Qotw [04-15-03]: Forgotten FIRST-a-holics...

FIRST Rumor Mill
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Hey all, due to a request by 2 friends of mine, and not much real responds to the other “Qotw” (which is totally what I expected, since a lot of the discussion about it was behind the scene), I thought it would be appropiate to present everyone this question to remember some of the best people in FIRST who are no longer around us. Kind of like a “do you remember them?” article in magazines, this question is designed to bring the forgotten FIRST-a-holics back in the spot light and show people what they did back at the days. With that in mind, here is another question of the week…

**Question 04/15/03: ** Can you remember a forgotten FIRST-a-holic who used to have a huge impact in FIRST, or being really inspirational, or just being a really good and fun person to be around with, who’s no longer around us?

Please take your time for this question… But do try to think hard about it. There are many great people who are missed deeply, and maybe it’s about time everyone get to know who they are again.

-Ken Leung

2

Anton Abaya-
Anyone that knew him understands.
He was the original “class clown” of Chief Delphi.
Search for some of his older posts.

He founded team 419 the Rambots, still one of my favorite FIRST teams. He did everything he could for those kids, and drove that team with the sheer power of his will.

When he burnt out, FIRST lost a GREAT mentor.

Jess Boucher-
She was always a voice of reason. No matter what the discussion, Jess would be able to post something good.

She’s still around, but much less predominately.

I miss both of them…

3

I’ve got a few:

Mike Bastoni - a role model to me and many others. Mr. B has moved on to BBIQ, and it is their gain. He and others on team 23 (Ron Partridge and all) began and operated the “Rumble at the Rock”. Team 23 is in the FIRST Hall of Fame ('98 Chairman’s Award), and Mike won the Woodie Flowers Award. An amazing man.

Daniel Lehrbaum - Daniel was the student leader of Gunn Robotics Team in 1999. He was very vocal and clear in his pursuit of getting students involved in more leadership positions on FIRST teams. I learned alot from him about how to let students be leaders. He went on to start a team at Cal-Berkley (483), and has stepped away from FIRST. Daniel is the guy who brought his team of high school students ONLY all the way across the country to compete in the 1999 Rumble in Plymouth.

Kate Leach - Kate was the student leader on team 166 (I think) and later went on to be active on team 190 at WPI. She is a fine young lady who set an example that girls could do this robot stuff too.

Eric Gargus - Eric was on team 217 and was their student leader in 2001. He had many friends on other teams and often ventured out on his own to make contacts and build friendships between many FIRST teams. He was excellent at building relationships and networking. He is at the University of Michigan now.

Thank you all for inspiring me.

Hey… this means that I have 4 less people to thank in my “thank you” note.

Andy B.

4

2 words… Bill Whitley…

Alumnist of Team 70 and current student at the Univeristy of Michigan

5

Kate Leach - Kate was the student leader on team 166 (I think) and later went on to be active on team 190 at WPI. She is a fine young lady who set an example that girls could do this robot stuff too.

your right about Kate Leach she was one of the best team leads my team has had. She is why we have most of the girls that are on our team even if it is only indirectly. She (i believe) is one of the main reasons my sister joined the team.

Pamela- though she may not be totally gone from FIRST, she is gone from our Team, and she was one of the people who could get just about everyone in a good mood at least during FIRST, she is definetly one of the team leads that i miss the most Pam, this team just isnt the same without you! do a good job with Clarkson, and then come back to us as a mentor!:smiley:

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I believe Kate also happpened to be the one to coin the term FIRST-a-holic. She was, at least, passing out buttons in 2000 that said “Lifetime Member of FIRST-a-holics Anonymous.” Anyone besides me (well, and Steve, I know you still have yours as you wear it all the time) still have one of those?

Matt

7

*Originally posted by JVN *
**
Jess Boucher-
She was always a voice of reason. No matter what the discussion, Jess would be able to post something good.

She’s still around, but much less predominately.

I miss both of them… **

Jess is one of the coolest people I met in FIRST. She help started RCU, and was one of the few non-engineering major FIRST-a-holic. I miss her cookie very much, and everytime I go to competition I would miss hanging out with her. She was one of the top 5 users with most # of post on CD back at 2000-2001.

Then there’s Robby O, who’s another non-engineering major FIRST-a-holic. Robby is totally into threater and improv, and are very creative with his art and lyric for songs. He wrote the song “the bot is on fire” at 2002 kickoff: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2102
and he invented the Segway Dance we did on Einstein last year: http://www.rit.edu/~msl8101/do_the_segway.jpg

He also formed a group fo FIRST animator a while back, and was promoting at kickoff 2002.

