Infinity Squared

This past fall/winter I have helped coach a First Robotics Team. By "help coach" I mean, I drove kids to and from competitions and updated the teams budget. Corrine was one of the mentors and I think it was a good experience for her to be one of the "leaders" and learn to deal with younger obnoxious kids. Sariah and Hayden were part of the "younger obnoxious" kids. 

The kids LOVED it. First, they competed in a regional in Sandy. They won a trip to state!  The kids were so excited. I'll admit, I was less excited. This is the team being excited about going to state!

We had to get up SO EARLY in the morning to head to Weber State.  I found myself rather cranky due to a bad nights sleep. I also found out (a few days before) that I had bronchitis so that didn't help. Here is the team bright and early staking out our spot in the pits.

We had a fun time at state but didn't expect to win anything.... chalk it up to a brand new team and less than involved adult mentors. It really was "youth mentor" driven.

Well, guess what?!  We won judges award. Im not sure how prestigious it is... but I'd like to think of it as "we couldn't think of what award to give you, but you were so awesome we had to give you something" award.

The kids loved the experience enough that they are begging to do it again next year. Now that its done, I loved it enough to try again next year. Actually, the other "adult" mentor is one of my very good friends, Betsy. I'll do this as an excuse to hang out and visit with her.  I do love the group of kids on the team and I really like knowing my kids friends. We are one big happy family and I enjoy that quite a bit.