Maybe you’re tired of hearing about robotics lately. Too bad, I’m going to write about it anyway, but from a slightly different perspective. I was involved in the FIRST Robotics competition this past weekend because of the Chamber. We played a small role in the overall event by managing some lodging and food details. I want to share a few thoughts and observations of the event, from my perspective.

The economic impact of the robotics competition was enormous. On Saturday when I was walking from the parking lot at Alpena High School into the gym, it was around noon. Walking in with me was one man with a stack of six boxes of Little Caesar’s Pizza, another man with several boxes of assorted sizes from Mancino’s and another man (apparently the men were on food duty) with an armful of Jimmy John’s.

Once inside, another volunteer mentioned the considerable number of people who had walked in that morning with coffee cups from various businesses around town. While I was walking around looking for specific teams, I observed food packaging from at least a dozen other businesses. There were also, at a minimum, two local businesses providing food/refreshments inside the high school. Based just on that half hour of time, I could tell that the event had a tremendous impact on our local economy. Although I knew this was the case, I don’t think we always realize just how big of an impact events like this have unless we witness it first-hand.

Although the robots impressed me (they could pick things up, scoot around, and even climb), even more impressive were the students. There was an energy in the gym that rivaled even the most energetic of sporting events. There was cheering, dancing, and music. There were teams helping other teams, and high fives all around. There were plenty of smiles as well from the students and the volunteers. After seeing this, I’m not sure why I was surprised by what I found at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center later that afternoon.

The lodging role we played was to assist with reserving rooms at the Combat Readiness Training Center for teams. We knew that our hotels would fill up, leaving us with not enough space to accommodate 40 teams and all their guests, coaches and mentors. Thankfully, the CRTC was able to assist with meeting the lodging demand. As part of that role, we had to provide a point person for the rooms. That person was me.

Those who stayed at the CRTC had a list of about 20 items they were asked to do before leaving on Saturday. The items included leaving linens in the hallway, vacuuming, sweeping, unplugging clocks, and leaving cabinet doors open. It was up to me to visit the CRTC after the teams checked out to go through the rooms to finalize adherence to those requirements.

After witnessing the students at AHS, I should not have been surprised by what I found at the CRTC. I went out there expecting to have to clean. I even took another Chamber staff member with me because I figured it would take a while. When I got there, I quickly realized my expectations were, thankfully, not met. The students, mentors and coaches who stayed there were amazing. There were very few things we had to do to achieve the items on the checkout list. We walked through the 85 rooms with a CRTC staff member in under an hour. To say the students impressed me is an incredible understatement.

This event was another example of what the people of this community can accomplish. I don’t know the number of volunteers used to make this event successful, but I can tell you it wasn’t a small number. This community demonstrates again and again what happens when there are dedicated people who set out to accomplish something. It’s incredible when people come together like this for something so positive. The volunteers were so friendly, effective, and well organized. It was impressive to watch.

This event, like other events in and around town, should serve as a motivator for pride in our community. Whether you were involved in the event or not, I hope you appreciate the value the event had on our community, and the magnitude of what was accomplished last weekend. Not to mention the pride we should all feel for how well our Alpena teams did in the competition.

Jackie Krawczak is president/CEO of the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce. Her column runs bi-weekly on Thursdays. Follow Jackie on Twitter @jkrawczak.