Both Jess and Robby was volunteers at many of the FIRST events. I miss them both very much.

Then there’s Lora Knepper who created the tigerbolt website and the tigerbolt chat room, and the RCU website. She was a major FIRST-a-holic back at the days too.

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She was always upbeat, had many relevant discussion starters. Never negative.

Anyone remember her last name? She was posting on chiefdelphi around 1998, 1999, 2000. I think she was the one responsible for nicknaming the Juggernaut - “Juggy”.

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If I remember right her name was Erin Lape. I can remember talking to her quite a bit back in 2000 and I “think” she may be the person who introduced me to the TigerBolt Chat Room. Over the 2 years she was around she became friends with a few people from the TechnoKats and was even given the “special tour de kokomo”…:smiley:

I wonder what she ever went on to do. (for some reason I want to say she moved to the west coast).

10

we definetly all cant forget Lora Knepper that was on team 69(and honorary member of a few teams). She is the one who MADE the tigerbolt chat room. She is the one who made a FIRST-a-Holics Website (which unfortunately hasnt been updated for a long time) She was very vocal here on the forums and waaay back in 2000 she showed me what FIRST was really about, unfotunately she has kinda fell off the FIRST-dar but whenever i talk to her she always wants to know whats going on in FIRST.

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*Originally posted by Clark Gilbert *
**
I wonder what she ever went on to do. (for some reason I want to say she moved to the west coast). **

I think I remember seeing her saying she was moving out here to the west coast… Some where in southern california I believe.

12

*Originally posted by JVN *
**Anton Abaya-
Anyone that knew him understands.
He was the original “class clown” of Chief Delphi.
Search for some of his older posts.

He founded team 419 the Rambots, still one of my favorite FIRST teams. He did everything he could for those kids, and drove that team with the sheer power of his will.

When he burnt out, FIRST lost a GREAT mentor.

:ahh: this made me want to cry.

Maybe one day, when i’m rich in time and money and life, i’ll go sponsor a buncha teams again. i do miss FIRST. I miss what it did for me, what i gave back to it, and best of all the people that made it so wonderful. John, you’re the best.

I’ll take this opportunity to say hello to all the first-a-holics i bumped into in my life… all of you guys made it wonderful. I miss you all.

-anton
antonabaya@attbi.com
AIM: contradictum

ps. a girlfriend might also take you away from FIRST. and she’s not a FIRSTer (though i did drag her to the connecticut competition this year as I watched in the bleachers for the first time.) she does like robotics though. :D**

13

Wow. Um, thank you. I’m not used to compliments (especially from FIRSTers), so this is surprising and incredibly sweet.

Special thanks to Andrew Rudolph for showing me this thread’s existence, and no thanks to those of you who still talk to me and didn’t tell me about this :stuck_out_tongue: Im kidding. I love you all.

You know, this weekend was a blast from the past. Besides this thread, I have received emails from so many people from my past it’s scary. I know, in that year I was lucky, to be able to meet so many “great minds of my generation” at once. And I know I am still lucky, to be able to keep tabs on them all and keep the perspective that I cherish.

Anton, Kate, Robby, Lora…these are quality FIRSTers. They suffered hardships that some FIRSTers will never experience because they won’t take the plunge and diverge.

I know it would personally be hard for me to return. After being rebuffed, torn apart, and humiliated (all in one year, by three different sources), I like to think I have come a long way. And right now, Im happy where I am, planning on majoring in corporate strategy, being a FIRST widow, being able to finally stomach Dean speeches again (as opposed to the point where I’d get queasy even seeing pictures)…

But hey, I may show up again. One of my Sigma Kappa sisters is the only other FIRSTer on campus, and she wants me to make appearances. I’m not too sure bout that one…

…but the only one that can absolutely get me to come to a regional is my brother, Ted, who will be a freshman next year. He is already showing great promise, and I expect each and every one of you to treat him with respect. He doesn’t look a thing like me, though, so you may have to do some searching. :wink:

But until then, I tip my hat to those I hold near to my heart (that would be each and every one of you, even the ones Ive never met). I wish you the very best and I challenge you to think outside the bot.

Reminiscing…

And remembering…

Geez, Im just babbling. What I can boil it down to is this: thanks again.

If you care to, you can contact me at:
jboucher@babson.edu
or aim: AmericanBiso

PS - Did you know that Anton’s g/f is friends with a very good friend of mine that lives 2 floors down? Small world :wink:

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It’s amazing to hear from the two of you again.

We all miss you, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we couldn’t want anything more than for each of you to be happy with yourselves and where you’re going.

