A Change in this year's Spirit of FIRST?

[Patrick Wang]

I have grown up through High School in the FIRST program, and I have seen dramatic changes in its spirit and the feel of the competition since I was a freshmen.

In my 4th year in FIRST, I have noticed something different in the spirit of the newer teams, many of them seem not to see the true intent of FIRST.

I think this largely the result of the shortened kickoff, while Dean and Woodie made their speeches concerning FIRST yet again this year, it has changed greatly from those hour lectures of yesteryear.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed not having to sit through a 3 hour kickoff, but the only reason I could really make out Gracious Professionalism was because I have heard Dean and Woodie's speech in the past years.

It seems to me that the burden of bringing newer teams, (and even some members of older teams) to see the values of Gracious Professionalism, (namely in the threads discussing robots) lies more firmly with the veteran teams sharing their views of gracious professionalism.

Has anybody else noticed this shift in the nature of the people posting on the chiefdelphi boards (certainly not the whole FIRST community)? And can you see that perhaps the reduced emphasis this year on the true point of the competition may have resulted in such behavior?