I have a SERIOUS complaint.

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Posted by Erin at 04/13/2001 8:32 AM EST


College Student on team #65, Huskie Brigade, from Pontiac Northern High School and GM Powertrain.



To all posters (esp. those in the Oakland County area)
This morning, my dad came into the room and laid the paper down in front of me and rolled his eyes. He said, "turn to the second page". I thought, well, it can't be anything about FIRST, because they would never put that on the second page of the Oakland Press, 5 days after it happened. Well, I was a bit wrong.
This morning, team 33, the Notre Dame Prep/Avondale Killer Bees here the highlight of the second page. I felt my heart drop to the floor. Don't get me wrong, I love their team- the robot is awesome, their students are nice and they have good engineers. They totally deserved it. However, I was UNBELIEVABLY dissapointed to see the following:
"Three Pontiac teams were finalists for the Chairman's Award. Teams from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems, 3-Dimensional Services and Oakland Technical College (it's actually CENTER, not college, they got it wrong) Northeast, and General Motors Powertrain and Pontiac Northern High School were nominated for the award, which recognizes the overall quality of a team and its' sponsor."
ARGH! That's it?!?! Three teams from one city get that for recognition??
Being one of those people who think the Chairman's Award is the epitome of all awards, I am very disgruntled to see the Oakland Press (which is owned by DISNEY by the way) leave something like this behind. Esp. with one of those teams being finalists twice (1), one of those teams being a former recipient and a finalists twice (47) and one of those teams coming out of a serious transition showing what they are made of and trying to make a bigger impression on their urban high school (65). All they needed to do was care a little more...
I guess it's still all about the robots.
But I am deeply dissapointed.

Erin

p.s. Don't worry, I have scheduled a phone meeting with the editor about this, they will hear it

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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.

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Posted by Erica Schindler at 04/13/2001 2:53 PM EST


Other on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells/ ONSI Corporation.


In Reply to: Re: I have a SERIOUS complaint.
Posted by Jessica Boucher on 04/13/2001 9:31 AM EST:



I know what all of you guys mean, for the four years i was in FIRST, there was little to no recognition in the local newspapers, only the occasional article, or some pictures. Even after my team returned from nationals, after being divison winners, and going to the final 4, there was but a paragraph in the Hartford Courant. Now, for those of you who saw the article, it was in Thursday's Courant. I happen to know that the reporter called my house and interviewed my brother for 15 minutes, only to have 3 quotes in the article.
one more point: Does anyone else have the problems that the newspapers feel as if they can only cover one team? Well, for every year i have been in FIRST, there has only been one team covered in the papers, usually the one who makes the contact, and most the time, that team is dissed, and the team that did the best from the area is covered. All other area teams are either just listed, or not mentioned at all.
while i am pleased with any coverage that FIRST gets, because obviously some is better than none, it just seems to me that FIRST is way more important/educational/interesting, than most of the stuff that is published in these local papers anyway. Maybe i am just biased, but everyone i have told FIRST about seems to think that it is really cool, and wonders why thier high school never had a team. There is obviously interest in this, why cant the papers see that?
I suppose for now we will all have to deal with the fact that FIRST will only hold a paragraph or two in the local papers, due to the ignorant masses, unless there is absolutely no news that day, and in that case, it will on the 18th page, under an article about the president's lost cat or something...
TV news does slightly better, trying to show clips of all machines, not just the winners, which i am happy about. Everybody deserves some recognition of thier work, but, in my opinion, it is more important to have that recognition within the FIRST community, where everyone is treated with the respect they deserve.
just my 2 cents
erica schindler

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Posted by Tom S. at 04/16/2001 8:39 PM EST


Student on team #177, The Bobcats, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.


In Reply to: Re: I have a SERIOUS complaint.
Posted by Erica Schindler on 04/13/2001 2:53 PM EST:



I agree... The article in the hartford courant was only about our team. Obviously the team likes this coverage, but what about the other teams in our area that have done so much, such as RAGE or Buzz... Given the article was in the "local" section, so it wasn't distributed to the entire state (which is also somewhat of a dissapointment that FIRST is not big enough news to be printed in the front pages), but the teams in our area that did not get mentioned might feel slighted. I doubt that the newspapers will ever fully understand the impact that FIRST has on the community, and i bet they just whip off an article, but some even coverage may give the reader a more rounded image of FIRST...

Just my thoughts..

Tom Schindler
Team 177

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Posted by jOel jOhnson at 04/19/2001 3:27 PM EST


Student on team #173, RAGE, from East Hartford High School and UTRC.


In Reply to: Re: I have a SERIOUS complaint.
Posted by Tom S. on 04/16/2001 8:39 PM EST:



: I agree... The article in the hartford courant was only about our team. Obviously the team likes this coverage, but what about the other teams in our area that have done so much, such as RAGE or Buzz... Given the article was in the "local" section, so it wasn't distributed to the entire state (which is also somewhat of a dissapointment that FIRST is not big enough news to be printed in the front pages), but the teams in our area that did not get mentioned might feel slighted. I doubt that the newspapers will ever fully understand the impact that FIRST has on the community, and i bet they just whip off an article, but some even coverage may give the reader a more rounded image of FIRST...

: Just my thoughts..

: Tom Schindler
: Team 177

True. From what I have seen, the newspapers tend to dwell upon those teams that are really good. During last years competition, the Courant constantly wrote about RAGE, as we were the winners of the UTC scrimmage, and one of the best robots out there. This season, you were the ones that won the UTC scrimmage, and had a great robot, making you perfect for the press.

Understand?....

I say, enjoy the attention you recieved, as everyone will have their moment to shine....

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Posted by Chris Orimoto at 04/14/2001 3:09 AM EST


Student on team #368, Kika Mana, from McKinley High School and Nasa Ames/Hawaiian Electric/Weinberg Foundation.


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



Well, here's my opinion...see I come from a STATE that only sent 3 teams total to 1 regional (no national competitions or anything like that for us). Honestly, newspapers (as well as most people who read them) don't really care about the WHOLE story behind everything. What IS appealing however, is a winner...or some kind of great recognition received.

It also depends on the article...and the personality of the interviewee. We were the ONLY Hawaii team to get a FRONT PAGE article before shipping of the robot even occurred...and we were ALSO the ONLY Hawaii team this year (although there are only two others) to return home WITHOUT a Regional Championship Trophy/Medal.

It definitely wasn't as bad as it sounds. There have been a few articles about each team in the paper (us included). In fact, I tip my hat to Waialua (359) and Waipahu (636). Things fell their way and it was definitely THEIR year.

All in all, don't feel too bad Erin...it's just today's sad society that allows for such exploitation to take place in the first place. Although FIRST strives to employ gracious professionalism and exemplify the "real world", there are still winners and losers in our world. Things work both ways, and we all get our fair share in the end. (Or at least some of us do).

Just my personal thoughts...

Chris, #368