by Maggie F, 3rd Year, Junior The FIRST community has long since excelled in the development and support of Coopertition. Namely, the concept describing the balance between competition and supporting each other that is essential to FIRST. The idea behind this philosophy is that FIRST students should be able to compete respectfully and help build others up. To assess how effectively a team creates this atmosphere FIRST developed the Chairman's award. This award, widely considered the most competitive of all FIRST outreach awards, goes to the team that is the most effective at spreading and encouraging FIRST's message. Among the FIRST competition, this award is the highest outreach award any team can win. At the regional or state level, winning this award automatically advances the winning team to the next competition level. Winning Chairman’s at the worlds levelgrants the team Hall of Fame status. Consequently, teams are incredibly competitive when it comes to competing for this award. While this competitiveness may seem counterintuitive to the FIRST message of Coopertition, it actually functions as a primary supporter. The competitiveness to win this award encourages teams to develop strong outreach programs that have substantial, measurable impacts on the community. Within CSP, this competitiveness has helped motivate several team alliance programs within the team. For example, CSP has a manufacturing outreach program. This program encompasses the full design to finished product manufacturing system at CSP's headquarters. The manufacturing system includes a CNC, 3D printers, and a powder coater. Moreover, the outreach program allows CSP to extend these resources, and training for these resources, to teams who require manufacturing assistance. While it stemmed from the team's desire to be supportive, this program was bolstered by the Chairman's competition. Ultimately, while the mindset and behavior targeted in Chairman's is something every FIRST team naturally strives for, this award's integration provides extra motivation. Moreover, the award allows FIRST to recognize and thank the teams who work so diligently at spreading the FIRST message. Winning the Chairman's award is a benchmark for teams and the competition itself helps create a sense of unity and friendly rivalry between teams. This competition also helps to strengthen the bonds of students within teams. Thereupon, the FIRST students develop a stronger team and a more supportive dynamic. This enables FIRST to achieve its primary goal: creating something that has a long-lasting and positive impact on students.
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AuthorThe CSP Blog is written by members of the CSP Media team, with guest blogs by alumni and other guests. Archives
March 2022
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