Grand Blanc District Event

[Zach O]

Thanks Joe! It's awesome to hear positive feedback about the event.

I will agree it was weird on Friday - I'd look in to the audience and I couldn't tell if the crowd was empty or there was more seating than usual district events.

[GaryVoshol]

From the volunteer perspective, I also agree that this was a very well-run event. All we had to do was ask, and someone found what we needed. And many times people would ask, "You need something?"

Originally Posted by Zach O

I will agree it was weird on Friday - I'd look in to the audience and I couldn't tell if the crowd was empty or there was more seating than usual district events.

Fridays are generally less-attended. Many parents can't get off work, so they don't come until Saturday. Beside that, if you're just a supporter of one team, you wander off to do something else between their matches. That's how I got into volunteering in the first place - we figured out early on that when your team isn't up, it's pretty boring for parents. Especially on Thursday practice days back in those pre-district days.

[IKE]

Wow, what an event. The pits were very spacious and well organized. The kept the rookies over by inspection so we could keep an eye on them to see if they needed help, and did I mention there was lots of room...

Thank you to the countless volunteers running the event. It was extremely well run. I would like to give a special shout out to the inspection crew as they got almost every robot inspected Thursday night (all but 2). Great job.

The arena was great. The audio and DJ did a great job, and Zach and Tom were awesome on the mics.

A big congratulations to 2604 on winning Engineering Inspiration.

Great job to 2619, 245, and 3302. You guy were a blast to watch and such tough competitors. 245 and 2619 are such efficient scorers. I look forward to 3302 getting that long range shooter firing properly. It will be deadly in the near future.

247, what a great team to pick up. Your auton points were icing on the cake, and your defense did a great job at slowing down the opposition.

1718... What can I say, now you have your second district win, and a Chairman's award. You guys are such an inspiration and a pleasure to work with. We will see you guys again at States.

Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to the hosts. Brandi and Clinton did such a great job with this event, and the whole Enginerds team were out helping ensure the event ran smoothly. I look forward to hanging out with you guys at Troy and Bedford.

[Carolyn_Grace]

The Grand Blanc district is proof that a district can be just as exciting as a larger regional event while still being more accessible to the general public.

Throughout the day on Friday, the host team 2337 gave tours to (I believe) approximately 500 elementary students throughout the pits. Zach's right: Fridays are usually slow, but for a few hours the crowds were packed with little faces cheering like crazy for these robots! It's safe to say that the Grand Blanc area just secured sustainability for their FIRST programs for the next 15 years. I had the pleasure of talking to a few of the elementary teachers. They were impressed and kept saying different versions of, "This is the best thing we could offer to improve our education institution."

And the looks on the high school students faces as they talked to the little kids was great! They loved sharing their excitement for STEM!

After school on Friday I saw a lot of Grand Blanc high schoolers in the gym, watching matches. Who needs pep assemblies when you can just bring a massive competition to your school?

Grand Blanc also brought in the high school's drumline Saturday morning, right before Opening Ceremonies! Talk about waking everyone up to get the adrenaline pumping before anything even started! It was awesome!

They had politicians walking through the pits, talking to high school students.

The volunteer food was amazing, donated by local businesses.

Brandi and Clint Bolinger are definitely my heroes. They know how to organize, make an impact on their community, help teams grow and throw the best party. It was exciting to be part of it all.

I can't emphasize enough how much fun it was.

[BJC]

+1 to everything said so far.

I'd like to give one more shout-out to Zack Orr for being an awesome team announcer. He did a great job – during elims he combined the "karthik kick" with crazy energy and some impressive knowledge of the teams. He was a pleasure to listen to.

[Ivan Malik]

Easily one of the best events experience-wise in the state if not the country. It felt as big as a regional, but had the charm of a district. I would go as far as saying better than states! If there isn't a Grand Blanc district next year I will be very sad. Awesome venue, awesome hosts, all around an awesome event.

[rmhooks573]

The Grand Blanc District was easily one of the most fun, and exciting Districts that i have been to in all of my 4 years of FRC. The amount of seating as said earlier was a bit intimidating thursday evening, but indeed, they were PACKED on Friday evening and all day saturday. The matches themselves were also great. They kept you on the edge of your seat and your vocal chords until the last second. Great job to the teams and the MCs for keeping all of us excited throughout. And of course, we can't forget the volunteers and event coordinators for allowing this event to run smoothly while remaining on schedule.

See you next year!!