The benefits of Participating in CDI

[gail]

Participating in CDI is the best decision Team 469-Las Guerilllas could have made- not because we played well, but because the majority of our team this year is new to FIRST.

We used CDI as a way to introduce new members to the wonder of robotics. And what a terrific meduim CDI was to do just that. Our kids learned to strategize, to conceptualize design, to use both handtools and machines, to wire and to recognize problems on a machine they helped create. They got to see firsthand the benefits of building a wooden prototype, and of having sufficient time at the end for development. In short, they got to see what engineers do every day.

But more than anything else, our kids learned about teamwork and the idea that every member has something worthwhile to contribute, and that success can only come from the collective efforts of everyone involved. The best machine out there is nothing without kids that know how to use it.

How lucky we are to have had the chance to teach this all before the FIRST season begins. Thank you everyone at Chief Delphi for volunteering your time and energy to bring us this opportunity. We look forward to participating again next year.

[meaubry]

Gail,
Thanks, we are glad your team had a great learning experience. Frankly, thats one of the reasons for having it. It is also a good warm up for preparing for the upcoming FIRST season. But, more than anything else the event allows teams the opportunity to go through the processes as a team and hopefully have a great time doing it. The event differs from other post season events like this, in that it is an open invitation to both existing FIRST teams and New FIRST teams - and more imporatntly its open to anyone from anywhere. Ideally, the event could be targetted and marketted as a FIRST recruiting endeavor - but, then we wouldn't have the very high quality machines that we get to come. So we think the approach we have used allows the best combination of veterans and rookies. As the number of teams are limited, please be sure to sign up early, and please either mentor a new rookie team, or even a team that may only participate in the CDI. Thanks for the comments - see you next year.