FIRST Chairman's Award

About the Chairman’s Award
The FIRST Robotics Competition is about much more than the mechanics of building a robot or winning a competitive event. It is about the partnership among people who are part of the FIRST community and the impact on those who participate in FIRST programs with a united goal of achieving FIRST’s mission. The FIRST mission is to change the way young people regard science and technology and to inspire an appreciation for the real-life rewards and career opportunities in these fields.

FIRST Awards Page

1511 & the Chairman's Award
Since it's inception 1511 recognized that FIRST was not just about building a robot for a really exciting competition, but that it was about building a team, getting involved in the community and giving back. They also knew that the highest award that FIRST could give is the Chairman's Award. Even before they could win it, in their Rookie year, they realized that helping other teams, getting out in the community, and helping promote FIRST could be fun and rewarding in so many ways! The amazing partnerships they have built between Penfield HS, Harris RF, the community, mentors, students, parents and teachers has allowed this team to become something wonderful. Because of everything the team has accomplished 1511 feels it important to recognize the hard work of all of the team members and has created an essay and submitted for the chairmans award every year!

Below you will find excerpts from each of our submissions, along with links to the full documents, presentations and handouts.

2010 - Theme: We Are Thunder!

In 2010 1511 had some major transitions. The team graduated 8 seniors, and the lead mentor moved to Boston, so there was a lot of team building to do. But 1511 did not skip a beat! The 2009 leadership restructuring and the returning members helped keep the team rolling, heading for bigger and better things!

2010 Chairmans Essay.doc 2010 Team

2010 Executive Summary.doc

2009 - Theme: We Are Thunder!

In 2009 1511 took a long hard look at itself. They had run themselves thin doing everything they do, from supporting teams to running the Ruckus to running the Rally. They had restructured the entire team leadership, mentors and all, and were ready for a break. They considered writing the chairman's essay for historical purposes but not submitting, as it always took a lot out of them in buildseason and come competition time. But as the year flew by, the realized the importance of recognizing everything that the team had spent so much time building, and enthusiasm grew! They knew they should submit again, but how to make it different? They decided they wanted new challenges, in addition to a little more presentation practice time and decided to submit at the Chesapeake Regional. There they would be going up against all new teams, and it was nervewracking for sure! The essay was based on the strong foundation of the 2007 essay. They practiced and rehearsed the presentation near 50 times, and even taped it for future viewing! The win at Chesapeake was a new and insanely sweet moment, as they realized they were really back!

It’s one thing for a meteorologist to forecast the storm of the century, it’s another for that storm to hit. Woodie Flowers predicted that storm in 2005 when we won International Rookie All-Star. The storm struck in 2007 when 1511 won Chairman's Award at the Finger Lakes Regional; but it didn’t end there. We have continued to be and always will be a role model team as we increase our presence in the community. Our outreach has expanded to new schools, sponsors and other countries, spreading word of FIRST. The Thunder keeps getting louder!

Essay: 2009 Chairmans Essay.doc Most Amazing Moment

Presentation: 2009 Chairmans Presentation.ppt

Meet our Presenters: Presenters.ppt

Presentation Video: Youtube Video

Chairmans Video: Youtube Video

Won: Chesapeake Chairman's Award, International Judges Award!

2008 - Theme: We Are Red Camo!

1511 continued to grow more and do more as it had every year before. FLL had exploded in Rochester and now had to hold Qualifying tournaments, more demos, community service events and fun activities were held. And 1511 was still in shock from the 2007 Chairmans win. Wonderng if they should mix things up a bit, students put a new twist on the old Thunder and became "We are Red Camo". With a catchy new theme, they created a new essay, at close to 17,000 characters to start with, they had to chop and cut and revise and revise some more to get it down to its lean 10,000 characters. With that done, new presenters were selected, three of the members with great stories, and they charged forward to present again at FLR. Although they did not win, their impact gained them the Engineering Inspiration Award for the second time!

Each colored piece on Camo fabric works together to conceal its wearer. Camo can be explained in so many different ways, it’s like a set path with a million different possibilities. Our team works the same way. Each and every one of us has had an individual or group task that was given and achieved with the support of one another. Team 1511 comes together to make the community a better place and inspire kids to become active with the engineering process through teamwork, partnership, and our FIRST Impact. Like each small speck on the fabric, each and every student is different in their own way, yet merges together in our Bold Red Camo.

