A big Thank you to our mentors - Lesson learned

[mrnemo]

Hello,
We are a rookie team 8764 Thunder Robotics from Canada. The name of our robot is Lightning.

Our accomplishments would not have been possible without the support of our great mentors. First, a tremendous Thank you to Senior Mentor Paul Keenan for helping us all through the season and for mentoring us and other teams. Second, Paul got us connected with a great mentor team - Team 1360. We received a lot of help and support from Team 1360 - too much to mention, a complete chassis, batteries and parts. Most important of all is the mentoring and support and the tremendous help we received from George Chisholm of Team 1360.

Unfortunately we did not have access to shop facilities and we did all our work in a regular classroom. We did not have tools either, just a few hand tools. In addition, we had very little funds because of Covid-19 and school closures hampering our fundraising efforts. George and Paul were instrumental in helping us get over the challenge of lack of facilities. George did some cutting for us and Paul arranged for more cutting and drilling of metal in the garage of a retired teacher. In summary, mentors are invaluable to the success of a team. Without the help from these mentors we would have not achieved the success we had in our rookie year. We wish to say Thank you to our mentors.

Sincerely,
FRC 8764
Thunder Robotics

[snoman]

Not affiliated in any way but it is good to give thanks. Keep pushing forward.
Weird coincidence. There is a team near me 876 Thunder Robotics from North Dakota USA.

[mrnemo]

Thank you! That is indeed some coincidence Thunder is our school ‘thing’, icon or brand or what-you-call-it.

[Skyehawk]

Lol ditto for 876’s school “mascot”/branding. That is a fun coincidence.

[George_C]

It was my pleasure to help this team get started. They’ve had an excellent introduction to what FIRST can be. I must say that my team and I haven’t done what many, if not most, other teams will do to assist others. I have the benefit of 19 years in FIRST and was able to help them avoid many rookie problems. Much of their success, however, comes down to the Lead Mentor’s willingness to ask for help and to take it when offered. There are too many stories of rookie teams that won’t take help because they think they’re in a competition and have to keep what they do a secret from every other team. They don’t get the concepts of GP and Co-opertition. I was also asked if my team would assist another rookie that was having difficulties. I emailed the lead mentor a couple of times but there was no response. I’ve had other similar experiences where the mentor won’t take help.