Just some thoughts about FIRST I had while trying to fall asleep during build season

[Ayu]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

You left out the MOST IMPORTANT PART!!!

Sung to the tune of Gilligans Island! :^)

wow! there's an anthem? and sung to gilligans island tune? crazed!

[ngreen]

And dean has his own island...We should have championships there and rename it FIRST island.

The song is awesome too and fits so well.

[KenWittlief]

actually there are several FIRST anthems

heres another one that goes way back

(Sung to the tune of Batman)

Da na na na Nah na na na

ROBOTS

Da na na na Nah na na na

ROBOTS

Robots! Robots! Robots!

[KenWittlief]

ok, heres a better one, from 2 years ago: (took me a while to find it)

I am D Kamen (to the tune of I am the Walrus)

I am Dean as you are Dean as you are me
And we are FIRST together
See how we run like wheels made of gum
See how we fly
Im trying!

Sitting on a torn brake
Waiting for FedEx to come
Corporation sponsor
Says we ship on thursday
Man you should of seen em
sticking all the tiewraps on!

I am D Kamen
I am D Kamen
Im Woody Flowers
Choo choo coo chew

Expert Dilbert - motor smokers
Don't you think the 12 volt bats are huge? (ho ho ho! He he he! ha ha ha!)
See how we fly like Lucy in the Sky
See how we sigh
Im trying.

Im TRY……..ing Im trying Im try_______ING!

Autonmus nightmares
Climbing up beyond full power
Elementry teacher
Supervising Legos
Man you been a naughty boy
You wrote your code too long

I am D Kamen
I am D Kamen
Im Woody Flowers
Choo choo coo chew!

Sitting in an english classroom, waiting for the fun
If the bot don't run you got a plan for programming: sequential pain!

I am D Kamen
I am D Kamen
Im Woody Flowers
Choo choo coo chew!

Whats-a-matter? just heard
ripping out a dead gears side
Grabasocket wrenchboy
Telegraphic resets
Man you been a naughty boy
You glued your Victors down.

I am D Kamen
I am D Kamen
Im Woody Flowers
Choo choo coo chew!

[It's a servicable villian - image - your grandmother saw you.]

[Amber H.]

LOL! And once again in the tradition of the Chief Delphi forums a poignant thread is turned into meaningless (but very entertaining) drivel.

I have to say that as a music major I find the path this thread is taking to be a disturbing one…….But since you are all obviously suffering from post-build withdrawal, I’ll forgive you.

[KenWittlief]

music major? SUPER!

what regionals are you going to?

Ill bring my electric guitar if you will sing the songs we posted at the start of the days events "^)

Captive audience - thousands of people - would look great on your resume!

EDIT: Hey I found some music that fits the poem/prose in the first post of this thread

and I dont have to write it down cause you already know it (its a classic)

the tune from The Brady Bunch

FIRST is not just a competition;
FIRST is not just a weekend (or five) of fun;

huh? huh???

go back to page one- it fits the whole song!

[Jessica Boucher]

North Dumpling Island

I was in a politics class once and someone asked if an American had ever seceded from the union. So I launched into that story... :-D

[Amber H.]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

music major? SUPER!

what regionals are you going to?

Ill bring my electric guitar if you will sing the songs we posted at the start of the days events "^)

Captive audience - thousands of people - would look great on your resume!

EDIT: Hey I found some music that fits the poem/prose in the first post of this thread

and I dont have to write it down cause you already know it (its a classic)

the tune from The Brady Bunch



huh? huh???

go back to page one- it fits the whole song!

Erm…..Thank you; nnnnnnnooo!
Although I am flattered by your offer:

1) I will be at the Arizona regional. That would be on the opposite side of the continental U.S. from you.

2) I’ve already performed for thousands……actually, it was an estimated “captive” audience of three million on Moscow radio during the last days of the Soviet Union. What’s cool about it is that they didn’t send me to Siberia for it.

Odd though, I’ve never sung the national anthem at a major sporting event. That could be fun…..but no Brady Bunch. Nooooo, no, no,no.

Thank you for the offer anyway.

(Me/ runs screaming from the stadium with my hands over my ears)

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

music major? SUPER!

what regionals are you going to?

Ill bring my electric guitar if you will sing the songs we posted at the start of the days events "^)

Captive audience - thousands of people - would look great on your resume!

EDIT: Hey I found some music that fits the poem/prose in the first post of this thread

and I dont have to write it down cause you already know it (its a classic)

the tune from The Brady Bunch



huh? huh???

go back to page one- it fits the whole song!

wow, i cant believe someone turned my midnight thinkings into a FIRST anthem so fast.

I also have some more to add.

FIRST not only teaches us engineering, construction, and planning;
It helps keep us off the streets; Hell, some of us could even be homeless.
If any of us are, it gives us a place to go for a few additional hours every day, at least during the build season. I don't know if this is actually the case, but i do know that there are high school students who are homeless, and dont have anywhere to go.