Sometimes, finding that direction is the biggest struggle we’ll ever face in our lives.

Thanks for coming back and shining some of the light you’ve found in your lives back on us. I can only hope that if I’m ever to be missed, I can be as missed as you two have been.

15

Wow… to be included in with such dedicated and wonderful people as this… I’m touched…

Thanks Andrew :wink: Seems like you were instrumental in getting a few of us back to read what everyone had to say. hugs And no, it was you back with 168 during the year of “the wedge” that really showed me what FIRST was about :slight_smile: So I need to thank you.

As Jess said, and I’m sure should be included in, we’ve all been through a lot…both in FIRST, and outside. But for all the trials and tribulations, my time spent in FIRST is something I’d never trade. It was my friendships with all of you and the skills I aquired over the years that kept me going and made me who I am today.

As my life begins to stabilize here in Tennessee, there is a chance that I may return to FIRST. I’ve not paused and really thought about in what capacity, but I do miss you all. More than the robots, the huge competitions, and the crazy times at Disney (and now Houston), I miss the one of the largest and wonderful families a person could ever have.

I may have pulled up the code to make the FIRST Chatroom - but without all of you, it would have sat there empty. Without everyone of in FIRST, there would be nothing… and we may have been some of the “old school” die hard FIRST-a-holics, but as proven by this thread, you have not forgotten us… and that made every moment, every tear, every high, worth what it took and so much more.

~ lora

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*Originally posted by Jessica Boucher *
** and no thanks to those of you who still talk to me and didn’t tell me about this **

:’( I am sorrry!!!

It’s great to hear from Jess, Anton, and Lora again… I misses the old group of FIRST-a-holic, I really do! But as time passes by, different things happen to each of us… Some choose to stay around and put more time into FIRST, some choose to spend their time in school or working (or in Anton’s case, gf :wink: ).

All I can say is, hey, I really misses you, but I hope everything is working out for all of you. Having been through some FIRST times with a bunch of you, I know you will do really well at whatever you choose to do right now. Just remember to come back and visit us! As I said to Jess a bunch of times, “The past can only be so good… the future… you can always make the future so much better if you want to.”

So, working hard at whatever you are doing right now, and like M. said, be happy. You will always be a part of FIRST’s history, and a part of our memory as well. I really hope that the difference you made in our lives are just as much as the difference we made in yours. Even though we no longer work and spend time together at the FIRST events, everytime during kickoff and competitions, we will be reminded of the good old times we spent together.

If our paths are to come across each other again, I shall look forward to our future meeting very much. Until then… See ya later ;).

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*Originally posted by Andy Baker *
**I’ve got a few:

Eric Gargus - Eric was on team 217 and was their student leader in 2001. He had many friends on other teams and often ventured out on his own to make contacts and build friendships between many FIRST teams. He was excellent at building relationships and networking. He is at the University of Michigan now.

Andy B. **

Eric is a great guy; someone who I would consider a friend. I don’t know if he would consider you a friend anymore through, Andy, since he goes to Michigan STATE!! (To put that in Indiana terms, it’s like saying someone went to IU when they actually go to Purdue - people don’t take kindly to that.) Just kidding on the not considering you a friend part.

Anyway, I saw Eric at the Great Lakes Regional. He stopped me in the hall to say ‘hi’. It was nice seeing him.

One name I would like to mention is Mike Kulibaba (I hope I got the spelling right). I’ve only met him a few times, but he was always very nice to me. I would say the FIRST community misses him.

-Chris

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Just thought you guys want to see this… Here is a post I found that Anton came up with a while back, a question asking people who they consider “FIRST celebrities”. Take a look:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11203

I feel so small when I look back at that post… Good old memories of the year two thousand…

A lot of those FIRST celebtities sticked with FIRST this whole time… and yet a bunch of them have moved on to new things too…

*Originally posted by Chris Hibner *
**
One name I would like to mention is Mike Kulibaba (I hope I got the spelling right). I’ve only met him a few times, but he was always very nice to me. I would say the FIRST community misses him.

-Chris **

You got the spelling right. Unfortunately Mike is no longer around with us. I remember a post about him a while ago, so I did a little search. For those of you interested in seeing that post, go to search and search for “a very sad day” as a thread title, and you will see it.

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*Originally posted by Andy Baker *
**Kate Leach - Kate was the student leader on team 166 (I think) and later went on to be active on team 190 at WPI. She is a fine young lady who set an example that girls could do this robot stuff too.
.
.
.
Thank you all for inspiring me.

Hey… this means that I have 4 less people to thank in my “thank you” note.

