Hello and welcome to another Saturday on the road here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is April 13th.
Last weekend, we graced the gravelly gates of Granite City (aka St. Cloud) for the Granite City robotics regional - aka, Team FRED's last chance to make it to the FIRST Robotics Championship in Houston. The robot was performing pretty well and I whooped when FRED was the first pick of Alliance 5 for the final matches. It was looking pretty good, until their robot, Isabella, stopped performing. It looked like the final chapter of the Book of FRED had been read. That is until the very last award - the Impact Award - was presented. FRED won! Here's their Impact Award 2024 video. The kids whooped and cried and cheered and sobbed. Pandemic aside, FRED has made it to the world competition every year since 2019. The team goes to Houston already NEXT WEEK on Monday. This team has a lot of seniors, including the WAKWIR, about half of whom have been involved with robots since the 6th grade.
Note: If you want to buy a meat bundle from the FRED fundraiser, the WAKWIR can hook you up!
As soon as the FRED bus returned to Wannaskaland, the WAKWIR was donning his suit and participating in a band competition, then packing his bags again for the Knowledge Bowl state meet Thursday and Friday in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Apparently, Knowledge Bowl meets aren't open to the public, so it was a big deal to show up and cheer for the team. Note: cheering means sitting quietly and refraining from making weird faces or any gestures that might hint at the answer. I had to tuck my face into my Warroad Warriors sweatshirt a few times. And the affair, though serious, is somewhat relaxed. When the students really had no clue what the answer was, they would offer off-the-wall responses like "Taylor Swift" for "What is Marilyn Monroe's real name?"
One written round and five oral rounds earned them 4th place in Division "A". That might not sound like much, but, let me tell you, sitting around the table with the team, the pride, surprise, and joy that erupted when the team's name was called was similar to that of FRED hearing they won the Impact Award, but more smiles and no sobs.
Watching the WAKWIR triumph is what makes me smile. Watching him have fun with his friends and have these wins together makes me feel so glad for him. He's coming down the pipeline of his last few weeks - six weeks to be exact - and living it up in all his golden-retriever, glittery-gold jacket style.
Congratulations to all the kids on all the teams!
I enjoyed reading your blogpost. I heard the enjoyment in your words and almost realized the pride you had in your team's endeavor. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThanks WW!
DeleteWAKWIR is well launched for the future. The Almanac is proud of our Writer-in-Residence.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joe! He has agreed to write one more.post and pass his title on to Antonin.
DeleteLooks like Saturday has deep bench strength; will miss WAKWIR! BTW, now I see why you miss your Warroad sweatshirt. Congrats to all including WW for his congratulatory comment. To my way of thinking, the knowledge bowl win is your most impressive victory for this academic year.
ReplyDeleteKim, you certainly have an excellent WA strategy; i.e., using offspring to write posts - and a successful strategy, too! Congrats to the team leader! Hmmm . . . or does the title "team leader" also pass to Antonin? But where are the other subordinate members, other than Mom? Sounds like team recruitment may be a new strategic tactic? No doubt a worthier tactic than retirement / emeritus. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI like to think of it as providing opportunity.
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