[FRC Blog] Honoring Woodie Flowers Finalist Award Winners

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 2/24/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...-Award-Winners

Honoring Woodie Flowers Finalist Award Winners

Blog Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 08:38

Today we have a guest Blog from Chris Fultz, mentor on FRC Team 234 and 2010 Championship Woodie Flowers Award recipient. FRC Team 234, Cyber Blue, is from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Each fall, the Championship Woodie Flower Award (WFA) recipients gather for a few days to share stories, talk about teams and discuss how we can help FIRST continue to grow and prosper. Dr. William Murphy, who founded the award, his wife, Bev, and Margaret Flowers are our wonderful hosts for the weekend. Often, we are able to meet with key FIRST leaders to provide input on special topics. It is an exciting time to be with a group who is so dedicated and passionate about FIRST.

One of our recent discussions was around ways to provide more recognition to mentors, especially those who have received the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award (WFFA) at a Regional or District Championship. We wanted to find a way to help recognize the partnership that is formed between the mentor, the students and everyone who is a part of a FIRST team. Each recipient receives a Mobius trophy for home, but we wanted something more.

So, we worked with FIRST, and for 2015, all Regional and District Championship Woodie Flowers Finalist Award recipients will also receive a "Blue Banner" for their team to display. This will be a great addition to the banner displays that we know many teams have and are proud of.

And, for those teams who have a previous WFFA recipient, you can order a banner from First Impressions. The banners can be customized with the event and the year. We believe this is a great way to honor and recognize your WFFA mentors.

[katiyeh07]

Originally Posted by Hallry

Posted on the FRC Blog, 2/24/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...-Award-Winners

While I think this is a nice way of recognizing mentors, I think FIRST needs to look into how we recognize our Dean's List Finalists. Handing them a certificate that's printed in the judges' room in contrast to a Mobius trophy, and now a ~$200 banner, doesn't seem right.

I'd like to see a more substantial way to recognize our Dean's List Finalists before we add onto WFFA winners.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by katiyeh07

While I think this is a nice way of recognizing mentors, I think FIRST needs to look into how we recognize our Dean's List Finalists. Handing them a certificate that's printed in the judges' room in contrast to a Mobius trophy, and now a ~$200 banner, doesn't seem right.

I'd like to see a more substantial way to recognize our Dean's List Finalists before we add onto WFFA winners.

+1

I think the banner is a little over the top in all honesty.

[Jon Stratis]

Personally, I like that FIRST is giving teams a way to recognise and commemorate their best mentors. My team has had two WFFA's over the past 8 years, and as unfortunate as it is, both have had to stop mentoring due to family commitments. That means that the current students don't know what those two mentors did for the team to help bring us to the point where we are now. There's nothing in the build space or trophy case to indicate it ever happened. With a trophy or banner, there will be something there on display to prompt questions and discussions, and give us a better avenue for educating the current team on our own team history.

I also agree with the Dean's List Comment - there should be something for Dean's List Finalists to display at their schools. These are the peer role models for all of our students, the people who show what these students are truely possible of. Rather than a banner, I think a miniature version of the trophy they get at champs would be awesome - give the students two when they accept the finalist award - one for them, one for their school.

[PayneTrain]

This is a little weird to me I guess. I do see DL awards as team awards to an extent. There are instances where a WFA winner serves multiple teams and mentors develop the team usually, not the other way around.

[sailer99]

Originally Posted by katiyeh07

While I think this is a nice way of recognizing mentors, I think FIRST needs to look into how we recognize our Dean's List Finalists. Handing them a certificate that's printed in the judges' room in contrast to a Mobius trophy, and now a ~$200 banner, doesn't seem right.

I'd like to see a more substantial way to recognize our Dean's List Finalists before we add onto WFFA winners.

FIRST Canada has given the Dean's List Finalists in Canada sweaters that recognize that for the past few years. I think it is a good addition to the award as it allows people to easily recognize the other Dean's List Finalists when we are all wearing our sweaters.

[Lil' Lavery]

That awkward moment when you realize your current team's first banner is for a mentor that's no longer with the team.

[MamaSpoldi]

Originally Posted by katiyeh07

While I think this is a nice way of recognizing mentors, I think FIRST needs to look into how we recognize our Dean's List Finalists. Handing them a certificate that's printed in the judges' room in contrast to a Mobius trophy, and now a ~$200 banner, doesn't seem right.

