Chairman’s Award at the Troy District

The Foley Freeze was awarded the Chairman’s Award, the most respected nomination at competition, by the judges at the Troy District at Troy Athens High School. The Freeze also competed in the quarterfinals with the 8th seeded alliance.

The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST; it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become scientists, engineers, and technologists.

The criterion for the Chairman’s Award has special emphasis on recent accomplishments in both the current season, and the preceding two to five years. The judges focus on teams’ activities over a sustained period, as distinguished from just the robot design and build period.

To earn this award, The Foley Freeze submitted an essay detailing their dedication to the FIRST programs, along with organizing a presentation for a panel of judges, visual aids, and a 3-minute video to summarize their efforts. One team receives the award at each Michigan District competition; these teams receive an automatic qualification to compete at the Michigan State Championship competition on April 12-14th, and will present for the Michigan State Chairman’s Award.

When announcing the winner of the award, the judges referenced the central statement of Foley’s Chairman’s submission, “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” The essay and presentation was based around the addition of STEM related courses to Foley’s curriculum, outreach to local grade and middle schools, growth within Foley and the community, and partnership with sponsors.