2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[BHS_STopping]

Originally Posted by TEAM1100soft506

I just want to say, as a member of a team who has been around for over 10 years now, the concept of a hall of fame is just plane rediculous. We are here to work and play and spread the message of FIRST. To me, the hall of fame recignizes the teams who have the most money and are able to do great extravagent things with it. Dont get me wrong, they worked hard to earn it, and I am most definitely not knocking philanthropy or the value of becoming a chairmans winning team, but the hall of fame shouldnt exist. It is not fair to have a team like mine who can barely keep afloat, is using old equipment for design, programming, and building our robot, to have to compete against a team like Ms. Daisy (no offence) who has multiple heavy hitter sponsors, is able to travel internationally to show off their robot in the United Kingdom, as well as other wonderfull things like that. I believe that yes these teams types of teams should be an example to others, But I do not believe that other teams should get less of a chance to compete due to financial reasons.

You hold quite a controversial opinion, and I just want to let you know that this topic has been discussed time and time again.

The objective of the HoF and the Chairman's award is to inspire other teams to spread the ideals of FIRST. You are correct that some teams have a great amount of resources and have an "easier" time accomplishing certain goals. That being said, it's impossible ensure equal circumstances for all teams competing. Your argument doesn't apply to just the Chairman's award, it could be applied to the competition itself, and even to instances outside of FIRST as well (think high school sports teams, students applying to colleges, etc). Judges definitely do take things like economic circumstances into account when judging for all awards. An inner city school can certainly have many more challenges to overcome than an engineering academy might, which makes it that much more exciting and inspiring when they achieve their goals. What matters is how much your team does with what it is given. I promise that if you make the most out of what your team has, you will be rewarded for it.