**FIRST EMAIL**/Judges Information for the Team Yearbook

[Kims Robot]

Warning - don't read if you are tired

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

Kim,
But I guess what I really feel that you've got all wrong is the notion that 'it's just a trophy'. If that is the philosophy that you truly believe, and if that selfless sentiment was shared by every team, why not get rid of the awards process (aside from the competition) altogether? Why bother having a Chairman's Award?

Personally, since this was directed at me, I believe that awards are a nice way to attempt to recognize good work. Does one team being recognized mean that there aren't a dozen more that didn't deserve a commendation? Not in my mind. I think thats why a lot of teams give out team awards, and thats certainly why the team awards are in the same trophy case for us as the official FIRST awards.

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

The truth is that the awards, much like the competition itself and especially the Chairman's, give each team something to strive towards. It is a physical embodiment of what they have worked hard to achieve. THIS is why we are competitive, this is what the kids can see that they've gotten from this program. It may take them years to realize the potential and self-confidence that they've gained, but having a trophy in front of them shows the importance of those characteristics. Simply having the ambiguous 'mission of FIRST' as your proponent for participation will only go so far. Nobody's there to half-inspire students. Nobody's there to half-engineer a robot.

This is where I believe we differ in opinion. I listen to all my kids talk when they speak about FIRST and tell their stories at our millions of demos... they don't talk about the awards they won, even though we bring the trophies. They talk about the impact the program has had on them, how they have changed and grown. Don't get me wrong, it feels great to win an award, but I see too many teams get too competitive and get upset with other teams that win awards (I can remember being guilty of this in high school) when they think they should have, that its just not worth getting worked up over.

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

To have a trophy and title to strive for is natural in FIRST - try to tell the kids who are so proud of their teams, who have their accomplishments in signatures here on ChiefDelphi and proudly wear their medals at competition, to throw them away.

I NEVER said not to be proud of their trophies, my point was actually more to the contrary... don't get upset if you didn't win them, and just because you didn't win them doesn't mean you aren't doing the right thing. And at the same time, I PERSONALLY don't want to encourage people to flaunt it and rub it in the faces of other teams that didn't win. There is a very fine line to walk there, Celebration is one thing, flaunting is another. Many FIRST teams don't rub it in the faces of others, but I do see many teams walk away grumbling that they should have won it, or this team only won it because they spent a thousand dollars making a really cool video, or because their sponsor does that. And I would like to see that bitterness go away. Its only a trophy. Celebrate things in your own way. My kids were sad in our rookie year when they realized there was a Woodie Flowers award, and that they hadn't known to submit for it, so they organized for our next regional to do an entire presentation of fancy trophies for all of our mentors. And to me, that trophy means so much more than them even trying to submit for the WFA that year because they initiated it. It wasn't a piece of plastic that some other group of people decided to give me, it was something that came from their hearts and that they did above and beyond the rest.

So all I am is saying is Celebrate your accomplishments in whatever way works. If its really what some judge from some company that doesnt know you matters, well then I guess trophies are the way to celebrate that, and what your team should strive for. If inspiring kids and getting them interested in science and technology is your goal, then look at what you think of yourselves and how many kids are going to college as your reward. To some teams, perhaps this "feel good" is not enough. Perhaps they need the official FIRST medals to really feel good about themselves, and thats ok, but I think thats more along the lines of Sports and NOT what Dean founded FIRST for. But that is just my opinion. I respect that to some teams that trophy may mean the world. And that maybe it is their only proof of what they have accomplished, but for my team its not. I can guarantee you they would be doing what they are doing even if FIRST didn't give out awards, and to me, thats a good feeling.

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

Now if we're all competitive, and FIRST offers the opportunity for us to not only further their mission but also AWARDS us for doing the best job of it, why should we provide information that could potentially hurt us from receiving one of those awards? If it is truly just a trophy, ask your team to give theirs away and no longer celebrate what they've won. Even further, tell them never to strive to receive one again.

Thats the thing, though, maybe all of us aren't competitive... maybe some of us see the competition as a fun way to celebrate all of our accomplishments. Now I don't mean we wont try our hardest at competition, or strive to meet the objectives of the awards, but its not the winning of them that matters to every team. Some, yes, and thats ok. But for me, I'm not going to get bent out of shape because a judge seemingly gave an award to another team because they had a greater percentage of reduced lunch.

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

There's a reason why some of the most recognized, influential, and oft-emulated teams in FIRST (and by FIRST) have a full trophy rack in their school.

The reason is because they were able to best convey to the judges why they should get the award. Presentation & Selling your team and your accomplishments is probably 60% of getting the awards. If you look at our trophy case, we aren't short on them, but I'll tell you, our most successful year was our first year, and we barely even read the awards section of the manual that year. We knew what FIRST was and we believed in it, we did what we did because it was fun and we loved the ideals and what we were doing. That excitement is what won us the awards, not because we were trying for it, or even cared what some judge thought of us. To be honest, our team often gets more excited when some of the teams that we know win awards.

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

For everyone out there - don't be ashamed of your trophies. You worked hard for them. They are YOURS. They are your hard work, your lessons learned, your enthusiasm and spirit. They are coveted by many and received by few. Strive to earn them. Work hard to get them honestly. Put your accomplishments in the signatures of this forum and show everyone what you're made of. But even more, don't let the disappointment of not having one get to you, work that much harder to get it.

And if a judge comes into your pit and asks you what award you feel you should get, show them what sets you apart - but tell them the awards are for them to decide.

Please tell me exactly where in my post you think I told people to be ashamed of their trophies, because I never intended that and I apologize to anyone who interpreted it that way. The biggest thing I'm trying to say is exactly what you said here... don't let the disappointment get to you, and I'm not saying don't try harder, but don't base all of your pride in yourselves on winning or not winning a trophy. As Carol says, the judges are volunteers like the rest of the mentors. They are capable of making mistakes, but we have to trust them like we trust our mentors, and I personally would encourage teams to celebrate their accomplishments no matter how many trophies you do or don't come home with.

Thats the end to my tangent from the original discussion