Thanks to FIRST

FIRST General Forum
1

As we all get to compete, debate about rules, and get awards, there is a group of people who bust their collective butts and don’t get much credit.

Here’s to FIRST.
Here’s to the people who made the fields work during week one.
Here’s to the people who stuck with the scoring system to get it to work.
Here is to the people who set up and tore down all of these fields all over the country, putting in 14-16 hour days to make things fun for us.
Here’s to the people who listen to our gripes, take our requests, and deal with primadonna VIPS (some, not all) for 6 weekends out of the last 7.
Here’s to the staff that coordinates about 1000 volunteers while catering to business and education leaders.

They put in long hours, work hard, play hard, and spend much time away from their families.

So… we may complain that you don’t get everything right. We may whine about rules updates, prints not being right, or our infra-red sensor not working properly. We may want to practice our robot in that storage area over there, you tell us not to, and we’re ticked… but we do appreciate you.

Please keep up the good work. Fight the good fight. Your work is appreciated.

Sincerely,
Andy B.

ps… hey, all you FIRSTers! I sent a note like this to FIRST ([email protected]), if you feel the same way I do, do the same!

2

Well said. I’ll second that.

I am embarrassed to say that I managed to get so wrapped up in the goings on here that I forgot to properly thank FIRST and all the volunteers for their efforts.

Thanks for reminding me, Andy.

This year has been the high point in FIRST for me. Thank you everyone who made this possible. It truly has been an amazing experience which our team members will never forget.

3

Andy,
Well said (written), Hurray! for First staffers.

4

About the best I could do is a repeat of what AB said in the opening post.

I will add - thanks to the Ambassadors Coordinators Team - you made our kids feel welcome and important, and they had a great time talking FIRST and providing tours.

5

I agree with Andy. The homework that I have for you is to try and email or thank personally all of the volunteers that you know. If you meet a FIRST person anywhere, shake their hand and thank them personally. I have made it a point to thank as many people as I can at each event because they need to know how important they are to our competitions.

As a voluteer that works closey with FIRST I would publicly like to thank Bob Hammond who is the most dedicated and hands on person at FIRST. He never backs away from a challenge and doesn’t care what the job is, he roles up his shirt sleeves and gets to work. I have worked with Bob at many regionals (he might say too many) this year and I am energized by his dedication. Thanks Bob !!!

One last group to thank and that is the teams. Every year you astound me with your great attitude and work ethics. It is a pleasure to serve as a volunteer at events with such a great bunch of people. Keep up the good work. :slight_smile:

6

Sounds nice Andy, but it awfully sounds like a certain other poem… http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/

7

Thank You FIRST.

8

Thanks to the staff that never quits. During my four years of involvement FIRST has added to their already busy plate:

  1. Remote kickoffs and kit delivery
  2. The EduBot
  3. New Championship/Major sponsors
  4. Arranged for a sea of local and national media coverage at all events
  5. Forged new/stronger relationships with government
  6. The Hall of Fame display and recognition
  7. Free shipping
  8. New robot controllers and programming in C (congrats to Innovation FIRST for their commitment too)
  9. Improved scoring software for real time updating (it was amazing once the bugs were worked out)
  10. Electronic award submission process for Visualization, Chairman’s and Woodie Flowers awards
  11. Autonomous modes and increased sophistication of field operation
  12. growth to 26 regionals from 15
  13. Championship Workshops

It wouldn’t be possible to list all of the FIRST staffers and volunteers who pull this off, but here’s my personal list (in no particular order) of thank you’s:
Bob Hammond
Steve Chism
Michael Robbins
Kim Keller
Carol Kauffman
Louisa Hanshew
Woodie Flowers
Dave Lavery
Mike Wade
Dean Kamen
Andy Baker
Paul Kloberg

Thanks to every volunteer, staffer and anyone who shares the belief that what we do is special, necessary, and essential to the future of our culture.

9

I would also like to add that FIRST really listened to the feedback from teams this year. Many of the problems that were experienced at the 2003 Championship were eliminated or minimized because the FIRST staff listened and then focused in on the essential needs of the teams.

Thank you FIRST!!

Al Ostrow
Coach , Team 341, Miss Daisy

10

Well said, Andy, as always. I think sometimes, we take FIRST for granted. Most people don’t realize how much the people at FIRST do to make this competition succeed. We get too wrapped up in the arguments over “what FIRST did to us this time” and “how FIRST messed up this or that” that we forget there are real people out there in Manchester doing everything they can to make this program a success. Here’s to FIRST. :smiley:

11

Andy,
I’d like to add to you thanks.

Thanks to the volunteers who designed this years game and spent the night before simulating it to make sure things worked the way they should. Any one who talked to these people knows they were there late and made a few last minute improvements to the field in NH.

Also in general I want to thank first for developing such a great game this year. The variety of scoring methods for scoring and strategies built in to the game made it phenomenal to design for and watch. I hope they take this into consideration for the future, even if figuring how to play melted many a brain the first week :smiley: .
-Pete

12

Well said. If I could add anything it would be the people who first came up with the idea of FIRST, for without them, I would not be here today. THANKS! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

13

Here’s a question…

How many of you took the time to say thanks to the FIRST refs and volunteers at competition? Who took the time to shake a refs hand, and thank him for his hard work. Or hug a head-ref after a day of particularly tough calls?

Did anyone bearhug people from FIRST engineering?

Have you shook the hand of a regional director?

I did, and I urge you to as well. An email or post on CD is one thing… but next time you’re at competition take the time to do it in person!

Thanks FIRST, for all you’ve done. You guys rock! 229 loves everything you do for us, and we really appreciate it!

John

14

Thanks Andy for bringing everyones attention to a piece we were starting to miss.

We always seem to concentrate on what FIRST does wrong after events and we often forget that they do much more right. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into putting on these events and running the FIRST organization as a whole. There are very few FIRST staff members that have to make this huge organization work. For the FIRST staff member, the regional coordinators, the regional committees, the volunteers, and everyone that helped make this year a success thank you.

For all those of you reading this, I would also recommend getting in touch with your regional coordinator and regional planning committee and writing them a thank you letter. They also put in a lot of work to put on your regional events and help improve FIRST on a local level.

15

Since Andy will yell at me if I only say “ditto!”
Let me add something in.

Since I started 6 years ago I hope I have always let the FIRST people know they are appreciated. When I get a second I stop and say hi and great job to everyone making the event happen. My motivations are two fold. FIRST people are awesome to talk to and I want them to keep doing it.

I also hope that the FIRST folks don’t get too caught up in making the game happen they lose sight of the fact that they are changing the world. One high school student at a time.

Well said Andy!