Thanks to Kodak for Rumble at the Park!

[KenWittlief]

Last night Kodak hosted a expo match at their facilities (Kodak Park) at their indoor gym.

5 local teams participated, the mission and purpose of FIRST was presented to local school, business and government representitives, and new students

They were very generous with their facilities, time, staff, refreshments and outreach to the community.

representatives from FIRST were also there to present the goals and mission of the program.

It was a great evening, a great way to kick off the new school year.

I give my heartfelt thanks to Kodak and all the people who helped make this an excellent event.

[Alex Cormier]

yes it was quite fun and congrats to everyone. Thanks X-Cats for your only transmission a few days before the expo.conrats 578 to win with us...



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[Koko Ed]

Let's do it again next year!

[KenWittlief]

Hey Ed, how big is your living room?

next year we can hold it at your place :c)

[Koko Ed]

Originally posted by KenWittlief
Hey Ed, how big is your living room?

next year we can hold it at your place :c)

I'd rather have it at the Blue Cross Arena.

[KenWittlief]

There was a lot of talk last night about a rochester NY regional

sure would be sweet! :c)

[Koko Ed]

Originally posted by KenWittlief
There was a lot of talk last night about a rochester NY regional

sure would be sweet! :c)

This was the first step.
Maybe next year they could do it with more teams (asking the robot to do four matches in a row is not good for the robots) and it could eventually grow into an off season competion and maybe just maybe we could attract a sponsor for a little finanicial backing for a regional (like Paychex or Wegmans).
One can dream...

[KenWittlief]

(asking the robot to do four matches in a row is not good for the robots)

except for a certain team knocking our robot over in the 1st match and breaking our blue light off,

we had no problems with our bot whatsoever :c)

we just had a hard time charging bats fast enough!

[rees2001]

I too would like to thank Kodak. I have heard many rumors about the upcomming rochester regional. Looks like we need to get to work making more teams locally. We are still working on finding a sponsor for this year so this my be a challange.

As for the competition itself, it was fun but having 4 straight matches never gave us a chance to fix our one problem, a broken motor lead. Robot works fine now.. i bit too late.

[Koko Ed]

Originally posted by rees2001
I too would like to thank Kodak. I have heard many rumors about the upcomming rochester regional. Looks like we need to get to work making more teams locally. We are still working on finding a sponsor for this year so this my be a challange.

As for the competition itself, it was fun but having 4 straight matches never gave us a chance to fix our one problem, a broken motor lead. Robot works fine now.. i bit too late.

I thought one of the major reasons for the exhibition was to attraact sponsors to create new teams and perhaps attract a sponsor for you guys.
I was very dissapointed by the absolute lack of media coverage though.

[rees2001]

I don't recall seeing anybody from any other schools or businesses. Maggie Brooks was there for a few minutes, but where is that going to get us. It almost seemed like it was more of a way to get Marshall people interrested. To see what kind of team they will have this year. If I had know what this event was going to look like I would have tried harder to get potential sponsors there. I was a well run event & would have been nice to show sponsors & schools what first is all about.

[KenWittlief]

business people who might be potential team sponsors were invited, and several government representitives who would be key to supporting new teams, or even a rochester regional were also invited.

I recognized a few of these people, they were there. Some of those adults sitting quietly in the stands, taking it all in

you never know who they might have been.

FIRST is highly contagious, but you have to be exposed to 'get it' - this is the kind of event it takes to get people involved, potential sponsors really need to see it with their own eyes.