UFH: Wayne Penn

[mtaman02]

Congrats! You Deserve It.

[RoboMom]

Congrats to Wayne!
See you in Boston.

[petek]

Congratulations, Wayne! I'm really glad to see you get the UFH award - I can't think of a more deserving recipient.

As already noted, Wayne did double-duty at Pittsburgh last year; what people may not know is that he arrived with 395 expecting to just coach his team. Unbeknownst to him, our MC failed to materialize and and our announcer was ill - in other words, we were way up the creek. We really didn't have to twist his arm all that hard to get the "shy, not very talkative" guy to agree to bail us out!

Wayne defines "class act" in my book.

[Jeremiah H]

Originally Posted by petek

Wayne defines "class act" in my book.

I'll second that.
Congratulations, Wayne!
You may not remember me, but I sure remember you. Through all the field problems and bot breakdowns, you helped make Pitt '06 the best regional I've been to. I thank you and yours again for everything.
I don't know how many of you remember the finals matches from Pitt, but we were having gearbox trouble and our alliance had already used our timeout to fix it once, but it broke again. It was the finals, and we didn't have time to fix it, so we were ready to bow out so that the rest of the alliance could pick up another bot and compete at full strength. Just a couple seconds after our driveteam reached this conclusion, one of the refs came over and told us that Wayne's alliance had called their timeout to give us time to fix our bot.
We were able to get it pinned properly and compete in the finals rounds. That was the best, most thrilling competition I have ever been involved with. Both alliances had to work for every point, it was incredible! It came down to the final match, and our bot threw an important chain, and Wayne's alliance took it 50-10, I think.
I was glad to see them win. They beat us when we were running as well as we could, they earned their victory. It was also great to see the rookie team 1743 from Pittsburgh win with them.
That day is by far my favorite memory from FIRST. It really made all those short nights and long days worth it! I still can think about that when I'm getting down and it brings me right back up. Thank you for that, Wayne. Without you, it wouldn't have been the same. Keep up the good work.
May God Bless you and keep you. -JH

Doot-da-do!

[Carol]

I too want to congratulate Wayne on this deserving award! Wayne and I worked together in Pittsburgh last year and again recently at the Duel on the Delaware (see my picture above), for which he flew down from Boston.

Check out a picture of Wayne in action, on page 3 of the FIRST 2006 Annual Report (just posted): www.usfirst.org/about/2006/annualreport2006.pdf

It's on top of the page where they spotlight another of 2Train Robotics mentors, Gary Israel.

[Barry Bonzack]

Congrats Wayne!

[BandChick]

Congratulations Wayne!

[DanDon]

Congrats Wayne.......now for that WFA...

[PanzerJager]

Wayne's too boss for words. I owe him my many thanks, for he has shown me a world that I would never have been able to witness without the guiding light of 0395 and Mr. Penn himself. Kudos Wayne, or should I say Batman.
~Adam "My Dad Says I'm Nothing" Cohen~

[Micah Siegel]

Wayne is my hero! GOOOOOO WAYNE!!!!

[nparikh]

Congrats Wayne! You rock my socks!

This guy is truly amazing. Always willing to help, and always there to talk to, he's quite the guy. And not to mention that he rocks at editing college essays ...even if he does tear them apart the night before they're due--but it's all worth it when you get that Acceptance Letter!

Again, Congrats Wayne!

[Jimmy Nichols]

Congratulations Wayne!

Hope to see you at Pittsburgh this year.

[janusz]

Congrats Wayne!

You are an amazing mentor, friend, engineer and an inspiration to many...

[Mike Copioli]

Wayne, I have one thing to say to you.


WayneWayneWayneWayneWayneWayne!

Oops thats 6 thing.

Congrats, you deserve it.

[Waynep]

I thank you all for your kind words, they meant a lot to me considering many of you I hold as my FIRST heros and inspiration. I hope you all know that each of you have helped shape my views and experience in FIRST. For this I am grateful to you all.

So I'll try to keep this short but I have a few specific people to thank and respond to:

Micah thank you again for the nomination. Micah was one of the 1st friends I met in college, later was my roommate, and most notably stuck with me mentoring 395 for the past 4 years. Much of the success we enjoyed on 395 is a result of his contributions. Good luck with 708 they are lucky to have you.

To Paul and Mike, I've told you before if it weren't for you crazy Chickens and the rest of the mentors on 217 I wouldn't be where I am today doing what I'm doing.

Rickey and the Roborats and Jimmy, both 1249 and 1038 are among my favorite teams down in Pittsburgh. Couldn't be friendlier and more helpful. I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys down there.

John and Carol, you both know how much of a fan I am of MOE. Getting to work with you guys has truly been a lot of fun and an honor.

Joey, despite your age you are an awesome mentor and great asset to FIRST. Keep up the good work.

Noah and Adam, you guys totally made my last season with 395 much intense. I'm glad we got you guys involved in FIRST.

Jeremiah, I def remember you. Thanks again for the bull whip lessons and putting up with me during elims. We had so many delays, but we got through it and I agree with you finals of Pitts were some of the most fun and hard played for last year. It's too bad you guys aren't coming back this year, but I'll see you at the CMP. Doot-da-doo

Neil, I can not be more happy that you got into Brown's 8 year med program. Congratulations you def deserve it. Glad to hear the time spent on your essay went well rewarded. It's also nice knowing that I own you now.

Rich, I was merely trying to keep up with your enthusiasm for the organization. You and Mark truly have the vision and interest of FIRST at heart and as long as you two keep working I know that NY will continue to progress in the right direction. You haven't gotten rid of me entirely, I will see you this weekend for the Citywide FLL tournament.

Pete, let me just say its always a riot getting to work with you. You are one of the most easy going and positive guys in FIRST, how could I have said no to you when you asked me to MC the regional? I was glad that everything worked out and we had a good time. Hope to see you again in Pittsburgh or elsewhere and have you get out there and dance. Thanks again for the ride in your S4, hope I didn't drool too much in it. If you ever get in a bind again and I can be of help just let me know.

Thanks again to all of you. Good luck with build season. I'll be looking forward to seeing you at the competitions. If I fail to see you and say hi please hunt me down and yell at me.
Best,
Wayne