I have a SERIOUS complaint.

[archiver]

Posted by Jessica Boucher at 04/13/2001 9:31 AM EST


Student on team #237, Sie-H2O-Bots, from Watertown High School and Eastern Awning Systems & The Siemon Company.


In Reply to: I have a SERIOUS complaint.
Posted by Erin on 04/13/2001 8:32 AM EST:



Trust me, I understand, the same goes for our area's teams (Team #237 the Sie-H2O-Bots from Watertown, Team #38, the Nonnebots from Woodbury, Team #228, Gus from Wolcott/Meriden, and now Team #716, the Who'sCTEKS, from Falls Village, CT).

I have come to the conclusion that there will only be a good FIRST story if it is a slow news day...there will always be one, but it could range in size from front page front section (which 237 recieved the day we left for FL in 2000 that I used as my SAT identification later on ) to a small blurb on the left side of the front page local section (which we've recieved many times).

Also, I keep a rule of thumb in my mind when it comes to FIRST and press: that FIRST can only be understood on 2 levels of thinking. The primary level, is that it is all about the robots working and winning.

The secondary level, the deeper level, is that really winning in FIRST is having your robot do the best it possibly can as well as being recognized for successfully sharing the FIRST spirit and dream with as many people as possible (aka the Chairman's Award, Woodie Flowers Award, stuff like that).

A member of a team can be hooked by that first level but then switch to that second level very quickly. Most of us are on that deeper level...but the press, I really think it'll take a while for them to switch to that deeper level of thinking towards FIRST.

But hey, Im just glad they recognize that first level of thinking towards FIRST. Any press is good press in my book, no matter how incorrect it is. The ones who are really interested in FIRST will ask more questions, and we can correct them later.

-Jessica B, #237

P.S. I do empathize with you, Erin; after my team won UTC in 2000 we were watching the 11:00 news at our after-party...and they opened the segment with a pic of our robot in the corner, to showing footage of our robot as well as numerous others, and then went on to end the segment with saying that the UTC regional was won by (insert UTC winners of 1999 here). They got so many angry calls from us that they had to interrupt the news at the end to correct themselves.