My Personal Thanks

[Mike Schroeder]

In 1999, my then Geophysical Science teacher, Wayne Cokeley, invited me to go watch The then Johnson and Johnson Mid-Atlantic Regional. That was the catalyst that started my Explosion into the culture that is FIRST, to this day, I am a horrible student, the only way I could ever focus on anything math related was if it was applied in some useful form, well FIRST provided me with that application, and I can honestly say that w/o FIRST I would not have made it through high school. When I joined Team 25 my sophomore year, (for those of you keeping track at home that would be 2000) I was really interested in learning about this robot stuff, to me it was all about the bots, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, the students played a limited role, on the production of our robot that year, does that mean, that I wasn’t inspired to continue, nope, it just meant I found better ways to learn, whether by talking to one of our teams Tradesmen, to just sitting there for a while staring at our robot, just taking in as much as I could. The next 2 years, were the best I could have asked for, I learned my role on the team, the one that people will always remember me, as that weird freak with the heavy hat on his head, or the kid with the volcano on his head that couldn’t dance, sure it wasn’t the nicest costume in the world, and sure it caused my head to catch fire (remember kids, don’t stick a large muffin fan on your head w/o some safety precautions ) and I started meeting people, I started making friends, the one thing that I have never been able to do before and well, not to steal Ken’s thunder or anything but I feel that I need to thank all these people, although I will never actually name them all, I feel that even my small list of great people,





First and most importantly, thank you Wayne Cokeley, you gave me this opportunity to grow (even if I still act like a kid) you got me in this mess and have dealt with me for years, you have given me chances to take risks with the team, and while many may have failed greatly, I learned a great deal from you, and the team, You truly earn your title as mentor and I will always consider you a friend.



Next is Rich Kressly, I really regret the day that I met you (just kidding) you and your team are a great group of people its amazing to know that there a people who will put the work in to help you at no benefit to themselves, Your always good for a laugh, even if its just towards me



Mr. Baker has probably helped me more times than I can count, he has helped me keep a cool head and given me an alternative angle to look at things, I don’t think you actually realized how respected you are, by me, as well as the rest of FIRST. You are what makes FIRST great, you’re the guy who gives up his time to a cause he believes in, and that being said, even though I never met her in person a thanks is in order for Mrs. Baker, cause she lets you do all this



Dave Lavery sure I use him to get out of work… for some reason, the un-normal people don’t seem to think that people from NASA are all that interesting, you are great to talk to, to joke with/about, you even gave me ways to make ideas a reality, and have even used tiers to describe my stupidity (really long story)





The College FIRST-a-Holics, Yea that would be JVN, Amanda, Jess, Joel, Grady, Steve Shade, George, Erin, and a whole bunch of others – Thanks for putting up with me, helping me, keeping me sane, as well as just being there you’re the people I look for at competitions when I need to hang out with people my own age



And finally to the members of team 25, thanks for accepting me, for letting me pass on my limited wisdom to you, you’re a great bunch of people, just stick together and you can get through anything.





There are many more who deserve recognition but I really cant think anymore.

Anyone else wondering why, I am writing all this stuff…. Well its all for a good laugh what else, okay so its not all that funny, its really cause I think my time on a FIRST team is up for now, I am taking a year or so off to do some other things I need done, to set my priorities and to take a breather, but all in all thanks for the memories, thanks for the laughs, thank you to all those I consider friends, the ones who have helped me grow