pic: The Triplets are Coming To Atlanta!!

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by IMDWalrus

I'm a bit surprised this hasn't drawn the outrage that that thread did.

The reaction has actually been very positive at both our two regionals. When Team 1114 founded NiagaraFIRST.org and decided upon the collaboration, the goal was not to give our teams a competitive advantage. We did this because we wanted to spread FIRST throughout the Niagara community. We saw the amazing impact FIRST was having on the students from 1114, and we wanted to share this with others.

We knew we that we did not have the mentor base or the funding to start a new team with out stretching 1114 too thin. Using a common design, and engineering and manufacturing approach allowed us to minimize costs and mentor load. Sharing the mentor expertise, equipment and tools, and the workload of manufacturing and assembly enabled us to reap economies of scale.

Most importantly, we were able to seamlessly pass on the lessons we had learned about FIRST. I'm not just talking about the engineering lessons, but we were able to teach the new teams about gracious professionalism. For most rookies, GP is something that they only fully understand after their first season. They learn it by experiencing at the competitions. In our case, by having 1114, 1503 and 1680 working so closely together, the lessons learned we passed along. This collaboration allowed 1503 and 1680 to skip the steep learning curve. They were two rookie teams who stepped into their regionals with poise of veterans, and were able to start spreading the values of FIRST to other rookies!

So, why hasn't there been more outrage? It's pretty hard to argue with a business model that allows for resources to be used effectively and results in three times as many students being inspired, and three times as many communities being excited about FIRST.

More inspired students, more community involvement, less drain on the mentors... Sounds pretty swell to me!