How did you hear about FIRST and WHY did you get involved?

[VIAIR_Ryan]

Hey FRC participants,

I doubt many people will see this post since the competition is over so there's no reason to be on here...unless you're preparing for another tournament. In any case, my name is Ryan Shaw with VIAIR. We make the compressors selected by FIRST. Last year I was invited to the supplier summit where I got to meet Kate and Collin with FIRSTRC, Andy Baker with AndyMark and a few other suppliers...And I got to check out Dean Kamen's awesome pad. No biggie.

After finding out what FRC is all about, I wrote a lengthy e-mail to the owner of VIAIR proposing that we donate to help FIRST. He approved the request and now we're trying to make videos to promote FIRST to high school students that aren't already a part of FIRST.
Here's a link to our current video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYBLKCUWxBs
To be honest, I don't know if the video does a good job of teaching NON-FIRST high-school students what FIRST is all about. I fear that it might come off as too technical to the NON-First student.

That's why I'm here...I'd like to ask you how you guys got involved.

How did you hear about FIRST?
What made you decide to join?
What attracted you to the FRC team?

Please respond here or send me your story at ryans@viaircorp.com.
I'm hoping that we can make a video that resonates with non-first students and help reel them in to the program!

I apologize if this post is not in the correct section. Please feel free to move it as needed.

Thanks,
Ryan Shaw

[Andrew Lawrence]

Hello Ryan. Thanks a bunch to you and VIAIR for your support of FIRST! We really appreciate not only the great compressors you've made that we use, but also your drive to promote what we do to the outside world. It really means a lot.

I heard about FIRST about 10 years ago back in Elementary school when my friend wanted to start an FLL team. I had no real fascination with robots or building at the time, but I was a little kid and did things with friends, so I figured why not. After 6 years of FLL I moved onto my High School's FRC team since I was no longer allowed to compete in FLL but still wanted to do something similar. 4 years later I've never looked back.

As for the video, I love the current one, but I do agree that anyone who is not already involved in the program may get a little bit confused. One thing I noticed is there is a lot about this year's game, Aerial Assist, and all of the students talk in specifics regarding the 2014 game. So to a non-FIRSTer, it appears as if that's all we do every year. I think showing various competition years and being more general on the games and focusing on the generalities of FIRST would make more sense to an outsider. Also, The technical talk means nothing to most people who are new to the program. Have people talk more about what FIRST is and what they've gotten from the program. I'm sure both you and your marketing team already know this, but for the sake of anyone else reading this post, a big point about any promotion of this kind is being to the point in telling the viewers what they get from it. Why should they spend their time/money on this? We know how great FIRST is, but they don't, and you need to tell them what they get out of it as well as show how exciting it is. The perfect promotion is a well-planned mixture of communicating what the thing is and what the people get from it all while making it exciting and attention-grabbing at the same time. Do that, and its golden.

[Oblarg]

I joined 449 on a whim, as I had no after-school activity at the time and a couple of my friends were on the team and said it was pretty cool.

At the time I joined, I had no idea what FIRST was or even that it was a team rather than a club, as they were doing a VEX-based preseason project. I first learned about the actual competition a couple days before kickoff.

Seven years later, I think it was a pretty fortunate choice.

[SkittlesCharge]

I took 537's summer school class during the summer between middle school and high school. During the course (for which I am now the lead teaching assistant), I learned about FRC and I realized that I greatly enjoyed solving engineering challenges. I naturally joined Team 537 my freshman year of high school and never looked back.

[safiq10]

Hello Ryan! Big thanks to you and VIAR for your outstanding efforts! We greatly appreciate your effort in everything you do.

I joined FLL originally because I was recruited through my Computer teacher. I joined the team because I thought it would be an interesting experience. When I joined the team I was placed on a team of 8th graders and FLL wasnt very fun. But when we went to the competition I saw an FRC robot demoing its abilities and I had one of the students explain it to 6th grade me.
I was inspired and I promised myself I would one day compete in FRC. So I stayed in FLL and moved onto FTC now 4 years later I am the Head captain of our team and I know I will become a Mentor for some team later on in my life. All because of that one team that took the time to explain what they do.

[Rockwind79]

Thanks for joining FIRST. A ton of teams love using your compressor, they are so much better than the old one!!

I started out in FIRST 5 years ago now. My old high school had a robotics(FRC Team 79 Krunch) team that help start the engineering academy there about 3 years before I got there . I joined my freshman year just through hearing about the team around the school and what not.I wasn't that involved through the build season that year(2010 season). I was thinking about quitting the team, that was till I want to the Orlando Regional. That event, best regional ever, with the energy and excitement is what got me to stay in FIRST and does some awesome things as a student. As they say the rest is history. I am now at college and mentor FRC Team 2996. I would not want to change a day I have been a part of this organization, it stands for some great things.

As cool as building a robot in six weeks is, FIRST goes so much deeper. The bonds you make, the people you meet, the stuff you get to do and what you get to learn about! It just impacts so many peoples lives in so many different ways, that is what people need to see about FIRST to get them in. Or just see an event happen and they will be drawn in, I know I was. Hope this can help!

[David8696]

Hey FRC participants,

I doubt many people will see this post since the competition is over so there's no reason to be on here...

Dude. Why do you think I'm here? The competition is over, I have no other FIRST-related activities to pursue–WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE BUT BROWSE CHIEF DELPHI UNTIL JANUARY????

[Tamster]

Hello Ryan,

I found out about FIRST in middle school from my friend and her older sister, who was on a robotics team. My friend had already gotten me into robotics - she had me at "build cool robots" - so I decided to look into it; after asking her sister about it, I decided that I wanted to be involved with FIRST robotics.