Andy B. **

It feels really good to be remembered by so many people. I am quite touched that someone as great as Andy B. was the one to first point me out in this thread. I think that we still need to trade our 10-year shirts, by the way. :wink:

What you remember about me is all true. I did lead 166 back in my high school days. Boy does that seem as if it was a long time ago. I did major recruitment before I left to move on to WPI which included many females, Pamela George being one of them. I have kept in contact with T166 through my years away (my sister being on the team helps) and have loved seeing them grow. I am very glad that BAE Systems has picked up T166. Pre-99 the team was beginning to develop, but it was difficult without having a strong supporting sponsor. It’s also cool to see that some of the stuff I brought upon the team over 4 years ago is still in existence today with some modifications.

Making the move to WPI was quite scary at the time. I wasn’t top-dog anymore. I still made my way helping a lot with the robot and scouting. Sophomore year I made my way up to “Executive Officer” with Jon Abad with the hierarchy we concocted. They’re still using the hierarchy now. If there’s anyone that headed off to WPI to do FIRST, feel free to drop me an email (kaleach@adelphia.net) and I’ll enlighten you a bit. Oh yeah, I’ve been around helping with BattleCry since it first started. I’ve been the only pit boss they’ve had, and I’m trying to see if I can do it again this year.

As Matty said, I did start the “FIRST-a-holic” ordeal. I had help from my parents and Justin Tresvik in making them. I’ve got mine stashed away somewhere. I’m still trying to unpack from being at WPI.

Oh yeah, I’ve graduated from WPI with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Starting June 30th, I’ll be a full-time employee with BAE Systems. John B. and Bryan L. are trying to get me back into FIRST with mentoring T166. We’ll see how that goes.

My life as it stands now? I still keep my feet wet with FIRST. I went to the Granite State Regional (back where it belongs!), I’m trying to help out with BattleCry4, and I visit T166/T151 whenever I get the chance. Outside of FIRST, I’ve finished college and have over a month before I start work at BAE Systems. In my free time, I’m not sure if I’m going to travel around anywhere. I just got back from London for doing my IQP (WPI project) at Her Majesty’s Tower of London. Every chance I get, I go out and dance – west coast swing. I compete and do well, so I’ve got skillz outside of robotics. :wink:

I miss everyone quite a bit. I don’t really have much time for these boards anymore. I get pointed to some cool threads by some friends I still keep in touch with (thanks to Jess B. through Robby O.'s journal for this thread!).

Awesome mentors who have helped me through things:
Andy Baker T45
Terry Baron T151
Mike Bastoni T23
Bill Beatty T71
Stephen Bitar T157
Mike Fattaconi T157
Jim Fraser T166 (looong time ago)
Joe Johnson T47
Bryan Lee T151
Sam Leone T166
Mike Martus T47
Jason Morella T254
Ben Seward T166 (looong time ago)
Ken Stafford T190
Dan Velasco T42 (a while ago)
Jim (can’t remember his last name) T138/T166 (looong time ago)

Awesome friends who have helped me:
Jon Abad
Anton Abaya
Jessica Boucher
Pamela George
Andy Grady
Adam Hathaway
Lora Knepper
Matty Leese
Daniel Lehrbaum
Deej Lemmo
Ken Leung
Robby O.
Kevin Sevcik
Steve Shade
Colleen Shaver
Nate Smith

And I’m trying to have lunch with Tammy, Eric & Mark over at FIRST on the sooner side of things.

There are likely many people that I’ve forgotten here, but these are the ones I could remember. Oh, and of course, there’s my family.

Feel free to catch me on AIM or drop me an email sometime. If I’m around and I’m not about to head off for a dance, I’d love to talk to anyone.

Kate

Kate Leach - WPI Class of 2003
BAE SYSTEMS Employee
kaleach@adelphia.net
AIM: wpitekchic, dreamindancer4ev
'94-'95: FIRST Spectator
'96-'99: T166 Pit Crew, Animation Lead, Head Scout, Coach, Team Captain
'00-'01: T190 Head Scout, Executive Officer
'02-'03: FIRST Spectator
'00-present: BattleCry Pit Boss

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*Originally posted by Kate Leach *
** John B. and Bryan L. are trying to get me back into FIRST with mentoring T166. We’ll see how that goes.

**

yay!

*Originally posted by Kate Leach *
** Every chance I get, I go out and dance – west coast swing. I compete and do well, so I’ve got skillz outside of robotics. :wink:

Kate

**

I am trying to learn east coast swing myself! Tons of fun, so I definitely know what you mean.

It would be great to see you back in FIRST again!

-Ken L