#team1761

I would like to give the biggest shout out to the Lynn Journal for their article on Team 1761, I think they did an amazing job on this piece and I think throughout their words and their photos they represented our team well.

When I first found out that New England FIRST was becoming a legit thing and that we were transitioning from regionals to districts I was pretty nervous. I loved the BU competition and I was upset that my team would not get to play there again. However districts became a blessing, my team could never afford to do two regionals and our principal would never let us take an overnight trip. We only ever competed at the Boston Regional, and then were done. My junior year I was so excited because our robot was pretty great and we had a chance. We ended up losing in quarter finals and hearing the words "well there's always next year" tore me apart I was livid that we only got to compete once and then it was over. Senior year comes along and our robot was okay. But the thrill of being able to say that's okay we only made it to quarters we have next competition to do better was so wonderful. I went from being nervous around refs and volunteers I only saw once a year, to being able to be "how was last weeks comp, yes we did get the arm fixed". Getting to know them and getting to know the other teams. This year it finally clicked on why the district model is a great thing, my team has friends that are other teams. They got to know judges, refs, CSAs, inspectors and other volunteers. They look forward to seeing them again or are sad if they aren't going to be at the next competition. They were taught by members of other teams that it doesn't matter if your team is competing, if you want to volunteer you can. In my eyes and theirs FIRST in the New England states is finally what it should be, a community.

Anyone on Drive Team: And not worth the Foul or Red Card

Making brownies for robotics tonight. :-)

Did anyone eles Robotics team use a different name for its lab or shop?