Minneapolis Regional Discussion 2016

[Ginger Power]

I'm speechless and amazed as I'm on my way back to Fargo from the FIRST Robotics Minnesota North Star Regional. CIS 4607, the Becker Robotics team has been honored with the most prestigious award in competitive robotics, the Chairman's Award.

CIS has been striving to achieve the culture change outlined by FIRST since our inception in 2012. The Chairman's Award is so much more than just another award. It is a validation for the countless hours of work done by a special collection of people in an effort to change the world. I think I speak for everybody on the team when I say that we're humbled to have been honored with the Chairman's Award.

There are so many people deserving of thanks, and so many people who deserve recognition for this achievement. I'll leave all of that for a different form of communication. There is, however, somebody that needs to be recognized here.

Alex Jurek (Chief Hedgehog), you won the Woodie Flowers award. There isn't anything I can say that isn't summarized by that award. I will say simply this, I wouldn't be interested in STEM education, or robotics if it weren't for you. Any/all of the successes that I have had and will hopefully have in the future can be attributed to your success as a mentor, a teacher, and a friend. 4607 doesn't have a FRC team without you, we certainly don't win any awards. Many people have put in many hours, but you've been the guiding force. Without your vision for the future, 4607 is nothing, and all of the work we do doesn't get done. This award should serve as a validation for all the time you've given up with your family. It should serve as validation for the sleepless nights, worrying about one thing or another for the team. It should certainly validate the blood sweat and tears you have put into this program.

I'd also love to thank Laurie Shimizu, Jon Stratis, Mark Lawrence, and Ken Rosen. They're all incredible people who have helped show 4607 how to become the team that we are today.

Interestingly, I was told today at the event that 4607 has a reputation. At the time I wasn't sure what this meant, was it good? I suppose after this, I can believe that we have a good reputation.

4607 knows that the work doesn't stop here. CIS isn't going to sit back and relax knowing that we've accomplished what we've always dreamed of accomplishing. The work is just beginning. We won't ever stop trying to improve our community, spread STEM education, and change the world.

[team-4480]

Congrats to 4607 for the Chairman's Award(beautiful video) and the #1 alliance on winning the regional!!

We, on the other hand, received the very short straw.

On average we scored:

11.25 Auto points per match

53.3875% of the our alliance's points

We are quite proud of those statistics until we see that we ranked 60/60 teams. It was devasting to our team spirit to do so well for us but be ranked the lowest team there.

We submitted Chairman's for the first time and it was a great experience. We were pretty sure we wouldn't win, but the judges and volunteers helped encourage us to do our best!

Good luck to those teams going onto State and Worlds! Hopefully we can draw a longer straw next time!

[mjc49]

Congratulations to CIS. You folks have done an amazing job to growing your team and STEM in your area. You have inspired me with what you have accomplished in such as short amount of time.

A thank you and congratulations to the students and mentors of 2715 & 3130. I was very impressed by the way the teams handled the adversity of robots loosing functionality and finding ways to get the robots back on the field and develop strategies to get past three outstanding alliances (5826, 2239, 4215) (2225, 3928, 3026 missing 4778) & (2826, 2194, 2574).

Safe travel to those of you headed to St. Louis and good luck.

[Doug Frisk]

North Star's playoffs may have been one for the record books. 5 of a possible 7 tiebreaker matches were played. 4 timeout (5 were presented) coupons were used and 2 substitute robots were pulled in.

That was quite a production.

[ChickenCoupe]

A huge shout out to our alliance partners 3042 and 2175, our teams worked amazingly well together and I know my team had a great time. 2175 and my team share a shop at East Ridge High School and have always had grand dreams of winning a regional together. I'm ecstatic that we have finally pulled it off, especially since I am a graduating senior on 3130 and my brother is a freshmen on 2175, the timing couldn't have been better. 3042 played amazing defense and was a joy to work with, thank you guys so much.

We share a practice field with 4215 so playing with them in quarters was a lot of fun, I'm sorry we won't see you at worlds but I hope you'll be in the field soon!

Semifinals were terrifying. 2225, 3928, and 2226 played a terrific game, and with the final tie breaker coming down to one point, it couldn't have been a better show.

Our intake died in the first match, leaving 2175 to put in all the boulders. Luckily our robots performed well in the last two finals matches. But it was a bittersweet victory, knowing that 2826 had not yet qualified for champs. The opposing alliance, 2826, 2194, and 2574 played a great game, and as always it was a lot of fun to compete with you guys.

Thank you so much again to our alliance, and the rest of my drive team as well as Bradley Cho, our Deans List Finalist.

...still shaking from the last match.

[Mark Holschuh]

Fondy Fire really enjoyed coming to the North Star Regional. We would like to thank Mark Lawrence, Jon Stratis, the rest of the Regional Planning Committee, and the all of the volunteers who make this such a great event.

We would also like to give a huge shout-out to 2826 Wave Robotics, who always helps and keeps pushing us to improve. Thanks for picking us for eliminations. Also thanks to our other alliance partner 2574, who was also great to play with.

Congratulations to 4607 for winning RCA. Their video is worth checking out. Also, check out their unique pit banners at the Championship.

Congratulations also to the Regional Champions, 2175, 3130 and 3042. We fought you as hard as we could!

The rookie teams there were all really good! Congrats to 5194 for winning Rookie All Star, and to 5826 for winning Rookie Inspiration and being the 8th Alliance Captain.

Good luck to all the teams going to the FIRST Championship and to the teams going to the Minnesota State Championship.

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

I'm speechless and amazed as I'm on my way back to Fargo from the FIRST Robotics Minnesota North Star Regional. CIS 4607, the Becker Robotics team has been honored with the most prestigious award in competitive robotics, the Chairman's Award.

So glad to here you guys earned it after all your hard work! All of us on 2052 are amazed and thrilled, as well, that we were honored with the Chairman's Award at 10,000 Lakes. It looks like both of us had a great time at competitions As you can hear, our team completely erupted when we won!