Best experiences in FIRST

[SharonO]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

I'm not sure if this qualifies as "best", but certainly most exciting.

Championship 2012, Curie Field, Quarterfinals.
Our first time ever playing in eliminations at the World Championship.
We lost our first match by 2 points. Our alliance regrouped and won the next 2 matches by 1 point each.

I would have to agree with this one.

Watching one of my best friends win his first regional.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by antimatter_john

Wait so students on your team got full rids because they got onto einstein?

No. Re-read the post: He's MORE proud of the students getting the full rides than he is of racking up 2 Championship wins and 1 Championship finalist (or any other on-field performance). The two are not related.


There are a number of full-ride scholarships offered to FIRST students, and even more scholarships that are for a given dollar amount. Apply to as many as you think you want to.


My best experience... Too many. I'll have to think about it. There are a few that jump to mind, but it'd take too long to list them. I'll probably be back some other time to fill in a couple.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by antimatter_john

Wait so students on your team got full rids because they got onto einstein?

No completely unrelated. They earned those on their own based on the scholarship requirements. However had they not been part of FIRST they would not have been eligible for the scholarships.

[HumblePie]

I'd have to say our first ever Regional win at Peachtree this year (Thanks 4026 & 4080) on the day of my son's 18th birthday. His fourth year in FRC, and serving as Team Drive Coach.

His comment "Best...Birthday...Ever".

[mechanical_robot]

Originally Posted by E Dawg

Recently a thread popped up about people's worst experiences in FIRST. I found this kind of demoralizing as I read all the posts. So why not talk about some of the best times people have had in FIRST?

I worded my post in that thread wrong. I was asking about like things that went wrong with their robot I relalized this after I posted it, but oh well.

[J.Warsoff]

One of my favorite moments was watching one of our team's mentors, the great Don Rotolo, win the Woodie Flowers Award. Don was also a personal mentor to me, as well as many other students, and really inspired me to follow my passions. He is one of the greatest people I know, and watching him win that award actually brought tears to my eyes.

But overall, just being a part of FIRST was the best experience. Whether it be working with Don and other mentors, my head coach (Mr. Kevin Killian), my fellow teammates, and other teams, I had a blast. Not to mention, watching your own father become a valuable mentor to your team is pretty awesome.

[Ryan Caldwell]

My best experience in FIRST was coupled with one of my worst personally. Mid season last year we were blindsided by the sudden death of a mentor and one of my best friends. We had a event that coming weekend and I would also be gone to attend/orate the funeral. This left our team down to 2 non-technical mentors and a heartbroken yet determined student base. I was astounded as mentors from other teams dawned our t-shirts, student alumni stepped into mentorship roles, students rallied and focused their emotions, and we raised our second blue banner. This is my best experience and I wasn't there.

[Invictus3593]

I think when the robot actually performs how it's supposed to and you get to see the results of your work on the field, it the most rewarding feeling in the world.

I want to go a little different route with mine.

My best experience is being involved with FIRST as a whole. Before my team's rookie season in 2007, I was shy, nervous in front of people - big crowds and small - and just had trouble overall speaking and communicating. In the teams first year, I helped with presentations to local engineering companies, even though I was deathly afraid of this, especially since I was in front of a lot of older professionals.

Long story short, I moved my way up to team captain in 2008 and 2009 for my junior and senior years, I was on the presentation team for Chairman's, and would regularly do any public presentations for the team. Being a part of FIRST allowed me to become extremely comfortable with any sort of public speaking. I regularly have to do presentations now that I'm in my final semester, and I don't have a problem being in front of 100 of my classmates or industry professionals.

FIRST is such a great organization, and that's why I've volunteered for 5 straight years now, and hope to do many more. I know what the kids learn from being on the team, and that makes me want to help out even more.

[delsaner]

I have many favorite experiences, each having their own reasoning (for lack of better term).

My best (inspirational) experience was watching Einstein field in 2008. Since it was my first championship I went to, it was very inspirational to see other beautifully designed robots compete against one another. Certainly something I will never forget; it inspired me to build a better robot for next year, despite having done my best share in the team as possible. Having been a freshman, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I was certainly excited for it.

