Going down to LA with the cheesy Poofs (254)...

[Ken Leung]

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to catch a ride with team 254 the Cheesy Poofs down to Chatsworth HS in LA for their off season competition. It was the best camping experience I¡¦ve ever had! Well, the first one anyway¡K ;-) I got to spend more than 14 hours inside a cool van listening to certain regional director (whose name have an initials of J.M.) singing certain songs and laughing when his student was screaming to him about it, AND I will never forget when the Poofs were constantly cracking up jokes all the way down to LA¡K

Because of some hospitality from the Poofs, I had the most fun I¡¦ve ever had in a competition experience! I didn¡¦t just watch the competition silently without my own team; it was different¡K Camping under the stars on a soccer field of a high school without a tent or a sleeping bag¡K Keeping my eyes open for the whole night watching the sky turn blue and listening roosters¡¦ calling in the morning¡K Being a judge of a side racing game of the robots¡K Falling asleep on the concrete basketball court with only a thin blanket around me the second night¡K Help putting together the playing field and taking it apart afterward¡K

I have to say ¡§Thank You!!!¡¨ to the Cheesy Poofs for letting me sharing a competition experience with them. I really had a great time. I am really glade I got to know more of the Poofs¡¦ students on this trip.

And of course, another ¡§Thank You¡¨ to the Poofs for their team T-shirt. That shirt fit perfectly, and I love it! I guess I am an honorary member of the Cheesy Poofs from now on¡K AND they gave me the hot-pot they got out of the many big prices they won at the raffle the night of the competition¡K (You don¡¦t know what you are missing, Adam!!! It actually boils water! I should¡¦ve get me one of these when I first got to college¡K) The Cheesy Poofs doesn¡¦t just win the competition, they win EVERYTHING! I am glade I was a part of that¡K

[Ken Leung]

This experience is especially important to me because I was able to enjoy the FIRST experience without my own team¡K I wasn¡¦t so sure earlier, because over here at west coast there isn¡¦t as much bonding between the teams as the east coast teams or the Michigan area teams. I still remember long time ago when I was looking around the pits at the California regional, some of the teams stared at me as if they were saying, ¡§How dare you look at our robot? It¡¦s our secret!¡¨ It was until I met the Cheesy Poofs and a few other people from other teams when I realize things have changed around here.

BUT, I regret to see that there is still some level of ¡§fences¡¨ around the west coast team¡K Although some of them got to know each other quite well through being together in final¡¦s alliances, in general the teams still attend competition by themselves. I don¡¦t see a lot of cheering for other teams, or huge dancing line around the arena, or simply as much spirit as I see in the other regionals¡K It is unfortunate that the teams over here take winning too seriously that they are too competitive with each other.

Maybe it¡¦s because teams over here are too competitive in academic or in sports already that there are certain boundaries they won¡¦t reach outside of, or maybe it¡¦s because the teams are still too young to realize how much fun it is to share the regional experience with everyone else. I don¡¦t know why, but maybe it¡¦s different over at Michigan area or the east coast because the high schools are really close to each other that the students know each other really well already before joining the teams, or maybe because those teams have been in FIRST long enough to understand that learning is more important than learning¡K

Well, there is no use in whining about something and not do anything about it. I believe I¡¦ve found a new focus of my FIRST experience seeing all these¡K My new goal in the coming year of FIRST is to promote more ¡§spirits¡¨ around west coast teams and strike it into their heart. I am going to make sure teams are supporting each other during competition, such as sharing a scouting system or tools and supplies with everyone else at the regional, or even as far as every team cheering for everyone else¡K and I am going to make sure those teams like to hang out with each other¡K

To be honest, I am no one but one little student out of thousands of FIRST participant out there¡K There is a limit of what I can do by myself to make a difference in the way things are between 50 teams over here¡K I am only one voice calling out to people who are reluctant to change¡K

But I am not going to give up! I am going to make this happen with my last ounce of strength, and of course with the little bit of power from all those people I am going to drag into this fight! ;-)