--- title: Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition description: In this blog, Collin reminds our community about Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition. image: https://community.firstinspires.org/hubfs/Woodie%20Flowers.jpg --- *Gracious Professionalism*® and *Coopertition*® are foundational aspects of the *FIRST*® experience. They can be the things about the program that can stick with you long after you stop participating. MIT recently published a video titled “Engineering Joy” that talks about the engineering course into which Dr. Woodie Flowers embedded these concepts. *Coopertition* is built into the program experience in multiple ways. In some games, it’s built directly into the gameplay. In all games, your partners and opponents change throughout the event and over the course of the season. In my experience, most of *Coopertition* happens before the events even start when teams help each other all throughout the season. I have a great memory from when I was a student where a mentor from another team worked with my team for most of a day at an event to help us fix a controls issue. I once heard *Gracious Professionalism* referred to as a compass that could be used to guide your own actions and decisions, not a yardstick to be used to measure the actions of others. This is how I choose to apply it. I love that this video is titled “Engineering Joy”. As we move into the event season, I encourage all team members to think about how they can use the *FIRST *Core Values, *Coopertition*, and *Gracious Professionalism* to bring joy to others at our events and leave a positive lasting impact. Good luck this year! ** [FRC](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/frc) #### Share it: [** ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://community.firstinspires.org/gracious-professionalism-and-coopertition) [** ](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://community.firstinspires.org/gracious-professionalism-and-coopertition) [** ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://community.firstinspires.org/gracious-professionalism-and-coopertition) ![Default Author Image](https://community.firstinspires.org/hubfs/Community%20Blog%20v2/images/FIRST-author-icon.svg) Author [Collin Fultz, Senior Director, FIRST Robotics Competition](https://community.firstinspires.org/author/collin-fultz-senior-director-first-robotics-competition) ### Related Posts ** [STEM for Everyone](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/stem-for-everyone), [#PeopleofSTEAM](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/peopleofsteam) #PeopleofSTEAM: Meet James February 23, 2024 ** [Alumni](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/alumni), [STEM for Everyone](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/stem-for-everyone), [#PeopleofSTEAM](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/peopleofsteam) How a FIRST Alum Turned FIRST Robotics Competition Experience into a Career at TE Connectivity February 25, 2025 ** [STEM for Everyone](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/stem-for-everyone), [#PeopleofSTEAM](https://community.firstinspires.org/topic/peopleofsteam) #PeopleofSTEAM: Meet Faith November 29, 2023 ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1200203950045814&ev=PageView&noscript=1) ![](https://ct.pinterest.com/v3/?tid=2615041699514&noscript=1) ![](https://ct.pinterest.com/v3/?tid=2615041699514&event=PageVisit&noscript=1)