After this season ended, the fun may have come to a close, but all the memories of the fun are still fresh in my mind. I want to know what your greatest memories are from this past season.
“Team 2791 would like to request the assistance of team 177.”
Edit: I just realized I hit Submit Post when I meant to leave this up as a tab in Google Chrome to write later…
This line basically sums up an entire season’s worth of work for my team. From signing up for the hardest regional in the Northeast (ambitious kids, they must be), to a build season plagued with problems that we pushed right through, all the way up to competition 1, the dozens of hours of work in between to improve and iterate, and the dedication, drive, and success of every team member at the CT regional. Being able to seed 7th, slide to the 5th alliance captain slot, and pick 177 just showed all of the hard work the team put into build this year. The intense scouting effort led by a very dedicated individual, the strategy and execution of the drive team, the last second repairs and upgrades… What a ride.
My greatest memory took place in our building area. Our mentor was working with the kicker, when it sprung forward and hit him in the knee. He then proceeded to walk into a different room, slam the door, and began to shout words in German. I’m not sure what he said, but I’m sure it was PG13+.
292 was playing defense on 1501 at the BMR. Last qualifying match. 1501 got tipped on its side; 292 came over, gave them a tap, and righted them. To me, that single moment encapsulates FIRST Robotics.
It’s probably no coincidence that the coach of 292, Joe Reel, was awarded the regional Woodie Flowers award this year.
We have 3 Seniors this year. One in electrical, one in programming, and one in awards. This is vastly different from last year when 17 Seniors graduated.
It is always amazing to me how the Seniors take on the responsibility of leaving the team better than they found it and worrying about the next year when they will be gone. One of the Seniors sat down with me during the early part of build season and we spent 2.5 hours talking about bridging some of the gaps and strengthening areas that were weak in our team. I have always been impressed with her quiet steady-as-she-goes approach to getting things done. She later was selected by her teammates as one of the Dean’s List nominees from our team. It’s been a privilege and an honor to watch her and the other 2 Seniors grow, develop, and prepare for their futures beyond high school. Where has the time gone? 
Jane
“Team 870 and Team 102 would like to ask team 2458 to be in thier alliance”
“Team 2458 graciously accepts”
First time in history team 2458 has been picked to advance and it summed up this year. New faculty advoisors, 3/4 of the team being freshmen, and only 1 programmer this year for mentors it has been a challenging year. Asking the new faculty advisors (who were very critical at the beginning of the year) what their favorite part of the competition was, their answer was that line above. And for me that moment made the past two years that were filled with pain and frustration all worth it.
Thank you to team 2458 for an amazing year especially Mr. Grabwoski and Mr. Taeschler for believing in me that this is possible at our school. And I know next year will be even better!
I would say so far it has been picking 1398 for our alliance at Palmetto. 1398 was known for team spirit, entrepreneurship, engineering inspiration, and chairman’s awards. They had never been picked by an alliance to compete in the elimination rounds. This year they were fortunate to create twins with 2815, and had a very solid robot. They played the near zone against some stout defense, and helped us win the regional:yikes: 
Another really great memory was the the GVSU Dictrict Competition. We were 3rd seed, and we became the captains of the number 2 alliance. Our quarterfinal we played alliance number 7, and they kicked our butts. They went on to defeat the number one alliance! They won the Finals 2-0. Im gonna have to hand it to their defence. Alliance 7 played some of the best defence, (BTW, their main defence had a net attached to 2 poles that were 2-3 feet above their robot.) and shot some of the offence to win this one. Congrats guys!
Teams 67 and 51 would like to ask the assistance of team 1023
I know I’ve said this a million times, but for me, it was winning the Team Spirit award. Twice. TWICE. While our robot wasn’t exactly functioning properly (or at all, for most of TC), I was continuously proud of my team for not letting it get in the way of us having a good time. TC was the first time I had ever spent the majority of an event outside of the pit, and having a direct impact on that award really made running down to get it memorable. Even at Detroit, when I was back in the pit, when the awards speech was read, it covered a lot of our team history: which is what I had explained to the judges in two minutes before running out for a match. I’ve also been told NUMEROUS times how spirited and recognizable 1189 is, which means a lot to our team.
Does anyone have some great memories of Nats?
The 3 finalist for each division were on standby as back up robots. I kept joking with the driver that so and so was working of their robot, and we might go in for them. It bacame a running joke as we were watching the Newton winners as they kept winning and advancing.
Then all of a sudden a field quer came up…“Team 343 get your robot ready, you might be going in.” Complete seriousness came over us. We were close to seeing Einstein again, and being the finalist with some great partners in 1718 and 16 put us in that situation.
After winning Chairman’s at Wisconsin, it was a tie between “Team 2062 would like to request the assistance of Team 1306” at Wisconsin, and “Team 1306 would like to request the assistance of Team 2337” at Champs. Those were the first time we had ever been picked for finals, and the first time we had ever been able to pick at finals. All in all, our most successful season ever.
Greatest memory of all 4 years: Chris L from 1114 being an honorary member of team 11 in Atlanta this year and never backing down when helping us in the pits and then giving our team the kindest and most sincere compliment we have ever received
Truly one of the greatest people I have ever met. Thank you dude.
.
My favorite memory was the first time my team elevated. It turned out it was or the win in the match.
My other favorite memory was joining 2791 for a day in Connecticut. It was great, I had to a team to sit with and cheer with. It was quite fun, and I found 2791 to be very gracious and professional. They definitely rank among the top of the up and coming tier of FIRST teams.
My greatest memory was in Las Vegas when we were playing defense against team 25 and tipped them on the bump. We lost that match but was still a very exciting memory.
For me it was at the Las Vegas Regional. After being chosen by the number 2 alliance and making it all the way up to the finals only to have our die on us, after trying all we could, we decide to be replaced by Team 4. The drive team and the other team members, down on the field, (me included) take our robot to the pit, all with feelings of disappointment. We round the corner back into the field and are greeted by the applause and cheers of Team San Diego and the rest of teams in the audience( best feeling in the world!). We watch the final match down in the field and unfortunately our alliance lost. But our spirits were lifted by the applause of the crowds and we were content with our results. Back up in the stands we awards were being given out. When the time came to announce the winner of the Chairmans Award we all hoped. When the announcer said “Team 585” we all exploded! Going through the tunnel of high fives and receiving Chairmans has been the most awesome time i have ever had! Also Atlanta was a blast!
The whole experience of FIRST has been amazing!
My greatest memory was robo raving with teams 2751, 281, 1102, etc (as well as my team, 1758) during the finals Palmetto Regional. We are on youtube!! It was epic! If you want to see the vid search robotics rave on youtube and it was videod by one of the 1102 members.
My greatest memory of 2010 was having our autonomous mode score 4/5 in Colorado and on top of that having our alliance partner in the front zone score their 1, so that alliance we ended up having 5 points coming out of autonomous
Another one was when our drive team came up with this quote (which some of my friends and I proceeded to put on buttons):
“If you think I’m sexy, you should see my robot.”
