In & Out

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Posted by colleen - T190 at 04/15/2001 7:33 PM EST


Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science and WPI.


In Reply to: Re: In & Out
Posted by Patrick Dingle on 04/15/2001 6:45 PM EST:



I was just thinking of posting on this.. Robby read my mind.. he's good at that ;-)

In any case.. I'm having a lot of trouble right now/this year.. for the extra reasons that Pat is talking about..

I was on a team in high school for 4 years where winning isn't the focus, it just happens to be a habit.. they take great pride in building a quality robot as well as all other aspects of the team (on of the best individual strategy/scouting efforts around..).. winning was just the way it was.. by the time my senior came, I found myself disappointed if we finished 10th out of 200+ teams..

Then last year I went to BU.. 2-year team with a good attitude as really the only thing going for them.. It took a lot of work and a lot of time in areas I'd never run before.. the kids voted on drivers cause the robot never moved before it went in the crate.. we flew by nothing.. we seeded and finished dead last in NJ.. and I never had a better time.. it through it all into perspective for the first time since freshman/sophomore year in high school.. that it's not the outcome.. it's what you do to get there.. I learned to have fun in last place.. and that 40th of 40th didn't mean that you didn't try as hard as the guys that were #1.. you just had to try even harder next time to get there.. At nationals we won 5 of 7 matches.. seeded in the top 100.. still had a grand old time.. worrying about the kids and making sure they were enjoying their FIRST experience and not just winning..

This year I came to WPI.. it started out somewhat like being at BU.. more casual.. get everyone in and working on stuff attitude.. and as time progressed and we were really ahead of schedule.. and for the first time in a while, we realized the robot would be done ahead of schedule and hey! we might make all the practice rounds and matches at the first regional.. sure enough we did.. with a good robot too.. and as on-field coach.. i tried my very best to do what was best for the alliance and my team and novice drivers and operators.. and things started changing back to the way they were my senior year.. not with me, but with everyone else on the team seemingly.. I was caught in trying to make a worthy experience for the kids on my team and making sure they enjoyed the experience so they would return the next year and continue into engineering.. and everyone else was taking the 'gotta win' attitude.. it made it very hard.. because when I tried to do things from the 'we're in it for the win perspective' people were unhappy, i became unhappy, and it wasn't very FIRST-ish.. when i took the 'we're in it for the experience' perspective.. nothing seemed right or to flow between myself and teammates..

So right now, I'm definitely in the "In or Out?" mode.. I wonder if some days if it's me that's not doing it right.. or others.. or if we're all doing it 'right' and it's just a different definition of right?

To me.. FIRST is for everyone.. not just HS students.. future society will be the benefactor to their involvement.. but it's just as much learning for college kids, engineers, parents, etc as it is for the students..

But I gotta wonder if I'm learning the wrong things somedays.. or teaching the wrong ones.. or I'm just out in left field..