Great job Ken! I met Ken for the first time at IRI this summer, and in 2 days… it was amazing what he had to say. Keep up the great work, and thanks for putting all your time and effort in… it definitly helps everyone.
Anyone who invites me to crash in thier hotel room is deffinately deserving of recognition. 
Ever since I started talking with Ken, I knew he deserved this honor.
Ken Leung is amazing.
He excels in a community where he might otherwise be considered an “outsider”. Imagine leaving your home, travelling 1/2 way around the world, learning a new language, and becoming a leader within 5 years.
Of course, we all know that Ken runs the Cal Games, mentors many teams in No.Cal., and is a great help to many people in the FIRST community. You guys may not know this story:
The a very important role in running a FIRST competition is having a competent scorer. Everyone involved depends on this person; the referees, the teams, the announcers, the field managers… everyone. This past year, at IRI, Nate Smith could not make it down from Michigan. So, Ken rode in on his white horse from San Jose and saved the day. He worked two 14-hour days to help make IRI work. He had everyone nagging at him for things (“Ken, we need a finals match printout!”, “Ken, the scoring box does not work!”) and many people trying to help him out. He made things work and the IRI came off smoothly.
Ken is a good friend. He is dependable, honest and sincere. He is a great asset to FIRST.
Keep it up, Ken!
Andy B.
When I saw the new UFH this morning, the first thing that came to mind was, “DUH!!!” Ken is perfect for this.
I remember the first time I met Ken, which is a memory I would rather forget in many ways. We just came off the field from winning our division at nationals and our robot was a mess. We had 1 hour to get it back to the pits, fix it, test it, and get it back to the stage. I was rushing our robot back to the pits to help explain the problems to the pit crew when Ken walks up and introduces himself. Needless to say that I was preoccupied with getting the robot fixed and I’m afraid that I didn’t really give Ken the time and attention that he deserved. We introduced ourselves and exchanged pleasantries and all of that, but the conversation didn’t progress much farther beyond that. I felt pretty bad about that afterward.
Thankfully, I got to sit down in a casual setting (the Omni Lounge) at last year’s IRI and talk with Ken at length. He is a very smart guy, and his passion for FIRST is really unmatched by anyone I’ve met. He is definitely a benefit to the FIRST community.
Congratulations, Ken. You deserve it. Drop me a line if you’re ever near Detroit.
-Chris
No story is complete without illustrations…
Well, I never nominated Ken because I figured it was only a matter of time before he is the next Woodie Flowers award winner.
Anyway, Ken your impact extends not only to the people that you help up in the Bay Area. Everyone on the west coast respects you tremendously. But not only that, you impact people from everywhere, by being a scorekeeper, or going to IRI, or to kickoff, or just you incredibly insightful posts on chiefdelphi.
PS…If I keep saying nice things about you, are you going to tell me your robot design for this year?
First met Ken in my and Big Mike’s room at 2003 IRI. He’s a great guy, and he does alot for FIRST. Great job, and congratulations!
This guy should have been first for UFH. He is hands down the best example for what FIRST stands for and what anyone on these forms should want to be.
Congrats Ken.
Long overdue for this one… Ken is just awesome.
Congrats
Heh.
Believe it or not – I agree 100% with that one.
Hey Ken… Congratulations!!
I’ll post more when I have the time, but wanted to congratulate you, but also post that picture I have been holding out on!!
This is Ken sleeping at the Comedy Wharehouse in Downtown Disney during Nationals in 2002.
Oh, and if anybody else who was there that night would like to go into more detail about that night, feel free!!
So many pictures of Ken sleeping…
Oh man, that “college FIRST-ers” night was one of my favorite memories. The room was setup in tiers, and all of us spread ourself out so we made a semicircle that stretched around the room…and it just so happened that they took their volunteer for their opening improv-number from the girl on the end of our circle…and thus was created, a song about robots (including every robot cliche in the book :-P).
And funny, Elgin, I have a picture of you from that trip with you in about the exact same position…except your head is leaning on your dining tray on the plane 
Congrats To Ken, One Of The Hardest Working FIRST’ers On The West Coast.
Thanks everyone! You are the BEST! I am so touched by all the comments in here. You are awesome!
you know your my hero
heart you lots
asher
yay for ken!!!
man, i remember the first time i met you. and i think, like chris, i’d like to forget it. i remember it was at pioneer, 2002, two days before the end of the build. pioneer was hosting a “scrimmage”, and our robot was not yet up and running. we were working frantically on the robot, and i was finishing up some wiring, when someone mentioned you’d be coming. i was excited, and commented that i had never met you before diving into the robot again. i soon became frustrated with the 'bot, and snapped at a team mate when he tapped my shoulder.
“hey, this is ken.”
there you were, crouched across the bot from me. i was quite embarassed.
it has been a pleasure to get to know you better over the past year or two. you continue to amaze me with your kindness, patience, and dedication to FIRST. i truly am glad to be able to count you among my friends.
now, my own picture of ken sleeping, taken kickoff day of this year
Ken,
Congratulations! You are truly one of those folks that holds up the high ideals of FIRST. You are a power house of promoting FIRST and getting others fired up over the program. Keep up the good work.
Ken,
I was honored to meet you and work with you at IRI 2003. You have taught me alot and have showed me so much. You mean so much to many of us and espically alot to me… You have shown me that you can truely do whatever you want to do. I hope that i will beable to work with you in the future and that we all can hang out again. I am proud to be a friend of yours and that your allways welcome at my house.
And now i leave you with the most inspirational quote i have ever gotten in FIRST from the one and only Ken Leung!
“Either you can follow someone’s shadow all the time, or you go out and do your own stuff and be someone’s example”
My many congratulations to Ken. He is defently most deserving of this honor.
Ken dosn’t sleep ALL the time, he just needs proper motivation to be awake.
Ken, you can’t refuse acolades if you keep being yourself.
Wetzel