peers. It's not cool. Yes there is outside manufacturing on the 1114 robots, but to imply that this means the students didn't work on the robot is patently false. The students on 1114 regularly put in 6-8 hours a day during the week, and 10-14 hours a day on weekends. (The 1114 mentors on the other hand only show up on weekends. We can't keep up with these kids)

This is why myself and other mentors in the community get so worked up when people make unfounded claims about mentor built robots. Each time you make such a claim, you're inadvertently insulting groups of hard working and dedicated kids. Not cool, my friends. Not cool.

[Anupam Goli]

What an amazing individual! I'm sure his impact on the team, his community, and FIRST is being displayed as we speak. The age old mentor-built robot argument is just plan fallacious. How would any student be inspired by a mentor designed robot? What benefit would the mentor gain from such an act? The "mentor designed robots" excuse is just a cover up for a team's own lack of hard work and effort. If you want to win, put the effort into it. Name a time any sports team won without hard work and effort. FRC is the same. It's a varsity sport.

I would like to congratulate both of the individuals on Team 1114 for being finalists in the Dean's List program. Both members have surely deserved it and I wish them the best of luck at Championships. Congratulations Team 1114 and thanks for being an inspiration for all of us.

[commodoredl]

Send my thanks to Taylor for his work on the Kitbot on Steroids documentation. We tried out a modified version of the concept this year and it worked beautifully. I'm so glad there are teams like 1114 around to represent the pinnacle of FIRST, Coopertition, and GP.

[Kyle Love]

I haven't posted much over the past few years. But this has not changed since my hiatus.

Team 1114 has always been, and always will be a class act. Their students have ALWAYS shown respect and have been very knowledgeable of their robot and how things work. I have always taken things from teams such as 1114 and used them as examples for teams I have worked with. This thread is a testament to that.

When you go to a competition where 1114 is competing, you know they will show respect and show true humility, win or lose. I have noticed over the years that when they get beat in an elimination atmosphere they are the ones taking the initiative to say good job to the teams who beat them. The same is true when they win. They have always been extremely professional and polite.

Karthik - When you're on top there will always be those who try to bring you down. Stick to how you guys do things, the entire FIRST and robotics community have learned many things and shared many great times with you guys. Like you said earlier tonight, rise above hate. Take this negative and turn it into a positive. You guys really teach the kids the true meaning of FIRST, no matter what anyone else tries to tell you.

[santosh]

props to the kid but no need to drag drama from another thread into this one. let this thread be about your kid and not the drama that was GTR-East. Its unfair to the kid

And kid, props to the stuff you have done. Society needs folks like you.

Congratulations Taylor! You clearly deserved this award! Thank you, Karthik, for posting this thread. It just shows how great the students on FIRST teams are, and all of the accomplishments they achieve. It makes me feel privileged to be in the same organization as students like this. A student, who not only changes their community and the culture around them, but inspires others to do the same.

Great job Taylor! And thank you for your contributions to FIRST! Our only wish now is that you stay involved

[Meredith Novak]

Congratulations to Taylor who is a very nice young man. My picky daughter even says so, not that I would want to embarrass her on a public forum or anything. Looking forward to seeing all the Simbots in St. Louis. Cheers from Arkansas.

[neshera]

Just curious:
Where will Taylor be going to college/university?

[Mr MOE]

Taylor:

Congratulations! Given all that you have accomplished, you are well deserving of a Dean's List Finalist recognition.

Keep up the great work! All of FIRST should be very proud to have students like you representing our future.

All the best in St Louis!

[Dmentor]

Taylor is one dedicated student. A true FIRST success story. We need a lot more!

[Bill_B]

This guy looked at the FIRST multiple choice and he checked "All of the Above."

Wow! Ambassador material for sure.

(How come there's no smiley for congratulations? He said hoping to use a dozen or so. )

[Taylor Nicholson]

Thank you everyone for your kind words and congratulations of me becoming a Dean’s List Finalist! I would also like to congratulate Craig Robinson (aka “Butters”) as all that I have done has been supported by him as well as every other member of Simbotics.

I must say that last night I was a little put down by some of the comments in the GTER thread. To wake up to see my accomplishments recognized like this was very uplifting.

I would like to give a quick example from this past build season of the mentor-student relationship on this team. At the beginning of this season I began prototyping and designing our shooter for the 2012 season. I went ahead and designed an entire assembly of a turreted shooter during the first week of build season. From here I presented the design to the engineering mentors on Simbotics. While the mentors said the design was already great initially, it could still be improved. I sat down with our lead engineering mentor as he guided me to better the design and evolve it to what can be currently seen on Simbot Jordan. While I may have learned a little by working myself through the design, I learned much more working with an experienced engineering to help me improve it. This is what FIRST really is for, and our team has found what we think is an almost perfect model for students and mentors working together.

The experience I have had over the last four years would have been much less satisfying without our mentor support, and I can only hope that in the future I will be as inspirational to some, as the mentors on Simbotics have been for me.

Originally Posted by neshera

Just curious:
Where will Taylor be going to college/university?

To answer this, I have been accepted to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and Queen’s University, and expect to hear a response soon for the University of Waterloo, where I ultimately see myself continuing my education.

[robobandmom]

Congrats to you, Tyler! Good luck in your future endeavors. You have inspired many students on my son's team. I have no doubt you will continue to inspire those around you at university. Your "future's so bright, gotta wear shades."

[Koko Ed]

I remember him at GTR all those times queing them up for matches.
Fine young man.
Congratulations!

[Dancin103]

Congratulations Taylor and all the students on 1114. What a spectacular team and students. Amazing job, and well deserved!

Cass