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Team 1629 was officially formed in 2005 and quickly adopted a "steady wins the race" philosophy that has helped our team win the 2006 Chesapeake Regional Competition and the 2008/2009 Engineering Inspiration Awards. These honors allowed Team 1629 to compete in the Atlanta World Championship three times. Although we may have many accomplishments and achievements, none of them would have been possible without the love and support of our community, families, and partnerships.
Team 1629 believes that true success does not come by accomplishing any one goal and 'resting on our laurels'. Rather, the team believes that true and sustainable success is a product of a consistent and disciplined approach of strengthening our team’s partnerships and resources and community involvement over long periods of time. Partnerships are at the heart of Team 1629’s impact to its community. Team 1629's partnership with our county government provides us with approximately 6,000 square feet of meeting space known as Garrett Engineering and Robotics Society, or GEARS. This allows us the luxury of a full sized playing field for practicing each year’s game and holding scrimmages with other teams. In return, our team has helped expand the minds of the families, students, and officials in our extremely rural county to the fact that technology is very much alive and not forgotten. Careers in the field of engineering, science, and technology are slowly, but surely, becoming more popular among the students of our county, thanks, in part, to the efforts of our team promoting FIRST. Our programs and success have also helped us acquire the attention of local and state government officials (including, but not limited to, the staff of both Maryland US Senators).
The team’s partnership with the local school system provides the team with a large portion of the funding required for each season. The team provides a new special “varsity sport for the mind” placing academics on an equal competitive basis with traditional sports such as basketball, football, and soccer. In our rural area, this is quite an accomplishment. The excitement and support Team 1629 generates provides a finishing touch to the many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives being implemented in the two high schools that compose our team. With the school system considering FRC Team 1629 a varsity sport, students must maintain grades or be placed on academic ineligibility lists – the same as traditional varsity sport programs. In addition, there are efforts under way to allow students to earn “sport letters” for their Letterman jackets as a result of their FRC participation.
The school system partnership is further reinforced by the ongoing attendance of multiple important school officials. Team 1629's Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Wendell Teets, has attended every one of 1629's regional events and has traveled all three times with the team to compete in the Atlanta World Championship. In addition, both high school principals, members of the county's Board of Education, the Assistant Superintendent, and Directors of the high schools' Career and Technology Education regularly attend regional and world championships. Dr. Teets already has both our regional competition dates (and Atlanta!) put down in his calendar! Lastly, Dr. Teets is very outspoken about his support of FIRST (FLL, FTC, and FRC) in what he calls “athletics for the mind” and declares FIRST events as exciting as any state soccer or football playoffs.
Equally important is Team 1629’s partnership with local organizations: Beitzel Corporation/Pillar Innovations, Garrett Container Systems, Inc, and GEARS. Much of the success Team 1629 has experienced is the direct result of the guidance and support provided by these organizations. Each organization provides mentors for support, often during normal business hours. Materials and hard dollars are also routinely provided. Additionally, mentors travel to our competitions for suggestions, support, encouragement and advice. Without the partnership from these local organizations, Team 1629 would not be the success it is today. Team 1629 really does value its mentors. For example, every year our student members of the team get together and host a “Valentines Day” dinner for the adult mentors and their spouses on the weekend of Valentines Day - usually the Saturday before the robot shipping deadline. With the invariable last minute tweaking of the robot, all work stops at 5:30 pm as the spouses start arriving. Students dim the lights, setup tables around their full sized playing field – complete with tablecloths and candles – and act as maitre d', waiters/waitresses, and cooks, to provide their mentors with a fine dining experience to express their gratitude. Mentors and their spouses truly feel appreciated through the team’s gesture – even though at 7:00, the lights come on and everyone says “back to work!”
With the help of these mentors, our team has the expertise to increase the overall level of competition at the events we have attended - Chesapeake, Washington DC, Cleveland, Annapolis, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta. In prior years, 1629 had the opportunity to share its control system beta testing experience with the entire FRC community. By sharing our knowledge, we were able to assist rookie teams that needed a little guidance from a more experienced team. Team 1629 went the extra mile in the process of becoming a beta test team for the new control system. We worked closely with a neighboring team in West Virginia and presented at the Baltimore Area Alliance (BAA) FRC team workshop in addition to hosting several open-house/presentations throughout the fall.
Many of our team members began their FIRST journey in FLL teams. Because of this, we support all seven of the FLL teams within our county. In 2009 when Maryland FIRST modified the competition rules for FLL, many teams were struggling to find a competition venue. Team 1629 recognized the difficulty and elected to host a FLL Qualifying tournament in one of our high schools. We planned, set up, and hosted the Garrett County FLL Qualifier that attracted nine teams. Maryland FLL officials attended and were very pleased with the results! Next year we hope to have as many as 24 teams compete in the Garrett County FLL Qualifier.
Team 1629 has carefully developed a reputation for helping other teams and gracious professionalism. During our second year at the Chesapeake Regional, Team 1629 was the number one seed and captain of the winning alliance. 1629’s gracious professionalism was well noted during the final round of the elimination matches where our alliance extended our time-out on the behalf of the opposing alliance, allowing them time to finish necessary repairs on one of their robots. This experience cemented forever the virtues of gracious professionalism to all in attendance and set the example for future Team 1629 students. During this same regional, Team 1629 students and mentors worked closely with rookie Team 1727 providing them the inspiration to return the following year and win the 2007 Chesapeake Chairman’s Award. Our commitment to gracious professionalism is further reinforced by the creation of our “Gracious Professionalism” sub-team, whose function is to identify teams that may need help and provide assistance as needed. As a beta test team for the new control system, Team 1629 focused the Gracious Professionalism sub-team on becoming a specialist in using the 2009 control system and solving related issues and problems. Our team was among the first to successfully install the new system on our robot and perform all the required operational tests. We gained a lot of experience during this process, and our team maximized their opportunity to spread this knowledge to the FIRST community. Specifically, the team acted as “control system experts” at the DC competition, actively assisting other teams in preparing for the inspection process, and answering any software questions. Team 1629 is also active within our community. Our team is designing, building, and bringing to life an animated robot to assist our local fire departments. This fire plug robot, named Sparky, will be used by firemen in our county to help with educational demonstrations given at local elementary and middle schools. Sparky will be able to move, talk, and even bat his eye lashes! He will be a great friend of the children and will help fire fighters bring fire safety awareness to children in a fun and interactive manner. Other popular community involvement programs in which our team participates include Relay For Life (raising money for cancer awareness) and Special Olympics.
Even with all the help from our amazing sponsors, we still have to do some fundraising on our own. Instead of merely sending out letters asking for donations, we prefer to put some "elbow grease" into our fund raising efforts. On Saturday mornings, our team is usually at local gas stations, pumping gas for tips. On busy holiday weekends, we camp out in front of local businesses and set up shoe shine stands. Working for tips, we shine the shoes of local business leaders while talking about the amazing things we do at FIRST. At local town festivals, our team is famous for our $2 a glass fresh squeezed lemonade, where we continue to spread the FIRST message with pride.
FRC Team 1629 is a testament to “steady wins the race”. Through careful alliances with its many partners and community involvement, the team has the resources to help other teams and spread the FIRST message. Our team is anxious to demonstrate the virtues of gracious professionalism and how it ties to helping FIRST fulfill the vision “where Science and Technology is celebrated and young people dream of becoming Science and Technology Heroes.” |
2010 Chairman's Award Essay |