The Big Question

[archiver]

Posted by Susanne Krussell.

Coach on team #163, The Quantum Mechanics, from International Academy and Quantum Consultants/Eaton/ITT.

Posted on 7/16/99 2:34 PM MST


In Reply to: The Big Question posted by Mike on 7/15/99 11:23 PM MST:



Good question to bring up again, after mulling it over for a few months. I have very mixed feelings about the alliances. They were a great learning experience, but it was painful as well. My team's robot just didn't work, which was a horrifying experience after the astonishing year we had the year before (I coached Rochester High School that year) Yeah, so real-life is painful too, but when you're losing, it is much worse knowing that you're bringing another team down with you. I must say that the learning curve is huge, maybe even more so when things don't work out. We are so determined to not make the same mistakes. Alliances may have been a plus in one regard, but I still don't want to do them again.
We want to be responsible for ourselves. As we all know, there is already a lot of collaboration and team building in the whole FIRST process. We don't need alliances to make collaboration happen. If Dean and Woodie decide to go with alliances again, I hope they would consider doing it every other year. Vary the intensity, eh?