What are you most proud of?

I got asked this question in one of my interviews, and I forget exactly how it was asked, but it may have been something about engineering or professionally, or maybe "aside from your kids, what are you...", something along those lines.

I paused only a moment, even though I hadn't prepared for it, my response was very much at the front of my mind.  It was 1511's first year.  That felt like one of my biggest triumph's.  Not only had I succeeded in founding a FIRST team, no small feat in itself, I somehow managed to found an incredibly successful one.  Now "somehow" makes it sound like an accident... but very little that I do is by accident.  I worked incredibly hard to create the partnership between the company and the school, I spent nearly all my free time planning out how we would recruit and prepare the mentors and students, I built a strong team of mentors, and I gathered students and help the team prepare for the year.  I set a goal of getting the team to World Championships, and we made it way earlier than I planned - I told the kids, just have fun at the first event, get to know what is going on, we will push for the awards at the second and third so we make sure we get there... especially because there were going to be a ton of Rookies at our event.  Well... the enthusiasm that we built was amazing, and the team won it's way to CMP at the very first event!  They proceeded to do amazing at the next two as well.  And yeah... I'm proud of it!! Its often incredibly hard for me to take credit for it.  A lot of it was sort of the right place and the right people at the right time... but there was A LOT of effort put into planning it, so much so that I could write a book on how to do it again.  So yeah, I am proud of my part in that.  I am proud of the kids, I am proud of the mentors, and I was so shocked, amazed and proud that they won the championship rookie all star award.

That to me is one of my biggest professional accomplishments.  Yes it wasn't a paid part of my job, but my employer got a lot out of it.  Their name was spread all over the place, and would be for years to come.  And most of all, I was able to found something that had longevity, that would have an impact on so many students who needed a program like that.  And that impact is what I am proud of.  Looking around at my involvement in FIRST, it has been a much bigger impact than anything I have done in my career.  Sure I was a part of some great products, some great programs, but none of them that had such a large and lasting impact on people and the world as my involvement in FIRST.  And yes, I am most proud of that.