2008 New York City Regional

[arhajder]

Unfortunately we were ranked 11 and for some odd reason no one selected us. This year we won nothing. As a matter of fact i don't think a single NEW YORK team won anything except for Saunders(2344 gratz). They got rookie of the regional and probably will win the National rookie team. My school will probably be losing the team after 8 long years. I bet many teams will drop out simply because they cant produce. If we accomplish Dean Kamens hw assignment(double amount of NY teams) I want to make it a NY only regional.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by arhajder

Unfortunately we were ranked 11 and for some odd reason no one selected us. This year we won nothing. As a matter of fact i don't think a single NEW YORK team won anything except for Saunders(2344 gratz). They got rookie of the regional and probably will win the National rookie team. My school will probably be losing the team after 8 long years. I bet many teams will drop out simply because they cant produce. If we accomplish Dean Kamens hw assignment(double amount of NY teams) I want to make it a NY only regional.

694 won EI award which is a huge deal and they are a NY team. and that sucks when you're a high seed an dont get picked. I know that ppl may say like "keep your chin up" and stuff...but yea, i understand what that feels like. There's almost nothing that someone can say to cheer you up. But hey, if you need help in getting support, funding, or mentors, just hit up anyone on Chief Delphi.

[arhajder]

Originally Posted by lilstogi11

694 won EI award which is a huge deal and they are a NY team. and that sucks when you're a high seed an dont get picked. I know that ppl may say like "keep your chin up" and stuff...but yea, i understand what that feels like. There's almost nothing that someone can say to cheer you up. But hey, if you need help in getting support, funding, or mentors, just hit up anyone on Chief Delphi.

You know what makes it worse. We played with 41 and 555 and came up with an awesome strategy and blew the other alliance out. WE got along well. When the finals were going on the guy came up to us and said sorry he completely overlooked us. So close and yet so far. I didn't even go to school im so depressed...sigh

[dlavery]

I would like to add in a special "thank you" and recognition to the entire referee team, and in particular to Mark Sharfshteyn, the Head Referee. I thought that they did an exceptionally good job at the NYC regional. During the matches I observed, the penalty calls that were made were appropriate and reasonable, and I don't recall any obvious missed calls. As has been previously mentioned, the best officiated games are the ones where you don't really even notice that the referees are there, where the officiating is appropriate for the play and does not artificially affect the game. The referee team in New York certainly fit this definition. In particular, I was impressed by Mark's open communication with the teams. In virtually every instance that I saw, whenever a team had a question about a call or ruling Mark took as much time as was necessary to explain the ruling and make sure that the team understood exactly why something was called the way it was. They may not have liked the ruling, but Mark was always careful to explain in as much detail as they wanted why a ruling had been made and where it was backed up by the official rules. When they had something to say, he listened. His ability to do this in a respectful and informative manner set a great example.

-dave



.

[galewind]

Yes, I will say that from my side of the table as backup game announcer, I really felt the refs did a great job of keeping us informed as to what was happening. Mark was a fantastic head ref, and was always clear, professional, and polite, even when a dufus like me was trying to announce his calls. He definitely deserves a lot of credit, as I know it's often a very unappreciated job.

[Ashley Christine]

I just want to say congrats to all the teams, you all did a great job!

I want to say a special congrats to a good friend of mine - Wayne- for winning the Woodie Flowers Award. I am really happy for you and you deserve it!

As always congrats to the winning alliance and chairmans award winner!

Thank you to team 395 and 271, we really enjoyed working with you as an alliance and we put up a good fight! We couldn't have asked for much more.

Other than that - hopefully I can make it to Atlanta and see some more of you in action!

[andrew348]

Congrats to Wayne.

He has worked very hard in FIRST and I could think of no one else who deserved it more.

Here is the essay submitted for his WFA

“The fundamental responsibility of a mentor or leader is to inspire others to step up to the plate, take responsibility, and become new leaders.” This is the role of a mentor defined by Wayne Penn. He has lived his life by the quote, and has affected the lives of those around him dramatically.
Wayne Penn started his involvement in FIRST on Team 217, The Thunder Chickens, in the 2001 season as a junior in High School. In 2002, Wayne broke out of his shell and became Driver and CEO of his team.
When Wayne moved onto college at Columbia, he did not stop his involvement in FIRST. In New York, Wayne became involved in Team 395, 2Train Robotics. On 2Train, Wayne was the lead student mentor from his University. He was involved in mentoring efforts and strategy. He helped 2Train win five Regionals in four years and a Regional Chairman’s Award. Team 395 comes from an inner city neighborhood with very low high school graduation rates. Instead of working with the teams that have major sponsors, Wayne chose to help these students. Wayne has said that one of his favorite memories is when a student told him that when he entered high school, he did not expect to graduate. FIRST gave him a reason to stay motivated. He is now an engineering student in college.
One of Wayne’s greatest accomplishments in New York was his involvement in the Region 2 Robotics Initiative. He spearheaded the creation of several FLL team in a Bronx Neighborhood. They held bi-monthly workshops with student and teachers. The borough’s FLL teams grew to 45, the largest numbers for a neighborhood in New York City.
Wayne has been involved in FLL and FRC. He has worked with many FLL teams. He has brought one team to the World Festival three times. In addition, Wayne was awarded the National Invitational Adult Mentor of the Year Award in 2002. In FRC program, he has been involved in the NYC and Boston Regional Planning Committees. Wayne was awarded Chief Delphi’s Unsung FIRST Hero award. He has also emceed numerous competitions. All of this was outside of helping out numerous teams each year.
In the fall of 2006, Wayne entered graduate school at Boston University. Yet again, he still stayed involved. Our team had met Wayne many times before at the New York City Regional. When he told us in 2006 that he was planning on attending BU, we said that he would always be welcome on our team. A few months later, he called and said he would take us up on that offer.
Wayne has helped our team tremendously by providing our team with new aspects of engineering and outlook on the FIRST program. Wayne has been an unbelievable role model for the students of our team. He works well with the students and gets them motivated, no matter what the situation is.
Above all, Wayne thinks about himself last. Bharat Nain of Team 25 says, “The best trait about Wayne is his selfless dedication to FIRST. The last person he thinks of is himself, always making sure to serve his teams and others in need.” Wayne comes down almost every night from school or work and work tirelessly. Last year, we would be dropping Wayne off at the train at midnight. Then the next day, he would be there, working ever hard then the day before.
I remember when a rookie team asked if he was helping out our team for college credits. With out dropping a beat, he responded, “Nope, just for fun.”

I would like to Thank Team 217 and Team 25 (Wayne Cokeley, Alexa Scott, Shaun McNulty & Bharat Nain) for their support in this essay.

Good luck to Wayne at Championship and hope that he wins WFA for the year!

[Kim Masi]

Congrats Wayne, to a well deserved recognition