Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Ohh Hartford :)

So I've had to face the sad truth, I just attended the last regional of my high school career.  It was a blast of course, but the ending was bittersweet.  The past 4 years have been amazing, and I can definitely see how my life has been shaped by the team.  I was talking to my dad and I realized that I've attended 8 regionals, and no two were ever the same.  I was met with new experiences each and every time.  That's part of the whole learning process.  Every situation I've encountered has shaped me, adding to my FIRST experience.  So now that my sappy part is over, let's get to the fun stuff.  Team Paragon has changed a lot, and this year we produced a fantastic robot.  If we had been able to complete our minibot, we would have easily been in the top seeds.  Sadly we were unable to get our deployment system working correctly.  We performed well, but this game was very dependant on the minibot deployment.  However, we did make a break through.  For the first time in the past two seasons, Team Paragon had a working autonomous.  After a great deal of troubles, we got one working and were able to score an ubertube!  This was huge for our software team, and shows how much we've grown.  Our spirits were high throughout the weekend, and when the music finally picked up, so did our energy.  We attended the team social, which was really cool because we were able to meet people outside of the stressed environment of the competition.  It was a great weekend filled with fun.  I really can't find the words to explain it, but here's a slideshow that works a little better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmXCeNu4CCQ.  Thank you to all of our dedicated mentors and all of the people that made this regional happen :)  Happy offseason!