HELP! Rookie team up the creek w/o a paddle

[Stu Bloom]

Hi Andy,

You are obviously very excited about the FIRST opportunity as am I. I am a mechanical engineer at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis. I worked last year with CyberBlue (234) and I am working with a rookie team across town from them this year (Pike HS - RoboDevils - 1018). I have fallen in love with FIRST and I think my enthusiasm shows whenever I talk to anyone about it. The main teacher/advisor for our team and I spent a little time talking to the owner of a small tool store that recently opened up in our area - I think my excitement rubbed off because when we got done talking they were almost more excited than me - without ever seeing any of the competition or anything else about FIRST. Sunday after returning from Manchester I went to their store with the teacher and some video footage (the animation that I filmed off the big screen) and we walked out of there an hour later with OVER $1,000 WORTH OF HAND TOOLS!! We just asked them if they could possibly take care of our travel tool needs for working in the pits - we now have almost everything we need including power tools, hand tools, portable drill press, carts, dollys ... These guys were GREAT! (MANYY THANKS TO "Just TOOLS" in Indianapolis, IN).

Sorry for getting a bit out of control ... but my point is that if you take this to your local community I think you will be amazed at the response you will get ... This is a GREAT program to help students and that fact is easily realized by anyone who is exposed to it ...

Good luck with your first FIRST season - we'll be at the St. Louis and Chicago regionals ... hope to see your successful robot in competition!

Stu Bloom
Mechanical Engineer - Rolls-Royce Corporation
Pike High School RoboDevils - 1018