It truly is as Dean Kamen said: FIRST is for EVERYONE
Its for the straight A student who is bored
It keeps the failing stoner off the streets
Its for the engineer who is frustrated with his boring day job
Its for the worried parent who wants to know what their kid is doing
Its for the teacher who still feels as if he isnt giving enough to the youth of the world

(none of those comments were meant to be male oriented btw)

FIRST challenges us all in ways school simply cannot.
FIRST keeps our brains working 24/7, if we're not solving the current year's problems, we're wondering whats in store next year.

If I feel this way only in 1075's 2nd year, I can only imagine how some of the vets on the teams that have been here from the start.

I can remember a while ago reading a post questioning the size of FIRST with a comment "Is FIRST getting too big?" I remember some of the posts inside saying that "FIRST will only become 'too big' when every living human is a part of it (ie. all 6 billion of us)". I completely and totally subscribe to this outlook on FIRST.

FIRST has impacted my life in unimaginable ways.

My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 1999, and I was really scared. I dont quite know how, since I only began with FIRST in 2003, but I feel as if it has changed the way I look on my mom's illness. (Before you all ask, she is doing fine). Perhaps this is because I feel more secure in knowing that we are the future. That we are learning how to build robots. Robots that perform surgery to insane levels of precision.
Perhaps I also feel this way, knowing that we are the type of people that participate in fundraising events such as the CIBC Run For the Cure which donates 100's of thousands of dollars to the Canadian Cancer Society yearly, where 1000's of Canadians run 5k for cancer research. Perhaps I feel more secure because i know there are thousands more like me out there.

I hate to write a book, but I cant seem to stop writing, just as I think I am done, something else comes to me. Just another example of how FIRST keeps our minds going .

I remember reading a story of a team who built a lawn bowling machine for a disabled student in their school. This demonstrates to me, that FIRST-goers are very... large-hearted, for lack of a better term.

FIRST is teaching us things we will NEVER learn in a regular school environment.

I hope 1075 continues next year... Our main teacher is questioning if he will be able to, because since he is the only truly dedicated teacher in our school, he lost out on an EXTREME amount of time at home with his WIFE and KIDS. He needs to be truly commended on his dedication to FIRST and the students, myself included. He spent close to 16 hours/day at school, forfeiting time with his WIFE and KIDS to teach us. THIS is true dedication to FIRST.

To Mr. Smith: 1075 THANKS YOU!

He has told us, that the wife may not let him do this again next year. This is clearly not because she has an issue with FIRST. She also thinks that FIRST is one of the best things that could happen to our school. But since there is not nearly enough teacher support at our school, FIRST may fall through the cracks. I will do my damnedest to keep 1075 alive, however I fear for the worst. I dont like to point fingers, but if FIRST falls through at Sinclair, it would be the fault of every other teacher in the school.

FIRST has removed boredom from school days, and replaced it with contemplation of many things. I can remember 2 or 3 weeks ago, after writing a test in my programming class (which i believe i aced ) on the back i was trying to figure out the triangulation for the IR beacons.

I must get to bed now, It is almost 1:30 am, I started writing this almost an hour ago.

~FIRST FOREVER~

(PS: I dont know if anyone knows, but FIRST is even recognized by dictionary.com)

[Pierson]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

(PS: I dont know if anyone knows, but FIRST is even recognized by dictionary.com)

Random: Are you sure it is dictionary.com? I can only find it on acronymfinder: http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-quer...IRST&Find=Find (the 11th one)

[RoboMom]

I hope 1075 continues next year... Our main teacher is questioning if he will be able to, because since he is the only truly dedicated teacher in our school, he lost out on an EXTREME amount of time at home with his WIFE and KIDS. He needs to be truly commended on his dedication to FIRST and the students, myself included. He spent close to 16 hours/day at school, forfeiting time with his WIFE and KIDS to teach us. THIS is true dedication to FIRST.

To Mr. Smith: 1075 THANKS YOU!

He has told us, that the wife may not let him do this again next year. This is clearly not because she has an issue with FIRST. She also thinks that FIRST is one of the best things that could happen to our school. But since there is not nearly enough teacher support at our school, FIRST may fall through the cracks. I will do my damnedest to keep 1075 alive, however I fear for the worst. I dont like to point fingers, but if FIRST falls through at Sinclair, it would be the fault of every other teacher in the school.

There is the potential for very high burnout among teachers in FIRST. It's great if you are at a school with a supportive team of teachers, but there are many schools (like ours) where this is only one and that is a heavy load to carry.
One suggestion is what Team 007 did last year. They asked for time at a faculty meeting. They wrote up an excellent plea letter (and had it proofread!) They spoke at the meeting saying the team was going to go under if there wasn't some more faculty help. What they asked for was a one time 3-4 hour stint from teachers to come chaperone so that the team could legally be in the building and the main teacher advisor could go home. They could bring work to do; they just had to be there. As a result, many English/French/history/math/art/music etc etc teachers signed up. And what they saw going on night after night amazed them. This year we asked them to write their impressions in a log book and we have pages of wonderful testimonials. Now much much more of the school understands more about the robotics team. It spread the word. Team 007 is very much student run. The students take ownership of all aspects of the team and this was one way they tried to solve a problem. Of course, the team would love to have many teacher/advisors, but all these teachers are so overextended we are grateful for what we have.
I hope things work out with your teacher. But get him some help.

