2009 Wisconsin Regional

[Katie_UPS]

Twas an awesome regional!
I wish I went to social, but I was too sick to attend. Any of you that met me should've noticed my "Sorry, I can't speak, I'm sick! :/" button, as speaking was the most painful thing that weekend (I completely shreiked when I found out Dean and I were of the same sickness).

Anyways, back to regionals.

Congrats to anyone that won any award, especially More Robotics, Chairmans is an honor!

Special thanks to any of our alliance partners, I would've enjoyed strategizing with you guys had I been able to talk, and you guys were great to play with.

1625, waving to our partners (big smiles) right before you guys kicked out butts was so much fun. I'm glad you guys won, seeing as how that was my only request.

I think all the teams that went were fantastic! I met and saw so many amazing people!

[bfvaneyck]

Originally Posted by Jeff Pahl

Team 537, and he also had a rookie team there but I don't know the team number. I'm sure someone else will be able to fill that in...

And is the Lead Robot Inspector for both the Wisconsin and the North Star Regionals.

His rookie team is 2830, Riverside H.S. Milwaukee!

[Kevin Kolodziej]

Originally Posted by cheesehead97

When will the video of the Wisconsin Regional be on the computer?

Patience! It is coming! I had a last minute business trip last week that prevented me from getting started. I'll knock out at least the elims this weekend and get whatever I can uploaded for people to parse (If I can't just do it while encoding).

[Tyler Olds]

Thank you to all who made this years Wisconsin regional happen. I believe that this was the most energetic year I have seen amongst the teams, and the crowd as well .

A huge amount of props to the planning committee especially for the social. I was very sad to hear there originally was not one, and you guys did a great job putting something fun together last minute.

1625 and 2039 and 2194: You guys did a fantastic job at Midwest and really showed your stuff at WI, thanks for making the game very competitive and fun to watch for the crowd. Fondy: Thanks for showing that SS can make a huge difference in this years game, I believe that the GDC really wanted to make the last 20 sec suspenseful and you guys did a great job following through.

1714: Congrats on the Chairman's award, Keep racking them up and I think we might see our highest number team yet winning at the championships.

There are several teams that I would love to thank but for lack of interest of people reading this, I will just like to say one more huge thank you to all the teams for being energetic and excited. It makes my job a lot more fun!

See the rest of you at 10000 lakes and Atlanta!

[MasterChief1732]

Whats the word on the match videos?

[Chris is me]

The bird is the word.

In all seriousness, I read a post saying they were digitized and "just" need to be parsed. So soon?

[Kevin Kolodziej]

The videos are being parsed this weekend, with the exception of some of the elims which need to be re-digitized since the audio got screwed up....should be able to take care of that either tomorrow afternoon or Monday night.

[Chris is me]

That's great to hear. I might get to study Winnovation before Atlanta! Thanks again Kevin for filming and digitizing.

[AndyB]

Kevin and I finished parsing the matches and the last of them were uploaded to TBA's server last night. They should hopefully be viewable in the coming days. I'd except a delay due to the Championship event starting tomorrow.

[ShotgunNinja]

Hey everyone, I'm in a predicament.

As a Lead Programmer of two Wisconsin teams this year (one of which is now a Newton Semifinalist, and the supposed 22nd-ranked team at Nationals, match-wise), and as a graduating senior moving to Brew City to attend MSOE this fall, I have a dilemna:

Which team to mentor?

I seriously want to get back in touch with UPS, Hilltoppers, or More Robotics, but I know that they already have some great mentors, and to go with them would be denying the experience I could provide to one of the many burgeoning rookie and second-year teams already in the works in the Milwaukee area. Although I haven't yet filled out the forms to officially become a mentor, I want to take a look at some of the teams and see which team has the most need for a decently experienced programmer as a mentor.

Any suggestions?

[Chris is me]

It's great that you're looking for younger / less experienced teams first so you can maximize the help you can give. That's really cool.

I'd start with the Milwaukee based rookie teams (2830 and 2946). I haven't seen em on CD so you'll have to find them.

[AndyB]

MSOE has an organization for FIRST involvment. It's called MFSO (Milwaukee FIRST Support Organization). Their website is here: http://mfso.groups.msoe.edu/

I know a few people involved with it and I'm sure they'd love for you to join. They are responsible for mentoring many of the teams in southeastern Wisconsin.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Shogun,
I would temper your desire until you have a little time at MSOE and have experienced your first year of college life. It is pretty hard and you need to focus on studies first and First second. When you are comfortable and feel you have enough free time for a team, then I would contact the Midwest Director, Susan Lawrence, and let her know you are available. She should have a handle on what team(s) could use your help.

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Shogun,
I would temper your desire until you have a little time at MSOE and have experienced your first year of college life. It is pretty hard and you need to focus on studies first and First second. When you are comfortable and feel you have enough free time for a team, then I would contact the Midwest Director, Susan Lawrence, and let her know you are available. She should have a handle on what team(s) could use your help.

I agree 100% with Al. I took a year off my first year of college and i believed it helped. It allows you to mature a little and separate yourself from the high school students so you can be a good mentor, after all trying to mentor people who are the same age as you is very hard to do. Taking a year off also lets you set a good foundation for your GPA as it will likely slip a little as you mentor and dedicate your time to more things.

If you feel you must be involved in FIRST how about volunteering at the Wisconsin regional and/or the Midwest regional. You will be very close to both seeing as you will be attending MSOE.

[Kevin Kolodziej]

Originally Posted by AndyB

MSOE has an organization for FIRST involvment. It's called MFSO (Milwaukee FIRST Support Organization). Their website is here: http://mfso.groups.msoe.edu/

I know a few people involved with it and I'm sure they'd love for you to join. They are responsible for mentoring many of the teams in southeastern Wisconsin.

Unfortunately the club is temporarily on hiatus. Hopefully there is enough interest to bring it back to life for 2009-2010.

The original purpose of the club was for this very reason: attract incoming students and as an organization, help a local team (or teams) in need. In the club's spare time, what has now become Midwest Vex Programs was also started.

As one of the co-founders of this club, I echo Al's statements. Make sure you put your schooling first. MSOE is a VERY difficult school. It wasn't too difficult for me to continue my FIRST involvement during my freshman year (besides the club meetings at 1:00am in the MLH lounge), however, sophomore and junior year were extremely difficult. We won't talk about senior design! As a college mentor though, teams tend to be understanding that your time is limited.

Bottom line: MSOE is in a great place to continue your FIRST involvement, even if only at the volunteer level for a year or two. MSOE has come a long way in supporting FIRST and there are plenty of teams in the area to get involved with.

One of my original goals with the club was to hold meetings at MSOE with several teams in attendance to share knowledge and resources. While this currently happens on a smaller level within the Milwaukee Vex League, perhaps the big meetings can still be made possible.

Good luck!