I’ve gotten spoiled, I admit it. We have wonderful members of FIRST/ChiefDelphi who find the time to give everyone a boost. Sometimes we don’t even know we need the boost but it is always welcomed and makes the season even more special.
This year seems like everyone is in overdrive and hasn’t had time to write. I’m still craving some inspiration and thought of our spotlights.
Here is my suggestion:
At the top of the CD page is a quote – a spotlight – taken from a post made in a thread. If you look to the left of the quote there is a page icon that you can click on and that will take you to the entire post and the thread that it is a part of.
I thought it might be fun for us to select quotes from the spotlights and comment on why that quote means something to you. In your post, you would link to the thread that the quote came from.
This idea isn’t a match for a Rich Kressly ‘This Is The Year’ but it can still provide a bit of inspiration as we begin our 2008 competition season.
I have many quotes that I love but there is one that I go back and reflect on, off and on. Part of it is because of Dave’s ability to nudge rather than boss. I like that.
This is my (first) quote and link.
“A great mentor guides without giving the answers, teaches through discovery, demonstrates without lecturing, provides support from backstage, observes without hovering, and leads by example.” dlavery
My reason for liking this post and often mulling over its wisdom is because I believe that much of mentoring is subtle. As I said, Dave often has a way of nudging rather than providing the information outright. It’s an art. The quiet guidance of a good mentor can often speak much louder than words.
“So remember, we may be envious of teams who can do water jet cutting and has every possible monetary and engineering advantage, but there are many more people who are envious of every team who has a chance to compete.”
This one really brings me back down to earth when I read it. As caught up as we can get in build season, competition, and how much we can get frustrated sometimes when we find out that our leash isn’t as long as we would like it to be, or that the constraints are just a little too tight for our satisfaction, we need to always remember that FIRST is so much more than a result. It is the means. I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to not only be on a FIRST team in high school but also to be able to stay involved in college.
There are lots of kids out there, who have seen FIRST and want to be able to do that too, but don’t have the oppurtunity. There are lots of kids out there who don’t know FIRST, and who’s lives would be so much different, and so much better if someone were to just come along and hand them the opportunity.
So next time you lose a match, keep in mind that at least you got the opportunity.
I really like this one as it reminds me of something that is often forgotten, especially as we move form the build season to the competition season. As great as FIRST is for those of us who like math, science and/or engineering, it can be equally great for those that don’t.
FIRST was founded to inspire students in Science and Technology, but what does that really mean to us? Does it mean that the only people FIRST serves are those that want to be scientists and engineers? I don’t think we should stop there. I don’t think we can stop there. I think that FIRST is about a whole lot more than that.
FIRST is not just about inspiring students to become scientists and engineers, it’s about changing the culture. To do that you have to touch more than those interested in science or engineering, you have to touch everyone. We have to go beyond the students that want to design and build the robot. We have to attract and inspire the students that want to be photographers, accountants, business majors, salesman and artists.
My goal during this competition season is to remember these people. Every time I see robot, I want to think about the students behind that robot that aren’t going to be engineers, the students on that team that might not have even touched the robot. I want to remember the student that documented every single second of that six weeks on film. I want to remember the student that is sitting in the teams pit waiting to sell their team and their robot to a judge. I want to remember the student that designed that teams pit, logo and t-shirts. I want to remember the student that balanced the books and made sure there was enough money for the team to come to the competition. I want to remember that not only is it about more than just the robots, it’s about more than just the engineers too.
“The point is that while having the abiltity to find information in a variety of reference sources is a useful skill, it does not replace a good, complete, fundamental knowledge of your subject material.” - dlavery
I like this quote because it makes me remember my first FIRST year (last year), being a rookie programmer, and the team deciding to go with Mecanum wheels. Over the next two weeks, we went over the physics, trigonometry, and everything about how Mecanum wheels work, and created our own (albiet very rough) control algorithm.
This year, we referenced an article on omni-drives, but again, we went through with the programmers (all new to FIRST programming) and made sure everyone knew how the wheels worked, and created our own new algorithm.
Building up a “portfolio” of things you know how to do/build/control over the years is a important thing for our team and is something I think teams should do. Teams learn just like a person does, and saves “thoughts” through either documentation or passing of information from older members to newer members. (This is why I am making it a point of our new programmers to document the new Mecanum algorithm we developed.)
