When we went to our first meet, I think the students would agree that we were definitely overwhelmed by the level of competition that we faced. They had a charismatic “MC” announcing the events and getting the crowd going, they had a huge facility and they had plenty of room for us to build and compete.
Our second competition was completely different. The competition space was about 1/8 the size, the “MC” was a goofy student on the mic popping random jokes and our “pit” area for preparation was a side room with limited seating and power.
We were pleasantly surprised, though, when one of our teams ended up getting into the finals and finishing the competition in second place! The students got a trophy, built some team camaraderie and came away with a renewed sense of purpose and focus.
We’re looking forward to our next competition, with plenty of new ideas for modifications. I think we’re going to really try and focus on the “autonomous” period, where the points are significantly higher!
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