Congrats to Woodie Flowers Winner DAVID KELSO!

[Andy Brockway]

Congratulations Dave!

Thank you for all you do! I enjoyed meeting you this past year at RiverRage.

[Ken Patton]

Mr. Kelso-

Congratulations for such well-deserved recognition! I hope you enjoy the notoriety!

Every time I saw Mr. Kelso this past weekend he was in his volunteer shirt working diligently on something that was important to FIRST.

Ken

[Matt Leese]

I congratulated you in person right after you won but I don't see any problem in making the congratulations public.

Frankly, I think the part of the Championship I was mosted excited about was the Woody Flowers Award as I knew you were nominated. There isn't a person I think that deserves it more.

Hopefully people will congratulate the right person now though.

Matt

[MattK]

Congrats Mr. Kelso,

Mr. Kelso you have had an incredible impact on my life (and I am only a soph.). I first met Mr. Kelso when I was in 7th grade, I was attending one of the FIRST Place camps (Mr. Kelso was donating parts of his summer to helping) and than I saw him again during the summer between my 8th grade year and my freshman year. At this point I was still not sure if I was going to go to West (the powerknights 501) or central (CHAOS 131).

I have to say that the only reason I decided to go to central over west was because of the Kelso family. They gave me a CHAOS Tshirt and welcomed me onto the team.

Mr. Kelso has been an incredible mentor and friend; he donates so much time and energy into being the best he can be. I could imagine my FIRST experience without him. He truly deserves this award!

[Greg McCoy]

Congrats Dave, and thanks for reminding me to grab some safety glasses before heading out to the field

[David Kelso]

To the FIRST Community:

I am humbled after receiving this award. There are many that need to be thanked that helped me reach this point. First of all, they say that there is a woman behind every successful man. In my case, there are two. Thanks to my wife, Nancy, who has never questioned (out loud) the time nor effort that I have invested with my team. In fact, after watching me do this for several years, she joined me as a team advisor several years ago. Kristen Kelso, my daughter, has inspired me as much as she will claim that I have inspired her. It is a well-known fact that I will brag about her accomplishments before mine. (By the way, she will appear on the new episodes of ZOOM as a FIRST LEGO Mentor in a few weeks).
My team members have always come through. I believe we have success because we are made up of individuals with different skills but we all have FIRST as a common factor. Thank you for writing the nomination. Without our sponsors, Rockwell Automation and BAE Systems, C.H.A.O.S. would be another team that “bit the dust”.
After 11 years, I still look forward to “next year”. This is due to the fun activities that we take part in, enthusiasm of my team, the team alumni who keep visiting and the friends that I have made from teams around the country. Receiving the Woodie Flowers Award makes you want to do even more. I highly respect the previous awardees; they set the bar so high, I hope that I can reach it! Though this appears to be an award for an individual, I think it is a team award.
Thanks to the “Keepers of the Delphi Board” the best form of communication in the FIRST Community. We must all thank the multitude of volunteers who do some very difficult tasks hour after hour during competitions while we go ‘out and play”. They have earned our respect. During the Championship, I communicated with so many college kids who are so excited about FIRST; there are so many tremendous leaders ready to bring FIRST to even higher levels.
Thank you all for your kind comments, may we meet again near a 24’X48’ piece of carpet.