[FRC Blog] The FRC Staff

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 3/19/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...blog-FRC-Staff

The FRC Staff

Blog Date: Thursday, March 19, 2015 - 14:48

I have a great job. Whenever I go to an event, everyone is smiling (usually) and friendly (almost always), and occasionally people will thank me for some aspect of FRC. I often get constructive feedback as well, which is a primary reason I go to events in the first place. The feedback is always welcome, as that’s what helps us improve, and the thanks are also, although I’ll admit that sometimes I’m somewhat uncomfortable when people direct their thanks to me personally. The success of FRC is built on a broad foundation of Teams, Volunteers, Sponsors, Suppliers, supporters, FIRST Leadership, Senior Mentors, Regional Directors, the several departments at FIRST HQ outside the FRC department, and of course, the FRC department itself. The FRC department staff eat, drink, breathe, and occasionally bleed FRC. As I’ve said before in this blog, it’s not just a job to them. They could probably find less challenging ways to bring home a paycheck if that’s all they were looking for (just don’t tell them I said that). And I can’t tell you the number of great ideas they’ve come up with for which my solitary contribution toward implementation was saying something along the lines of “Sounds good, let’s do it”. The community may rarely, if ever, see some of these folks, but I am personally thankful for them every day. Here are their names:

• Jonathan Bryant
• Lori Burkhamer
• Toby Clarke
• Monica Cyr
• Doug Denoncourt
• Danny Diaz
• Daniela Dimova
• Derek Foster
• Hannah Foust
• Chuck Harris
• Alex Herreid
• Charlie Jacobs
• Dennis Mitchell
• Kevin O’Connor
• Kate Pilotte
• Matt Pilotte
• Krista Pratt
• James Rahaim
• Harry Robinson
• Nick Skripsky
• Jack Sleeper
• Miriam Somero

Thanks, all.

Frank

[nlknauss]

I've worked with many of these people in the past as a Senior Mentor and they really are a class act. The behind the scenes people don't always get the recognition they deserve and these people deserve all of it. Thank you!

[dag0620]

I've had the pleasure of working with a few names on this list, and they are all honestly great people! They do amazing work, and are some of the un sung heroes that really make FRC happen.

[plnyyanks]

Thanks to all of FRC staff for the work you do - you all do great things, and the community really appreciates all you put in!

I want to give a special thanks to the event support team - Matt, Kevin, Chuck, Danny, Alex, and whoever else is on call. You guys are always there for us on Skype (and more) to help fix absolutely whatever comes up. It makes a huge difference for us at events. Thank you for spending your weekends helping us, seriously.

And many of you may not know that a number of the FRC staff help run events across the country. Thank you for helping make sure they run smoothly everywhere (and a shout out to Nick for being an awesome FTA last weekend in NYC).

All of FRC staff really do make a difference, so thanks again!

[Justin Montois]

I'm sure most, if not all will be at the FIRST Championship in STL. It would be great, I think, to find some time during opening/closing ceremonies to introduce them all by name and let the FRC community show their support.

Thanks for all that this crew has done and continues to do for the betterment of so many kids around the world.