My best (favorite) experience was being on the drive team in 2010. My team won our first competition that year when I was the human player. Next competition, I took on the role of drive coach. Being drive coach was a great experience in itself, but winning that competition as well was a great feeling. Come to championship, I took on the role as drive coach again, and competed in the eliminations of that year. Doing my best with some of my closest friends on the team, we did the best we could, won matches that I thought we were not going to win. Being knocked out during the finals against 1114, 469, and 2041, it was an absolute pleasure losing to that powerhouse alliance. It was also great getting hardware from championship that year. I still think about that weekend, and it helps remind me why I do what I do.

My best (feeling good about myself) experience was mentoring the team for a few weeks while I was home. We had a brand new CAD team that year, and having been the CAD person during my years on the team, I felt the need to teach the new-comers what they needed to know. Taught them the basics of modeling, went over more complicated applications, and set up tutorials for advanced portions of Inventor. The day before I had to go back to school, they all thanked me for helping them out. They stated that I taught them a lot and they were able to apply it to their work on the team. I left that day feeling good that I was able to give something back to the team that gave me so much.

[E Dawg]

Originally Posted by antimatter_john

I worded my post in that thread wrong. I was asking about like things that went wrong with their robot I relalized this after I posted it, but oh well.

That makes sense. Sorry for misunderstanding.

[Nick Lawrence]

I'd probably have to go with this:

In the span of one week, I went from a heartbreaking World Championship Finals loss with my VEXU team, to a Cinderella story-like FRC World Championship win with not only the hardest working group of students and mentors I've ever worked with, but also many close friends on 1241 and 1477.

The shoe fit.

-Nick

[Xavbro]

I've got two:

1) In 2009 it was my first and only year in FIRST as a student and that year my team won their first regional at the Lone Star Regional and we went to Championships. I think this was the second to last year it was at the Georgia Dome and I'll never forget that feeling when you walk into the dome from the pits and you just hear all the sounds from the different fields and see the hundreds of teams queuing up at their respective fields. It was that "First time at championships ever" feeling and it's what got me hooked on FRC for life.


***Best overall experience*** I don't think anything will ever top this one.

2) 2012, I started FRC team 4209 the TigerBytes. We went with a Pacman design for our shooter (not sure why but it just happened) and we made it a goal of ours to have it "waka" on the field at least once before the regional was over. So in one of our final matches on Saturday we were able to get on the bridge and balanced and you could just feel the excitement from the kids brewing because they knew it was going to happen. When the "waka" happened they were so excited. Just seeing the kids that happy that we accomplished a goal we set just for fun regardless of the outcome of the regional made my weekend.

[AJCaliciuri]

As the Judges of the 2010 FIRST Championships in Atlanta, GA, said, FIRST Team 1305 put the criminals on ice.

We were heading back to our hotel Thursday after competition. As it was tax season, our bus driver opted to take a back road back to the hotel. While driving this back road, team members noticed something out of the ordinary: a brightly coloured FIRST FRC trailer. Who would have their trailer in an auto recycling yard? It was Team 1730’s trailer, Team Driven. We knew something was up, we were staying at the same hotel as them.

When we got back to the hotel, police were there. Team 1730 members were speaking to them, looking visibly distraught. Immediately our 2010 captain, Alex Wilcox, went to talk to them. And so ensued the race back to the auto recycling yard. I remember that Alex wasn't even that the team meeting that night, too busy with the police trying to locate the trailer. A few other
mentors and members also went, along with Team Driven, to find it. It was probably the most memorable thing that ever happened on any of the World Championship trips.

Team 1730 got their trailer back, much due to the fact that we’d spotted it. A few of us watched as the police drew their weapons and stormed the property. As it turned out, the suspects were part of an illegal drug ring who were on the run from the police for a prior arrest warrant. 1305 felt a bit like a team of super heros that day, but we were only doing the right thing. If it
had been our trailer, we would have only hoped some other team would do the same.

The Missouri team thought their trailer was "gone forever or probably all torn up" said team mentor Clint Ott. The next day, Team 1730 came to our pit, presenting their “Pass It Along” award. A team award, it is given to team who does something nice for another team, and the recpients then pass it along to another team who helps them. Since then, we passed it to FIRST Team 1241,
THEROY6, from Mississauga, ON. This award truly emulates the attitude of FIRST Robotics.

In recognition of this act, among others, we were awarded the Gracious Professionalism Award by the judges at the Championship. It was an awesome way to end my first year on the team.