afterthoughts from a rookie

[MattD]

Originally Posted by gondorf

at reigonal: I was thoroughly unprepared for what awaited me in boston. I would of thought it unimaginable that so many people would come to see robots compete. before the most exciting event was a math team meet where about 30 people came to cheer on the 300 students.

overall: this year has changed my life profoundly. i gained friends( in total i have never broken double digits before first), i earned trust and began to gain a respect and admiration for other students. to all of the people who on robotics, I thank you for giving me the chance and happiness that i had never had before. robotics has been the happiest thing i have ever done in my life

thank you all

^^ Exactly what he said, except replace Boston with Hartford and Atlanta.

I seriously have to thank my physics and computer programming teachers for pushing me to get involved with FIRST. I just wish I had joined sooner. Even though I'll be going to college next year, I'm still going to try my best to stay involved and stick around. Who knows what will happen next...

[IraJason]

Where do I begin with my experience this year...

Being part of my teams has been one of the craziest and hardworking moments of my life. I have become much more involved in FIRST this year than pretty much anything else ever.

Even being at an offseason event as a pre-rookie couldn't have gotten the full experience of what being at an actual competition. Maybe it was a combination of being able to interact with so many people and having to be in the pits continually to fix our semi-functional robot, but going to comepetition and being around so many people all so ready and happy to work with each other is exciting. It's like nothing I've ever been to before.

FIRST is one of those few things that comes along that is exciting, engaging, and allows you to meet a whole lot of new people. I know that I'm already looking forward to whatever they are going to throw at us next.

[josh s]

Congrats on making it through you rookie year successfully. I was in your shoes 5 years ago and I too was amazed by FIRST and the people I met and it doesn't stop once you become a mentor. Good luck for the rest of your well spent time in FIRST.