FRC Blogged- District Award Allocations and Kickoff Taping

[Taylor]

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

[DonRotolo]

Quoted again for truth. Although we don't KNOW how many teams did it.

Originally Posted by Taylor

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

If I were running a district, I would choose as many EI winners as possible, since there is a monetary award as well.

Anyhow, to te obvious game hints:

including the Woodie Flower’s Finalist Award

That incorrect apostrophe is surely a game hint. Coupled to the ellipsis, it is clear to me that there is a grammar element to this year's game, specifically punctuation.

Or maybe it's just a mis-spelling of ellipses, those oblong circle thingies...

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

If I were running a district, I would choose as many EI winners as possible, since there is a monetary award as well.

I thought the NASA award excluded districts last year? Am I wrong, or thinking of something else?

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Q
Or maybe it's just a mis-spelling of ellipses, those oblong circle thingies...

You mean footballs? Clearly, football game piece.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I thought the NASA award excluded districts last year? Am I wrong, or thinking of something else?

It excluded winners at individual District events, not winners from the overall "District/Region" (it's a matter of phrasing)

[MamaSpoldi]

I for one am very sad to see the reduction in the number of Dean's List Finalists being sent from the Districts as well as the Woodie Flowers Finalist. I know that I will be corrected that it is not about the number of previous regionals that are being replaced. However, last year we would have had 14 Dean's List Finalists heading to Champs from NE regionals and now it is a max of 6... and from 7 Woodie Flowers Finalists down to 1. This is a very large reduction (more than 50%) even if you take into account that mentors and students from outside of NE would/could have won some of those spots in previous years.

I just feel that these awards are about celebrating those among us who are role models. Granted these people do not make choices based on how it will look to an awards committee, they do what they do because they believe in the message of FIRST. Reducing the number of these awards just leaves us with less to celebrate.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by MamaSpoldi

I just feel that these awards are about celebrating those among us who are role models. Granted these people do not make choices based on how it will look to an awards committee, they do what they do because they believe in the message of FIRST. Reducing the number of these awards just leaves us with less to celebrate.

Not necessarily. You can celebrate your students and mentors any day of the week

Keep in mind how difficult judging becomes at the Championship level for these awards. I don't see it as a bad thing to become more selective.

[Alan Anderson]

I can see I'm going to have to adjust my vocabulary. Until now, I thought FIRST was calling the areas running a district model "Regions" -- the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Region, the Pacific Northwest Region, etc. I've been very careful to follow that usage. Now, however, it seems they're being labeled "Districts".

Except I thought that was what they called the smaller areas within a larger region hosting district competitions. I'm confused.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I can see I'm going to have to adjust my vocabulary. Until now, I thought FIRST was calling the areas running a district model "Regions" -- the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Region, the Pacific Northwest Region, etc. I've been very careful to follow that usage. Now, however, it seems they're being labeled "Districts".

Except I thought that was what they called the smaller areas within a larger region hosting district competitions. I'm confused.

The only time I've ever seen a map actually divided into numbered districts" was a map of MI, and I think was to show how teams are/were divided into "home districts" ie. one they are arbitrarily signed up for. There's been no such division like that in MAR, but the 'first level' of competitions has been referred to as "district events'.

My guess is this is just to further distinguish/seperate the district model from the regional model, so instead of going to "regionals" or "regional championships", you're going to the "district championship"

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I can see I'm going to have to adjust my vocabulary. Until now, I thought FIRST was calling the areas running a district model "Regions" -- the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Region, the Pacific Northwest Region, etc. I've been very careful to follow that usage. Now, however, it seems they're being labeled "Districts".

Except I thought that was what they called the smaller areas within a larger region hosting district competitions. I'm confused.

In PNW we consider ourselves the Pacific Northwest District. The qualifying events district events and the big event District Championships of DCMP. In PNW there is no geographic divisions within the District any team is allowed to register for any event, until of course slots are filled. Of course most teams registered for the closest event as one of their two. I've heard that one of the reasons for the fiM home events was to determine which event they were eligible to present for Chairman's, of course now teams are able to present for Chairman's at all events they attend whether District or Regional.

[Kimmeh]

Originally Posted by Mr V

I've heard that one of the reasons for the fiM home events was to determine which event they were eligible to present for Chairman's, of course now teams are able to present for Chairman's at all events they attend whether District or Regional.

One of the advantages of districts is so that for more teams, they can travel to/from home to at least one event instead of needing hotels. It was my understanding that home events are actually the event closest to you. By ensuring that you get your home event, it ensures that you don't need to book hotel rooms.

However, I don't recall reading this anywhere and the briefest of searches didn't show much. Can someone from FiM explain home events better?

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by Kimmeh

One of the advantages of districts is so that for more teams, they can travel to/from home to at least one event instead of needing hotels. It was my understanding that home events are actually the event closest to you. By ensuring that you get your home event, it ensures that you don't need to book hotel rooms.

Funny, we've always needed a hotel for our home event. I mean, I wouldn't want a 3+ hour commute to our home event.</serious sarcasm>

Now, our team is in FiM, though I don't know all the specifics about what qualifies as home event. I think it is closest, but I could be wrong. About the map of "districts" within the district, I think that mostly serves as a way to assign district contacts or some such thing. Otherwise, FiM is a district, with district events and a district (state) championship.

