Team 217

[Libby Ritchie]

Anyone ever go to a regional event and just hope to not be in last place? That was what 393 faced last week in Detroit. Due to sudden illnesses and a wife of an engineer going into early labor, our team left Indiana with NO ENGINEERS for our first regional event of the year. We spent the morning of practice day feeling nervous and sick at our stomachs as we tried to get our robot up and working while needing much help with programming. I sought Paul Copioli of the Thunder Chickens and found a wonderful man by the name of Rick who saved our hides! Rick and Jim, engineers from 217, came over to get us going. By the end of the day, Rick was heading to his company to see if he had a part we needed! On Friday, one of our engineers made it, but Rick never left us. He also got Scott, a student on the team, to help us as well.

Instead of placing last, we pulled it together and ended up seeded 4th, going into the finals. To show the gracious professionalism of those people, during the finals and a frustrating two days for the chickens, we heard a low rumble of "393" during our elimination round. A sea of green was cheering us on.

Full Metal Jackets cannot say thank you enough for all that Rick and the team did for us at Detroit. When we were asked at school today how we did, we did nothing but talk about team 217!! You truly made an impact on us.

Congratulations for a well-deserved Sportsmanship Award at the Detroit Regional!! And a big congrats to Paul for winning the Woody Flowers Award!