Lettering in FIRST

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Do you mean to imply that you think FRC is not a sport?

I've mentioned in the past that there's a quote commonly associated with Ernest Hemingway that goes, "There are but three true sports--bullfighting, mountain climbing, and motor-racing. The rest are merely games."

These three threads have more on the question of categorizing FIRST as a sport.

[alicen]

we were able to convince at the end of last year to our principal that robotics was worth lettering in. Granted, our principal is not the sharpest tool in the shed, we made a letter out of it with multiple paragraphs comparing FIRST to many sports, and how we were jyust another kind fo sport. I don't think I still have the letter since we did it on the school server, and they erase all teh student files each year, but that's what i'd suggest doing.

[ttldomination]

ultimately, it will depend on how cooperative and accepting your school is.

We haven't tried yet, but next year we will attempt obtain letters. It won't be easy but why not.

[Molten]

Why not just make your own letters/buy them off the internet? I personally disagree with your opinions about needing recognition. I personally prefer to do my work without too much recognition. It makes getting the work done easier.

However, with my opinion said: What does the R in FIRST stand for? Recognition. I may not agree or care about it, but it certainly belongs in FIRST. Good luck with getting the letter.

[JaneYoung]

Recognition is and can be a good thing for the individual, the team, and the community.

When I was in high school, I lettered in music. When I received that letter, I was very proud of the work I had achieved and the choir had achieved within the school and the community. (As an extracurricular, many of us were also a hand bell choir under my direction. We performed for donations for a charity.) My senior year, our teacher was gravely injured and two of us seniors led the choir through the year and all the performances as director and accompanist. By graduation, our teacher was back and, as a gift to me and to the choir, she allowed me to direct the choir in our closing piece for graduation.

This was many years ago and that difficult year is still talked about at reunions. This is a dramatic example, granted, but the letter it is a reflection of a group of people working together toward a common goal. It reflects participation, effort, tenacity, knowledge, achievement, and often, teamwork. That is a good thing.

[takeegan]

personally i don't think it's the letter that counts, it's what it represents. 20 years from now when someone from robotics goes looking through their box of old stuff they might see it, and where a medal represent a victory, the letter represents commitment to their team and what happened while they where on such a team. this is just my view on this case, personally our team gives the graduating class a letter and a pin. wether this is importent or not is up to you, but i only see a good side toward letters and no real downside.

[Carlee10]

Originally Posted by monster1018

My perspective about this subject is that lettering was originally meant for sports only. In recent years Ive seen people getting letters for band (which i think is wrong), and other activities like that. I think that the letter jackets should be strictly for sports because that's their tradition. We have plenty here at first but we are only an organization (a GREAT organization at that).

Why do you think lettering in band is wrong? I understand the tradition that it is sports, but hasen't our society come further than that, to be that closeminded? If we thought that way about everything, think about how different our society would be. There might not even be no FIRST if Dean Kamen hadn't broken tradition. Then there wouldn't even be a point to us arguing about letters. What kind of world would we live in, then? Maybe this is a little overdramatic, but there's a whole underlying point. You get recognized for many different things; what if you couldn't play a sport, but you were a great student, or mucisian, or were a great programmer? Wouldn't you want to be recognized for any of that, and somebody tells you that you couldn't get a jacket because you didn't, couldn't, play a sport? I'm sorry, but that seems unfair to me. I'm all for tradition, but to a point.

Jane, I really liked your story. To me, that really is the whole point of getting recognized. You put in time, heart, and effort into something that you didn't have to do, but did anyway, and turned something bad into something positive.

[jimbot]

I don't believe that a Robot team should get a Varsity letter. Personally if I letter in any of my other sports, I don't even know if I will get a letter jacket. All that it is really coming down to is being recongnized for what you have done. Thats footballs way, soccers way, basketballs way, sports that HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD!! A first team is about bringing Robotics into the community, not having a pin to show off. I feel that walking through my school and having a person say "Hey you were in the paper for building some Robot or other" is far more rewarding than showing people you built one. Building the robot and seeing it run with only my team is reward enough,

I need no jacket! But what do I know, I'm just a freshman...

[swaknight]

honestly, i think that lettering is a good idea.

If we want to FIRST to get to get greater respect then sports, we need to start somewhere. as to it being varsity and jv, Robotics is like the Varsity and Tech is like the JV. That my opinion at least.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by monster1018

My perspective about this subject is that lettering was originally meant for sports only. (...) I think that the letter jackets should be strictly for sports because that's their tradition.

Do you really want to go with this argument? When I was in high school, only boys could get varsity letters. That's the tradition -- let's stick with it, OK?

I'm all for abandoning tradition that doesn't make sense anymore. If letters are meant to honor students who work hard to represent their schools in organized competitions, then robotics teams have as much claim as football, MUN, band, or debate. Even for girls.

[SL8]

I wish I had time to give a proper response, but my school projects and lack of sleep from mild insomnia is starting to get to me. I can say that while our robotic's team members get letters, we don't think of them as our goal. Moreover, I recall something called foot in the door technique. It's just a start.

As a side note , I've been reading many opinions/ post of people that have very bad grammar/spelling issues. It helps communication when you have decent spelling/ grammar. Please.

[IKE]

I graduated in 97. I had both an athletic letter for Wrestling, and an academic letter for competing on various academic teams. Academic letters were given for outsatnding accomplishment in team oriented competition outside of traditional sports (band, choir, math team....).
I really enjoyed the academic letter because it gave me a chance to showcase some accomplishments. Let's face it, at my school you could win the State Science Olympiad and you MIGHT get a morning anouncement Monday, or you could just make it to the conference finals in basketball and get a 2 hour pep rally.
One thing I learned was that if you want to inspire others they need to know what you have done. While modesty can be a noble attribute, it doesn't necessarily help spread the word of FIRST. Do you want funding? Do you want to build your team? Do you want to build teams around you? If you answered yes to any of those then please do everything possible to spark conversations about your team and show people you are proud of your team. If this includes a lettermans jacket with a little brass pin of a triangle, circle, and square, so be it.

[dachickindapit]

In HOT's school district, many activities that aren't sports get varsity letters. Band, choir, and academics are just some of those. I joined the team in 2001, and we were already receiving letters at that point. I'm not sure how or when we got them, but it's been many years. I think a lot of the lettering process at our school has to do with the time invested, not just if it's a sport or not. For example, our marching band was in the top 30 in the country at that time, and we spent at least as many (if not more) hours in practice and competing than most sports teams to get to that point and stay there.

Originally Posted by IKE

One thing I learned was that if you want to inspire others they need to know what you have done. While modesty can be a noble attribute, it doesn't necessarily help spread the word of FIRST. Do you want funding? Do you want to build your team? Do you want to build teams around you? If you answered yes to any of those then please do everything possible to spark conversations about your team and show people you are proud of your team. If this includes a lettermans jacket with a little brass pin of a triangle, circle, and square, so be it.

I agree with this. We do lots of community service to make sure the whole community knows who HOT is. We are invited to the school pep rallies , we march parades, do road clean-ups, etc, for this familiarity. Many of our students get lettermans jackets with "Robotics" or "FIRST" across the back, and that prompts other students to ask questions -- I had one and wore it proudly, and answered many questions about it.

[billbo911]

Sorry, I'm not trying to rub it in. I posted this when I was mentoring team 1147 a couple years ago.