[Kimmeh]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Funny, we've always needed a hotel for our home event. I mean, I wouldn't want a 3+ hour commute to our home event.</serious sarcasm>.

That's why I said more, not all. And besides, it's your fault for being in the wrong part of the state. =P /sarcasm

Seriously though, because of the way Michigan is, the district structure actually makes it harder on teams in the UP because there is no short, cheap way to get to the bulk of the events in Michigan. The event in Escanaba is closer for you guys, but a hotel room is still a hotel room. All it saves you guys is gas and travel time.

*Internet hugs* One day, we'll be able to teleport, right? =/

[dag0620]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I can see I'm going to have to adjust my vocabulary. Until now, I thought FIRST was calling the areas running a district model "Regions" -- the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Region, the Pacific Northwest Region, etc. I've been very careful to follow that usage. Now, however, it seems they're being labeled "Districts".

Except I thought that was what they called the smaller areas within a larger region hosting district competitions. I'm confused.

I feel like lately Region and District have been used interchangeably, at least in the community. I've heard the Championship event tier in a district system called the District Championship and the Region Championship. Just like I'm still not sure if I'm technically in the New England Region or New England District. Even though the local entities have somewhat settled this, there is clear inconsistencies across FIRST with this.

While I understand this isn't exactly the most pressing issue at hand, it wouldn't hurt for FIRST to come out with a standardized set of terms to settle this and avoid a little confusion down the road.

[Nathan Streeter]

I'm glad FIRST gave some sort of directive on this... but also think it's real cool that they gave individual districts some leeway too.

For New England, I'd personally say 3 Chairmans', 2 EI, 2 RAS, 6 Dean's List.

Have the award qualifications to Championship been announced/standardized? I apologize if I'm failing to remember a piece about this from the Standardized District Point System announcement. Basically, do the Chairmans', EI, and RAS winners at DCMP all auto-bid to CMP? Also, do the DCMP Winners also get an auto-bid?

I would agree with auto-bidding the three FIRST culture awards, but I am personally not in favor of auto-bidding the DCMP Winners... If they don't get enough points by winning DCMP, they probably shouldn't be going (last year in Michigan the lowest-place team to qualify for CMP by points had 133 points. Winning DCMP gives 90.) One could argue this makes it a fairly irrelevant point... I'd have to quietly agree and sit down. :-)

Originally Posted by MamaSpoldi

I for one am very sad to see the reduction in the number of Dean's List Finalists being sent from the Districts as well as the Woodie Flowers Finalist. ... This is a very large reduction (more than 50%) even if you take into account that mentors and students from outside of NE would/could have won some of those spots in previous years.

While I do agree that it feels wrong to send so many fewer DL or WF finalists, they are approximately in line with the other awards... 1 Chairmans', 1 EI, 1 RAS, 2 DL, and 1 WF would go from each Regional before. Now that is scaled up by 2-4 from Regionals to DCMP awards. Except WF... this little part surprises me personally and I do agree that we should be able to send 2-3 Woodie Flowers' Finalists. That said, I do agree with wanting to send only 50% as many award winners to CMP... I'm sure the pool of candidates at CMP is tremendous! Whittling it down a bit more beforehand has got to be helpful from a CMP-standpoint.

Originally Posted by MamaSpoldi

I just feel that these awards are about celebrating those among us who are role models. Granted these people do not make choices based on how it will look to an awards committee, they do what they do because they believe in the message of FIRST. Reducing the number of these awards just leaves us with less to celebrate.

It is about celebrating the role models around us... and I had this same objection until I tried thinking about it in more dimensions. I think this celebratory aspect is actually being improved by the advent of districts... In New England there will now be 9 Chairmans, 9 EI, 9 RAS, 18 DL, and 9 WF winners... at the District event level. This pool will get paired down a bit more at DCMP before joining an enormous pool of applicants at CMP that are paired down even more. FIRST went from 2 tiers of awards to 3 tiers. We're upset that the "DCMP-tier" is smaller than the "Regional-tier," when they've also made the lowest tier bigger. All-in-all I think this is better... More people will win awards, then there will be another level of distinction (winning at DCMP), before the FIRST-wide winners are determined.

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

Have the award qualifications to Championship been announced/standardized? I apologize if I'm failing to remember a piece about this from the Standardized District Point System announcement. Basically, do the Chairmans', EI, and RAS winners at DCMP all auto-bid to CMP? Also, do the DCMP Winners also get an auto-bid?

This is actually covered in the Standard Points Document:

Chairman’s Award winning Teams at the District event level get automatic byes to the District Championship, where they will compete both with their robots and for the District Championship Chairman’s Awards. Winning a District Championship Chairman’s Award will earn the Team a slot at the FIRST Championship regardless of their final rank in their district.

Engineering Inspiration and Rookie All-Star Award winners at the District event level will compete at the District Championship level for those specific awards, even if they do not rank high enough to compete with their robots.
Winning one of these awards at the District Championship will also earn them a slot at the FIRST Championship regardless of their final rank in their districts.