All Together Now!

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. ~Albert Einstein

Team Duct Tape Team

TDT members celebrated their sweet success with an abundance of good eats, on Saturday, including a cake declaring “Rip it! Stick it! Done! Atlanta Here We Come!” (which gave the cake decorator some pause) and a cookie cake reminding us that “Duct Tape = Infinite Possibilities!”, and then got down to the business of planning for World Championship success. But not before we took time to consider and honor the team behind the team.

Team Duct Tape is ten great members strong. But behind each of our team members is a team of caring parents, siblings, other relatives, friends, teachers, and mentors. And supporting the entire team is an encouraging community of professionals, organizations and businesses who take time to guide, teach or fund Team Duct Tape. And beyond them is the FIRST community itself, full of caring individuals who volunteer their time and expertise to run competitions and provide guidance and resources to help teams be successful and have fun.

Team members also enjoyed hearing all the great warm thoughts sent their way by other teams and by friends and mentors, who commented on “the friendliness and positive

atitudes of everyone associated with your team,” who said they were “extremely proud to have our company logo on the side of such a strong competitor,” and who praised our robot as “outstanding.”

When Team Duct Tape heads to the World Championship in Atlanta in April, they take with them the trust and faith of a lot more then ten people. Their “Team” numbers in the dozens! Team Duct Tape does not succeed in a vacuum, team members were reminded. To help keep the real Team Duct Tape Team in mind, team members now have a new team roster poster to reflect on, featuring each member connected to family and supporters. We’re taking you ALL with us to Atlanta!

Evaluating ideas

After getting our priorities straight, TDT got down to the business of building and programming, reevaluating State Championship performances and considering the best plan of action and construction for the World event, where we know the competition will be fierce and exemplary.

While team members worked on the mechanics of World, team parents worked on the lighter details, including ideas for tweaking our team look, and for team give-aways. The duct tape was flowing freely and artistically throughout the afternoon, and by the end of the day, the Duct Tape Divas had a game plan and lots of homework!

The Behind the Scenes Team

Next Saturday, we head over to the FRC Regionals in Orlando, to help run FTC demos, and then it’s nose to the grindstone through April. It’s hard to believe we’ve only got about five more meetings to pull everything together before the Championship! But we’ve got a big Team, so we’re good!