[RoboMom]

I'm still getting used to CD. These are my words from the above post, not mixed in with the previous quote. sorry.

There is the potential for very high burnout among teachers in FIRST. It's great if you are at a school with a supportive team of teachers, but there are many schools (like ours) where this is only one and that is a heavy load to carry.
One suggestion is what Team 007 did last year. They asked for time at a faculty meeting. They wrote up an excellent plea letter (and had it proofread!) They spoke at the meeting saying the team was going to go under if there wasn't some more faculty help. What they asked for was a one time 3-4 hour stint from teachers to come chaperone so that the team could legally be in the building and the main teacher advisor could go home. They could bring work to do; they just had to be there. As a result, many English/French/history/math/art/music etc etc teachers signed up. And what they saw going on night after night amazed them. This year we asked them to write their impressions in a log book and we have pages of wonderful testimonials. Now much much more of the school understands more about the robotics team. It spread the word. Team 007 is very much student run. The students take ownership of all aspects of the team and this was one way they tried to solve a problem. Of course, the team would love to have many teacher/advisors, but all these teachers are so overextended we are grateful for what we have.
I hope things work out with your teacher. But get him some help.

[MissInformation]

He has told us, that the wife may not let him do this again next year. This is clearly not because she has an issue with FIRST. She also thinks that FIRST is one of the best things that could happen to our school. But since there is not nearly enough teacher support at our school, FIRST may fall through the cracks. I will do my damnedest to keep 1075 alive, however I fear for the worst. I dont like to point fingers, but if FIRST falls through at Sinclair, it would be the fault of every other teacher in the school.

If it falls through the cracks without a fight, it's not the teachers' fault; it's the team's fault. Teachers have every right to have lives outside of school; you do know this, don't you? As unbelievable as it may sound, FIRST is not everyone's dream. Trust me, a teacher who doesn't care is bad to have on the team, and a teacher who is unhappy but still volunteers because he feels obligated to is even worse.

So, how are you going to keep your team? We almost lost our team last year when our head teacher announced he was stepping back. Originally, he was going to leave entirely, but we managed to convince him to attend one meeting a week (he later switched this to two half meetings a week). We had one other teacher who handles finances who attended one meeting a week. We tried finding additional teacher support, but were told we should wait until school started in the fall and see if any of the new teachers would help out. We didn't want to wait that long. Now, we knew we couldn't have a meeting without the proper chaperone and a robot is not going to get built with the equivalent of two meetings a week... so we went to the parents and adults for support. Me and three other parents went through the security check and TB testing to become official volunteers for the school system. That took care of the chaperone issue. Parents stepped up and helped out with other tasks the teacher would have normally done. There are still some things a teacher needs to do, administrative stuff, but if it is just a few small things, you should be able to find a teacher to do that.

So check with your school to see if they would allow parents to volunteer as official chaperones and then get your parents involved. A lot of students were not happy with the idea of their parents being heavily involved. I wasn't even sure about it because I remember all too well the fights that occurred in Little League baseball due to parental involvement. But it meant the difference between the team existing or not and we all agreed it was worth a try... and it was worth it, the parents have been wonderful.

Heidi

<==========>

[thoughtful]

A lot of you might think that this is just dumb but i'll say it anyways.

Bieng the cricket Fan i am, i was watching a very anticipated match between Pakistan and India. Now if you know even a bit of history about these countries, they are known to be rivals, and even a simple sports match turns out to be a war. This match was taking place in a city of pakistan, and much booing and security concerns were expected geared towards India. but i was simply amazed at how the crowds and teams handelled themselves. India won the match by only 5 runs(very very close) and there was a silence for a second as the majority of the crowd was pakistani, but than something amazing happeend the crowd stood up and started clapping, the players started congratulating each other and it was a heart warming site.

This all reminded me of FIRST, and how the world can be a wonderful place if we all take FIRST as our way of life. I hope we start seeing this kind of GP more often.

[Racer26]

Ok, I never meant that comment to start a fight.... I just wanted to point out my frustration with the fact that our team might not exist next year.

I have a few ideas as to how to get some more teacher support.

Its gonna require a helluva lot of work tho... BUT WHAT PART OF FIRST DOESN'T?

Show em the bot, give their heartstrings a much needed plucking, be like "Look what we did in 6 weeks, we learned so much, just imagine what we can do next year, don't you want to be a part of it?", and make a better video to get better student involvement.

(ps. Yes, it was acronym finder... but still)