The Triplet Challenge

[rourke]

Dean will give us a homework assignment again this year. I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that it will involve continued growth of FIRST. Let’s beat him to the punch, and develop our own.

The Triplet Challenge:
Let’s forever end the debate on collaboration – and commit to use it for the purpose of growing and sustaining FIRST. We should all be able to rally around that. Go out and find a high school whose students are yearning for the opportunity, but whose faculty or administration is intimidated by starting a team. Or, find a school that is willing and able but doesn’t have the engineering or mentor support to provide the guidance. Or, resurrect a school that used to have a FIRST team, but dropped out because of lack of support. Offer to have the new team copy everything you are doing next year. Everything. Get that team off the ground and performing at a high level. Have them copy your design. Help them make some of the parts. Stretch your budget to help them with registration, travel, spare parts, batteries, and tools. Help them with their organizational structure. Assist them with marketing and financial planning, coach them on scouting and game play, and share mentor expertise.


Let’s see Twins and Triplets all over the country – but with the clones being schools that are new or who are in need of support. Let’s not stop at the Niagara Triplets, or the Martian Twins. Let’s see Twins and Triplets popping up all over – all with new or fledgling teams that couldn’t quite do it all on their own. Watch these teams grow and improve. And some day they will fly on their own, and maybe create their own Twins or Triplets.


What I Believe: Collaboration is the most effective way to get a new team up and running quickly, with a high level of capability. Students on these new teams get inspired more quickly, grab the attention of school administrators right away, generate more media attention, attract more interested students, and attract a larger sponsor base. We’ve proven this in Niagara with The Triplets. The collaborative leveraging strategy has huge potential to accelerate FIRST growth if it is embraced responsibly. The Governor of Michigan has pledged to get FIRST into every high school in her state, and announced she is adding $2 million to the state budget to get things started. Collaboration needs to play a part in all of this, or there will be many teams that will fall by the wayside, or struggle and become disillusioned. The Niagara school boards have been so impressed with the inspiring success of The Triplets that they are budgeting entry fees for new school teams in the future. Don’t expect to see The Quads or The Quints, but expect to see responsible, rule-abiding collaboration used to field some highly competitive rookies and to keep the current teams alive and well.


I can envision the FIRST landscape being filled with Twins and Triplets with monikers like: Pinklettes, Division by Triplets, TribeDelphi, Wildstang Posse, Huskie Platoon, The Beastie Boys, Trucktown Thunder & Lightening, Killer Beehive, HOT-HOTTER-HOTTEST, Thunder Henhouse, The Bomb Squadron, and RUSH! RUSH! RUSH!.....to name but a few.


The Triplet Challenge: Go ye forth and multiply!!!