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 I just got pwned by Dave...how awesome is that?!
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| Mark Breadner |
Name: Mark BreadnerDate Honored: 01-07-2004 Years involved w/FIRST: 8 FIRST Team(s): Scotiabank/Bell Canada/Toronto District School Board &, Woburn Collegiate Institute (0188) Role: FIRST Regional Director, Teacher, Mentor, New Team Recruitment Quote: "Drive it like you stole it." Bio: Mark Breadner is our first Canadian Unsung FIRST Hero, and well deserving of the honour. Starting out on Team 188, the original Canadian team, Mark has increased the number of Canadian teams and currently serves as the FIRST Regional Director for Canada. Canada will have two regionals in 2005 - Toronto and Waterloo. Mark's contributions have helped put Canada in a prominent place on the FIRST map. Mark lists his accomplishments modestly: "In 1998, along with 2 other teachers, (Roly Anderson [Regional WFA Winner] and Lloyd Burns) brought the first ever Canadian team into the FIRST family. Team 188 from Woburn Collegiate competed extremely well and made many friends along the way. Team 296 from Montreal joined in 1999. In the year 2001, I helped to recruit another Canadian team from Crescent School (team 610). At this time, I really wanted to have a regional event in Canada and FIRST agreed to this providing we could come up with the funding and more teams. I created a Board of Directors that essentially became the organizing committee for the FIRST Canadian Regional. This event took place for the first time in April 2002. In the year preceding this, the Board of Directors worked hard to raise the necessary funds and I was able to recruit 24 new Canadian teams. The inaugural event was a huge success. The Toronto District School Board (my employer) also came on as a major sponsor through team sponsorships and allowed me to take the next two years paid leave to work full time for FIRST in Canada." "In 2003, the Canadian Regional grew in size to 51 with 40 teams from Canada. This year we hosted the first ever double regional and hosted 75 teams which consisted of 67 Canadian teams and 8 from the United States. The growth rate of teams in Canada has been very strong. Next year, I am very pleased to say that we will be having two events in Canada. The Canadian Regional will be renamed to the Greater Toronto Regional and we will be adding a new event hosted by the University of Waterloo at their campus in Waterloo Ontario. It has been a pleasure to be immersed in FIRST and work with so many excellent people who genuinely care about students and their careers. We now have a wonderful base of dedicated volunteers, sponsors, mentors and students here in Canada and expect to continue growth of teams and regional events. If you haven’t attended a regional in Canada yet, please consider doing so as we would love to show you some of our great Canadian hospitality." Mark also contributed to the Wonderland Canada off-season event in June 2004. Mark also harbors some excellent FIRST memories. "Firstly, starting and running the first ever team from Canada was truly special. FIRST allowed my team to attend and compete at the championships in Epcot in April 1998. I remember walking into the FIRST village at EPCOT and being totally blown away with the sheer magnitude and excellence of the FIRST program. As we walked into the FIRST area I remember thinking that there must be some other function going on because this certainly could not be all for FIRST. In the pits it was so fun to meet and compete with so many other interesting students, teachers and mentors who were all so friendly and more than willing to welcome the first ever team from Canada. When they played the Canadian National anthem at the opening ceremonies it was very moving and I will never forget it. Having my parents, wife and kids (ages 2,3 and 4 at the time) with me also was very special." Lastly, our winner shares some words of wisdom: "My only advice would be to remain a part of FIRST even when your high school days are over. It is a great idea to go back and mentor teams when you are in college or university. FIRST is very receptive to comments and feedback and is constantly trying to improve the program. Please always forward your praise, ideas and constructive criticisms to FIRST for their consideration." Congratulations to Mark Breadner, our first Canadian honouree and fifteenth overall Unsung FIRST Hero. Nominated By: rbgorbet Share stories, congratulate, etc. |
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