I'd like to see a more substantial way to recognize our Dean's List Finalists before we add onto WFFA winners.

I agree with this too. My personal perspective is that this program should focus on the students.

Originally Posted by sailer99

FIRST Canada has given the Dean's List Finalists in Canada sweaters that recognize that for the past few years. I think it is a good addition to the award as it allows people to easily recognize the other Dean's List Finalists when we are all wearing our sweaters.

This is a very cool idea. Can we see a picture of these sweaters? Are they along the lines of a varsity letter jacket?

[bduddy]

So is this where the money saved from the $6 district trophies went into?

[Lil' Lavery]

I can't believe there are negative reactions to this.

[sailer99]

Originally Posted by MamaSpoldi

This is a very cool idea. Can we see a picture of these sweaters? Are they along the lines of a varsity letter jacket?

Here is a link to a picture of a few Canadian Dean's List Finalists in their sweaters. They are red pull-over hoodies with a FIRST logo on the front, a Canadian flag on the right sleeve, and it say's "Dean's List Finalist" on the left sleeve.

[MamaSpoldi]

Originally Posted by sailer99

Here is a link to a picture of a few Canadian Dean's List Finalists in their sweaters. They are red pull-over hoodies with a FIRST logo on the front, a Canadian flag on the right sleeve, and it say's "Dean's List Finalist" on the left sleeve.

These are great. I hope we can get other regions to adopt similar recognitions. The other nice part is that they are simple enough that they can be ordered individually in those areas where they are not provided by the district or state. Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I can't believe there are negative reactions to this.

What is sort of unclear (based on the blog post and the comments here) is how many banners for a winner can their be?

Joe mentors team 1, 2, and 3, and then wins the WFA with team 4, then moves on to team 5, 6, and then 7.

Where would you expect banner(s) to be hanging?

Joe made accomplishments while with 1, 2, 3 to get the award-- can they hang order/hang a banner in honor of Joe? Team 4 nominated him for the win. Team's 5 and 6 had a WFA winner as a mentor in the past, and team 7 has one now.

And if Joe retires from FRC, he might want to put a banner in his office. (even if he hasn't retired, he might want a banner in his office.)

Can/should all these teams order banners ?

[MamaSpoldi]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I can't believe there are negative reactions to this.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to be negative. I think that every WFFA winner should be very proud. They are definitely role models, as are the student Dean's List Finalists. In fact it was my understanding that that was the impetus for starting the Dean's List award that it serve along side the Woodie Flowers award. I was merely agreeing that if we want to provide the team with some form of recognition related to the award it makes sense for it to apply to both awards.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by jvriezen

What is sort of unclear (based on the blog post and the comments here) is how many banners for a winner can their be?

Joe mentors team 1, 2, and 3, and then wins the WFA with team 4, then moves on to team 5, 6, and then 7.

Where would you expect banner(s) to be hanging?

Joe made accomplishments while with 1, 2, 3 to get the award-- can they hang order/hang a banner in honor of Joe? Team 4 nominated him for the win. Team's 5 and 6 had a WFA winner as a mentor in the past, and team 7 has one now.

And if Joe retires from FRC, he might want to put a banner in his office. (even if he hasn't retired, he might want a banner in his office.)

Can/should all these teams order banners ?

Personally, I think the WFFA is as much about the mentor who wins as it is the students who write the nomination. You could have the best, most dedicated, hardest working mentor in the world, but if the students can't string together a coherent argument in the nomination, she'll never win. The same is true of the Dean's List - if the mentor nominating a student can't do a good job with the nomination, they'll never win.

Of course, for any of that to matter, a nomination has to be made in the first place, and frankly we don't see as many teams submitting nominations for either award as we should.

So, I personally think the banner goes towards the team that submitted the application. However, with us being able to order banners, it's possible for the mentor in question to work with all of his past, current, and future teams to get one ordered for each of them if he so chooses. It's as easy as him calling up someone from his old team and saying " You want a banner? Give us the cost of it and we'll order it for you", or "my new team wants a banner, here's the money for it can you order us one?"

This is similar to a process some teams have to do with their current blue banners - if a team is formed from multiple schools and wins a banner, they need to order extra ones if they want to have it hanging in all of their member schools.