There is no denying that this 2020-2021 FIRST season has been unlike anything of us expected. PPE, recruitment for the future, code, CAD, social distancing, “is my Mic on,” online meeting agendas, and any of a thousand other issues were all were jumbled together. However, FIRST has always taught us that the ability to shift to changing circumstances is a life skill, and it was tested pretty heavily this season.
FIRST Headquarters found a way for teams to still compete and work together, finding ways for online meetings to be useful for cooperation and solving problems. They also kept Dean’s List and the Woodie Flowers Award intact. And as this odd season winds down to a close we all realize that some things have stayed constant, and one of those has been the impact your mentors and coaches have had on your teams. And many teams learned new skills to cope that will continue to be used as we all return to a normal routine.
As the Woodie Flowers Award winners have worked through your Woodie Flowers Nominee essays, we all continue to be humbled by the efforts, compassion, and strength that your mentors have shown with their students. Their work, in many cases, needed to increase to be able to keep teams meeting and productive. Selecting Woodie Flowers Finalists from the scores of people represented in the student produced essays for each award group has been a challenge. Without the distraction of a robot to design and build, it seems many teams put extra efforts into their Woodie Flowers Nominations which made the selection process that much more meaningful and difficult.
And yet some teams chose not to submit for the award. Sometimes you didn’t because no one could fit it into their schedule, other times you feel there are too many strong teams and mentors which you believe will overshadow your mentors’ efforts, the worst excuse is not knowing the deadline for submission. Acknowledging your mentor is the actual point of the nomination, taking the time to put down into words what the mentors on your team have done for you has meaning. I have never met a nominated mentor who didn’t feel a sense of pride that they were submitted for an award that has the name of Woodie Flowers associated with it.
As we all start into next year’s season, start taking note of what sacrifices, what extra things your mentors are doing. As we always learn from the current season to make the next year better do that for your mentors. Start working on the essay early in the school year, keep drafts, involve more students in the nomination. So, make the selection group’s job harder next year with more nominations, celebrate what your tireless mentors have been doing for your team and for FIRST.