Chairman’s Award video 2018

This video was provided to judges as part of our submission for the 2018 Chairman’s Award.  Triple Helix received the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Chesapeake District – Hampton Roads event at Churchland High School in Portsmouth.  Here’s what the judges had to say about our team:

The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award in FIRST. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant, measurable impact on its partnership among its participants and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season. The winners will demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient team will be invited to the District Championship where it will compete for the Chairman’s Award against other winners from other qualifying events and compete with their robot.

This team’s effort to spread the word about FIRST and STEM stretched from Richmond to Virginia Beach and dozens of locations in between. They have held events at local universities, a military base, other federal facilities, a tourist attraction, a professional association, museums, and even a public garden. This team helped stand up new FRC teams, supported rookie teams, helped revitalize an existing team, mentored additional teams, and held a popular off-season event. They also support an FTC team, and mentor and support four FLL teams, pulling triple duty for their work with FIRST. Hosting a round-table and summer camp, participating in a variety of STEM events, giving presentations to STEM-related organizations, and leveraging social media to reach a broader audience, clearly inspiring today’s youth to embrace science, technology, engineering, and math is embedded deep within this team’s DNA.

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Woodie Flowers submission 2018

Triple Helix students are proud to publish this Woodie Flowers Award nominating essay for our mentor Todd Ferrante.

Todd Ferrante has been a dedicated mentor to our team since 2011. As a systems integration engineer at NASA Langley, he is beyond well-equipped to teach and inspire a love of engineering in students. Through his abilities to motivate, communicate, and problem solve, his patience with students and mentors, and his willingness to lead, he has developed our team culture into one of universal respect, professionalism, and unending support.

Mr. Ferrante is a master of motivation. “He encourages everyone to give their own ideas and opinions. If you ask him how something will be done, instead of telling you, he asks you how you think it should be done,” says Justin. “He always makes sure we know what we’re doing. At competitions, he calmly talks to us about what he thinks may be wrong. If someone messes up, he will help them find a solution calmly. He never blames anyone for anything,” says Aaron. Any question asked is answered to the best of his ability and given his full attention. “He values the opinions of everyone and never dismisses any idea or question,” says Adam.

Mr. Ferrante’s ability to communicate has led him to become the drive team coach, in addition to his role as a mechanical subteam mentor. “He’s always super proud of every match, even if we perform poorly. He’s very nice about correcting our mistakes, and when we all get really tired he keeps us focused,” says Rachel. “ Even if we lose a match, he’s always at the sidelines, cheering us on, and is happy at what we accomplished,” says Gabe.

Mr. Ferrante is dedicated to creating an encouraging and healthy team environment. “He can correct you with a kind word, and encourage you to do better, even when you are giving it your all. Mr. Ferrante has, in all probability, corrected me hundreds of times. But I always welcomed it, and needed it, because he showed me how to be better through positive reinforcement. He was the perfect leader for a drive team, because he could keep a level head to give us coherent feedback, and also figured out how to convey that feedback in a positive way,” says alumnus Aaron. “He’s always very happy when he’s at meetings. He consistently does his best to create a positive environment for all of the students and welcomes everyone with open arms. He pushes us to do everything we can and make the most out of every situation. He never backs down from a challenge and brings his A-Game to any situation he’s thrown into,” says Adam.

One essay will never be enough room for us to express our gratitude for all of the heart and soul Mr. Ferrante has poured into our team. His constant dedication and enthusiasm for Triple Helix and FIRST have gone beyond the scope of mentorship. He’s become a role model and inspiration to everyone he’s worked with, and has changed our team from a group of nerds to a family. As each year produces more graduates, our family grows, and with it our awareness of how lucky we are to work with such an exceptional mentor as Todd Ferrante.

Chairman’s Award video 2017

This video was provided to judges as part of our submission for the 2017 Chairman’s Award.  Triple Helix received the Chairman’s Award at the FIRST Chesapeake District – Hampton Roads event at Churchland High School in Portsmouth.  Here’s what the judges had to say about our team:

The 2017 FIRST Chesapeake District Hampton Roads Qualifiers Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award in FIRST. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.  The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impact on its partnerships among participants and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season.  The winner is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient team will be invited to the District Championship where it will compete for the Chairman’s Award against winners from other qualifying events and compete with their robot.

This team’s success is defined by four powerful characteristics: growth, development, replication, and functioning.

First, the team exhibits exceptional growth. Not just the number of members involved, but also in its influence on individual team members and its community. An internal peer mentoring program helps members develop their leadership, communication, and innovative skills. The team growth in advocacy is seen in its lobbying to gain stipends for public school teachers that mentor robotics teams, and its profile in social media and other digital platforms.

Second, the team is an example of what development is all about. Their program is involved by incorporating explicit focus on the arts and business. Student groups use graphic design, public speaking, and grantmanship as they sustain and strengthen partnership with mentors and sponsors. And in public, they have presentations that promote STEM and FIRST.

Third, the team is worthy of replication. This team models replication in helping to create FRC, FTC, and FLL teams, contributing time, expertise, equipment, and registration fees. They also are a lead collaborator for an offseason FRC event and a Chesapeake regional FRC kickoff.

Finally, this team is multi-functional. The team functions as an ambassador for FIRST, hosting robot demonstrations at large events such as air shows, science exposition days, and STEM fairs. This team functions as a catalyst to impact students by presenting summer STEM camps that simulate an FLL build season, and they conduct demonstrations for elementary school clubs that target girls and minorities.

Now, according to Webster’s, DNA may be defined as a molecule carrying genetic instructions for the growth, development, replication, and functioning of a living organism. That’s why our judges believe this team’s success is truly by design.  Team 2363!

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Airship pilot wings

After each competition, 2363 holds a “lessons learned” meeting where we discuss what we did right and what needs improving. One thing we noted was how awesome our airship pilot is. We noted that she makes better decisions than the audience. At the end of one match, our 3rd rotor was spinning, we had 4 gears needed to get the 4th rotor, and the horn sounded. Rather than waste time pulling up a gear with no value, she chose to drop the ropes instead. Of course the whole time the crowd was shouting, “Gear! Gear!” To honor her decision making skills under pressure, at our next meeting we presented her with a set of Airship Pilot’s Wings.

Has your airship pilot earned their wings?

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