WFFA limits at District CMP

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

They're recognized at whichever event the team submitted the award for. Given that the essay deadline doesn't change and there's no interview process to account for, I suspect most teams just pick the first event.

I'm confused - do district teams submit WFFAs to district events, even though you only have one winner at district champs? Why?

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I'm confused - do district teams submit WFFAs to district events, even though you only have one winner at district champs? Why?

At least in New England, you submit to a specific district, and the nominee is recognized there (this recognition has varied from being called down to the field individually, to simply being put on a slide with all the other nominees). The award is only given to one mentor at DCMP. As far as I know, this recognition is the only thing driven by the event the award is submitted to.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

At least in New England, you submit to a specific district, and the nominee is recognized there (this recognition has varied from being called down to the field individually, to simply being put on a slide with all the other nominees). The award is only given to one mentor at DCMP. As far as I know, this recognition is the only thing driven by the event the award is submitted to.

WHICH is precisely why these standards need to exist. /grumpy

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I'm confused - do district teams submit WFFAs to district events, even though you only have one winner at district champs? Why?

My assumption would be because you're not registered for your DCMP in TIMS at the time the submission is due.

[Chris Fultz]

District teams submit at any district event they are attending.

They are recognized at the event where they are submitted.

We are working to make it standardized, and i believe many of the District events now introduce and ask the nominees to stand and be recognized.

Then there is one District WFFA selected from all of the submissions, and that is announced at the District CHP.

I agree with the statement that the nomination from a team is a great honor.

I also agree with the statement that not all teams nominate someone.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Is the gray vest a New England thing? I think ours are navy or black here.

It would surprise me if the blue shirts were judging for it since the manual shows explicitly they don't .

I believe that he's referring to regional committee markings. Those are the folks who generally present (and presumably judge) Volunteer of the Year.

Andrew, calling the refs "zebras" is just fine. Just don't call 'em late for dinner (or visually impaired).

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by EricH

I believe that he's referring to regional committee markings. Those are the folks who generally present (and presumably judge) Volunteer of the Year.

Andrew, calling the refs "zebras" is just fine. Just don't call 'em late for dinner (or visually impaired).

Yeah, I assumed they were all grey vests considering ours are still marked Regional Planning Committee...

And Sean, the recognition is up to how each district wants to handle it (much like reinterview at DCMP for Dean's List) which, imho, is a mistake. I'd like to see all districts handled the same way for these awards. Consistency is important.

Frank/Cindy/Allen/Jamee take note - Please decree from on high that each district event must recognize the WFFA nominees and DL winners in a consistent manner worldwide. Also, please decide on a DL Finalist process for Districts and make it consistent. [1]




[1] I know sometimes these folks lurk CD, I will also be bringing these concerns up at the JA meeting at the end of the year.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I also want to point out that winning is NOT the real part about recognizing the mentor. Merely being nominated is a huge recognition. I know when I was nominated it meant a ton of me that my students felt I'd had an impact.

This is so true. While I've never been nominated for WFFA, I have been nominated for the Compass Award (the FTC sort-of-not-really equivalent), and it means so much to me just that my students spent time that they could have spent on the robot or something else to recognize me.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's a decision made by the WFA committee. It's group of people who have won the really heavy Möbius strip and is endorsed by and run interdependently of most FRC judging. I think as recently as 2013 I'm pretty sure that committee directly processed the submissions, and if that's still the case they must feel overburdened. I do think it's unfortunate and it feels like part of a shift in FIRST culture. It feels like we no longer recognize a number of really good people and a select few for being awesome, but instead we recognize everyone for being OK and a select few for being extra OK.

From what I've heard recently, the WFA winners still process all the paperwork themselves. They break up into small committees for each area, read the nominations, pick one, and write up the text that is read off when the award is given. I imagine it's a huge time commitment from those individuals.

That said, narrowing down the pool of WFFA's going into champs has to make it easier to pick the next WFA. Remember, in addition to all of the WFFA's from this season, there could be (and probably are) a significant number of renominations from teams with previous WFFA winners.

It does feel like all the awards should scale together at the district level- if you have 3 chairman's teams, then you should have 3 WFFA's and 6 Dean's List.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

From what I've heard recently, the WFA winners still process all the paperwork themselves. They break up into small committees for each area, read the nominations, pick one, and write up the text that is read off when the award is given. I imagine it's a huge time commitment from those individuals.

That said, narrowing down the pool of WFFA's going into champs has to make it easier to pick the next WFA. Remember, in addition to all of the WFFA's from this season, there could be (and probably are) a significant number of renominations from teams with previous WFFA winners.

It does feel like all the awards should scale together at the district level- if you have 3 chairman's teams, then you should have 3 WFFA's and 6 Dean's List.

Yes. Keep in mind that not only are they judging the WFFA winners from all of the regionals/DCMPs for that year, but ALL of the re-nominated WFFA winners from previous years. It amounts easily to a thousand or more essays to be read by the WFA winners every year to determine the WFA at the championship. That's a lot of essays, folks.

Also keep in mind that there are plenty of other ways to recognize your mentors outside of the WFFA.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Sadly those of us in districts don't have the opportunity to celebrate our mentors. We CHS used to be able to celebrate 3 team based mentors. Now we only get one. Somehow, I feel this a huge mistake FIRST is making.

I suggest a new thread for this topic. Please keep this thread a running list of winners instead of a branching topic.

[GaryVoshol]

Split off from WFFA awards thread

[Basel A]

In my opinion, this is completely absurd. Of 400 Michigan teams we're only going to recognise one outstanding mentor this year? Colour me disappointed. At minimum, we ought to add another step for recognition, as was done for Dean's List in district areas (plus allow teams to re-nominate any semifinalist to the district CMP as they can a finalist to the CMP).

[Bob Steele]

I have to agree that Districts have really lost out in this respect. I am not sure why this has to happen. In PNW before districts we had 4 Woodie Flowers winners... now we have just one....

What does it really cost to honor mentors like those that are nominated?
Too many are not given the credit they deserve. Why not, at least, have 3 represent the District the way we have 3 Chairman's Award winners for the district? We would not be adding more qualifying teams or anything.

I guess I just don't understand it.

I know many wonderful mentors from the District that deserve this recognition and I am sure that other Districts feel the same way.

[Sperkowsky]

What if there was some sort of level 3 woodie flowers award. Just a small piece of paper likes deans list that way it recognizes the mentor with something physical but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. WFFA has to be one of the most expensive awards to give out with the trophy and banner.