Essay: 2008 Chairmans Submission.doc

Presentation: 2008 Chairmans Presentation.ppt

Meet our Presenters: Presenters.ppt

Won: FLR Engineering Inspiration

2007 - Theme: We Are Thunder!

By 2007 1511 had grown a lot. They were helping lots of FRC teams, hosting 4 annual FIRST events, were very involved in the community and had established a very strong partnership between Harris, the school, the team members and the community. They had grown and matured and were ready for "the big time". Students created an essay and made 18 revisions of the essay before mentor or parent eyes even touched it! They sat down and created a presentation that really epitomized everything that they had accomplished in their three short years. Realizing that it was a team effort and that only three presenters could attend, they video taped team members and many affected to bring the team to the judges. And made history!!

Thunder is the result of a shockwave created when heated air expands explosively and compresses the surrounding air. In the same way, our team has grown and expanded in our first few years. In our rookie year, we were honored to receive six awards, including Regional Champion, and Regional and International Rookie All Star Awards. We also established a pre-competition exhibition called the Rochester Rally. This yearly event allows local teams to test their robots in actual game play prior to ship date. If their robots are not completed, it provides the opportunity to receive help and guidance from veteran teams, and our tightly-knit family extends itself each year to assist other local Rochester FIRST teams.

Essay: 2007 Chairmans Submission.doc

Presentation: 2007 Chairmans Presentation.ppt

Meet our Presenters: Presenters.ppt

Won: FLR Chairmans Award!

2006 - Theme: A New Breed of FIRST

In 2006 1511 was rocked and inspired by their International Rookie All Star award win, and knew they could be destined for more. They put their noses down and decided to head for the big time, even though it was only their second year. This was prior to FIRST's "last three years" summary of Chairmans, but with all of 1511's accomplishments, they wanted to see what they could achieve, and came up with the realization that they were defining a New Breed of FIRST. Rookie teams that came up so quickly they had an impact on all facets of FIRST as well as their communities. This was certainly true of 1511.

The team is constantly organizing and participating in community events. We hold at least 2 carwashes annually in which pamphlets are handed out to explain what FIRST is, and information about the team. We have held over 20 demonstrations for various groups, including the local boy scouts, children at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and for Harris to inform the company of our progress and continue our strong relationship. We have organized multiple canned food drives for 2 of the local food shelves, participated in the local ‘Feet for Food’ walk, and raised over $1,000 for Hurricane Katrina Relief. We have done other activities, including sapling distribution, RIT ROCS (Reaching Out for Community Service) Day, gift wrapping, Toys for Tots, and bell ringing for the Salvation Army.

1511 Wins Engineering Inspiration

Essay: 2006 Chairmans Submission.doc

Presentation: 2006 Chairmans Presentation.ppt

Won: FLR Engineering Inspiration

2005 - Theme: Four Facets of a Tetra

2005 was 1511's rookie year, and although they could not win the Chairman's award they were eligible for the Rookie All Star award at their three regional events. As the students really wanted to attend championships, and recognized that they had accomplished so much that year, they submitted a chairmans essay and loved talking about all they had accomplished. They won the Rookie All Star at both the Finger Lakes Regional and the Championship event, moments that were surreal and amazing to this little team from Penfield!

Every story has at least two sides. The tale of the RollingThunder team has four sides. When we started this year's First Robotics Competition as a rookie team, the tasks seemed to be as big as the whole world. The world globe....a shape with an infinite number of facets. While a simple cube has six sides; a Dodecahedron has twelve sides, it is the Tetrahedron that makes the simplest, yet strongest three-dimensional object. The tetra, with its four equal facets is where we begin this story of our team. Our team, "Rolling Thunder" from Penfield High School has members from all four school-year classes, with a lot of representation from the freshman class. We realized very early on that we needed to have a leader for each class in addition to actual sub-team leaders for the task of building the robot. No one team member and no single mentor can really tell our whole story. So, we have chosen to have four voices from our team represent those four equal faces of the tetra. Each corner of the tetra represents a piece of our team. If any one component fails, the structure falls down. So, here's the story of four facets.

Essay: 2005 FIRST Chairman's Essay.ppt

Won: FLR Rookie All Star, TOR Rookie Inspiration, Championship Rookie All Star

Welcome!

Welcome to the digital home of Rolling Thunder, FIRST Robotics team 1511. The team is from Penfield High School in Penfield, New York and mainly sponsored by Harris Corp. To find out more about the team and FIRST, please visit the Who We Are page.

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This page last updated Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 09:38:30 PM.
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