This week has been a fighting week. We are trying to convince our school district to allow us to host our FRC event next year. This year, for the first time ever, we hosted a FIRST in Michigan District Event. It ran smoothly. It was exciting to see the competition on our home turf! But, it was held over spring break. Teachers, Administrators, and most importantly students, were unable to see the event. So, when it came time to get permission for this year, I have been told that we can only host it on "vacation" years. Since Easter Break is during World's, that will not work for us.
When I received that email from my superintendent, I was ready to give up the fight. A month and a half of emails going back and forth, eliminating road blocks that were thrown at us one by one, has made me very tired of fighting. 13 years of fighting for our district robotics kids to be treated the same as any other athlete or program has worn on me. Was it time to throw in the towel and accept that we could not host this year?
I only had to look to my team for my answer. Did my team give up when our robot fell off the top of the pyramid and landed in a smoking mess on the floor? Nope! They went right to work, replaced wires, remade parts, fixed broken welds, and they put the robot back together. It climbed again, only a few matches after they came back from the fall. And, on Saturday morning, it made a successful climb and dump!
Today it was time for me to get back up! Though my superintendent is "disappointed" in me, I will keep my eyes focused on my students, my school district, and my community, and I will continue to work on fixing this wrong! Sometimes I get discouraged, but my students, friends, family, FIRST Community, parents of students, and awesome mentors quickly remind me to keep going!
This week, I was trying for a week off of robotics, a week to refresh my outlook, to catch up on all I've neglected the past 4 months. I did pretty good. Other than some emails about our event, I didn't go to the center! Can't think of the last time I wasn't at the center for a whole week! :)
But, this past week was full of robotics. We awarded 3 students with our first ever $500 scholarships for our FIRST Robotics Graduates, our Relay for Life team raised over $4,000 for the American Cancer Society, and my team reminded me that when you fall down, you have to get back up again! So, overall, it has been a great robotics week! I don't know that it is a possibility to go a week without any FIRST robotics, but I don't mind that very much either!
I am not giving up on our event! Our interim superintendent only has a little longer in this position. If we cannot convince him, we will have a fresh start with a new superintendent soon. My hope is that our current superintendent will come around, that he will realize what an asset this event is to everyone. We will "Make it Loud" and be heard, if needed! And, hopefully, we will be proudly hosting our own event again next year in front of our teachers, administrators, community and the peers of my team.
Thanks to all of you that helped me "get back up again"! Thanks especially to my team, who often lead me by example. :)
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