Posted: As I write this, I hope all the team members are snug in their beds with visions of regionals running through their heads….
All the work, stress, arguments and accomplishments of the build season will culminate tomorrow as the Wisconsin Regional gets under way. Our team had a final meeting today to load up the trailer and finalize our details for the competition. I have to admit, they seemed pretty calm even as they discussed the list of things that have to be done after we uncrate the robot. One of our project managers has been out sick for the last 2 days, but has been posting and texting his ideas and suggestions. My thoughts tonight are that our team is ready. There will be challenges this week and frustration, I’m sure. But, I am confident that they will rise to the occasion and will succeed – no matter what the outcome.
This is my first year as a mentor. I’m not an engineer and I mostly occupy the background – running errands, hunting down items that are difficult to find and making sure that the team has what it needs to function. I try to be a calm presence in this high stress environment and help where I can to keep the kids (and mentors!) from having melt downs. This group has come so far in the last several weeks and have designed and built their robot, finalized the team website, written multiple essays for the chairman’s award and done it all with gracious professionalism and courtesy. I’m not saying there haven’t been disagreements, but they have managed to work through them and continued to work toward their common goal. Observing from the sidelines, as I have all season, I am proud of each and every one of them and don’t think we would be where we are without each individual’s contributions.
Milwaukee, here we come!
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