Getting Organized: Inventory Your Impact

Start in the fall, not in January

The written submission is due in early February and cannot be edited afterward, so serious teams begin in September or October. The first step is not writing; it is inventory.

The sticky-note Venn diagram

The official FIRST Impact Award Worksheet recommends a concrete activity: write each of your team's programs, outreach initiatives, and big achievements on a sticky note. Then draw a three-circle Venn diagram on a whiteboard labeled:

• Executive Summary — information- and data-driven facts.
• Essay — a more detailed explanation of your impact.
• Presentation — drive home your key points and why you earned the award.

Place each sticky note where it belongs. A flagship program might land in the overlap of all three; a smaller activity might only appear in the executive summaries. This prevents the classic mistake of cramming everything into the essay while the presentation rambles.

Build a master tracking spreadsheet

For every activity, capture, in a shared spreadsheet:

• Name and category (which official definition bucket: Started, Mentored, Provided Published Resources, Hosted, Supported, Reached, Advocated, etc.).
• Dates — when it started and the most recent occurrence. Judges demand recency (past 2-3 years).
• Reach numbers — people engaged, with the basis for the estimate.
• Documentation — a link to a letter, photo, attendance figure, or screenshot that proves it.
• Trend — is it growing, stable, or new?

This spreadsheet becomes the source of truth for every other piece of the submission.

Brainstorm the three big answers

The worksheet's essay-discussion prompts are a great warm-up. As a team, answer:

1. How has your team grown in the past 3 years?
2. What is your team's most significant initiative or aspect? What makes it impactful, and what statistics support this?
3. What message about your team do you most want to impress upon the judges?

That third question is the most important. Every winning submission has a clear theme or thesis — a single sentence the judges will remember. Decide it now, before writing, so the executive summaries, essay, presentation, and video all reinforce it.

Gather documentation early

The definitions repeatedly encourage proof: a letter from a team you Started, an event organizer's attendance figures for your Reach, a confirmation from a team you Mentored. These are far easier to collect as activities happen than to chase in late January. Assign a student to request and file documentation throughout the season.

Decide who writes

Ideally a small writing group of students owns the submission, with mentors reviewing for accuracy and tone — never writing it. The spirit of the award is student-driven, whole-team impact.