When I went to high school, I knew I had to join the team. I was attracted by the team's energy and how they all seemed to be one big family, and their cool-looking robot was the icing on the cake. Also, the competition itself drew me in - nothing captivated me more than being surrounded by different robots. The more I went to robotics, the more I was hooked. I just loved building and designing robots, and it was a great learning experience for me. I find that, by joining FRC, I have boosted my self-confidence, gained hands-on experience, and had a lot of fun. At this point, FRC is a way of life for me, and I don't regret joining robotics for one moment.

I hope this helps :)

[belle94]

In Grade 8, I was new at my school and there was a girl in my homeroom that I wanted to be friends with. She was doing FLL, so I decided to do it too. When I got to high school, I joined our FRC team because it seemed like the natural next step. It wasn't that I was super passionate about it (yet); it just never occurred to me to stop doing robotics. I got hooked that first year and the rest is history (and that girl is still one of my best friends).

I agree with the others about the video: it's a little too specific if you're trying to recruit people. You could bring in some testimonials from people on FLL and FTC teams and maybe even some alums, to see what impact FIRST has had on them.

[scca229]

My involvement in FIRST started with my "little brother" (he is 21 years younger than me and I've been looking up at him for a few years now) calling me every few days for a few weeks back in January 2011 for "network issues" related to getting a laptop to talk to a "micro controller" of some sort along with other "networking problems". I had absolutely no idea what it was he was trying to do but I seemed to have provided the right answers to get them connected and talking to each other.

A few months later he called me to tell me that he was coming down from Kingman, AZ to Phoenix for a competition and that I really needed to go check it out if I could make it. I still didn't know what the heck he was talking about, but what hay, since it was at a local high school about 5 minutes off of my route to/from work, I swung by. Holy crap I was hooked as soon as I walked in the gym and saw what was going on (would have been after lunch on Friday). Once I found his team (60 - The Bionic Bulldogs from Kingman, AZ), I sat him down and made him explain exactly what it was that I was watching (Logomotion was the game that year). The next year I was officially booked on as a long-distance mentor helping out with anything I could do from 250 miles away.

I was Volun-told as an FTAA to help out with the 2013 Arizona Regional due to the field network problems that had cropped up earlier in the season (I'm a Network Engineer). I had an absolute blast working with the FTA, Mark McLeod, and he taught me a huge amount of what an FTA does along with the FMS itself.

I was again Volun-told as an FTAA at the 2013 Las Vegas Regional 2 weeks later due to field electronics not behaving on Thursday morning when teams were just about to be let into the building. Since I had just worked with the field in Phoenix, I was able to step in and connect everything together while the FTA dealt with other issues of field setup that couldn't be resolved the night before. I again learned an amazing amount of stuff from the event FTA along with other FTAs that were present.

I knew then that I needed to figure out how to become an FTA...and so did my wife as she says that even though I was coming home totally exhausted from these events, I hadn't looked happier in a LONG time. This year I was invited into the program, but not selected for an event, so didn't go to the training...fingers crossed for next year though with some Regionals being added, including in Arizona. Instead I did Robot Inspection at the 2014 Arizona Regional which I found very helpful in understanding the robots more from more than just my own mentored team as well as helped at the field when not needed for inspections and to keep an eye on robots needing to be looked at again. I was also the FTAA at the 2014 Las Vegas Regional which reaffirmed my desire to go further in the program (I'm sure there is plenty of video of me running all around that field trying to figure out why a bot went link-dead).

I so wish that this program was around when I was in high school...or at least in Southern California at the time. My high school would have been all over it as we were always looking for ways to use the technology grant money given by the local university.

Nate

[Chief Hedgehog]

Hey Ryan,

Welcome to CD! I doubt that you will find another online community as dedicated to it's 'pasttime' than those of us from the FRC community.

It is awesome to see one of our supporters/suppliers actively engaged in this sport.

For my story - here it is:
It was a long, winding road for me to become apart of FRC. As a college student at UW Stout and St Cloud State University in the late '90's and early '00's I heard some rumblings about a robotics program. At that time I was young, had other interests, and FRC was not a part of the WI/MN structure. The only program that was anything near FRC in these parts was the HMV Challenge at UW Stout and BRI. It was entertaining - but not my cup of tea at the moment.

Fast forward 12+ years - I have been teaching at my alma mater for some time. I have been a coach in our very successful Wrestling Program and I have helped to build our Soccer program from the ground up at Becker.

Because of my Coaching and Educational background, my AP asked me if I would be interested in a robotics program. No doubt this is what my school was missing. My department does a great job providing the local industries and Tech colleges with many students interested in the skills - maybe we should engage the other students. So I signed on.

He (my AP) promised me that it was only a 6 week job - and I could continue coaching Soccer and Wrestling - no problem.

So we scheduled a van a took 8 students to the MPLS regionals in 2012 (RR). We were hooked. The whole way back to Becker was talk of what we could do. How we build a robot. The intricacies of RISK (Australia)...

6 weeks - HAH! The first year it became a 6 month program - so I left my duties as a Wrestling coach. 2 years in and I am contemplating leaving my post as the Varsity Soccer coach. A program that I built from nothing. This is what FRC means to me. I have seen such great end results from the kids of my robotics team - things that I never saw from my years as a 'traditional' coach - I am about to leave a program that I love and built to focus on a new venture in FRC.

Now we are a solid program with 2 years under our belt. This season we have been piloting our future drive trains. We had a great rookie season that was followed up by a sub-par sophomore season (finishing in the quarterfinals at North Star and an invitation to the MSHSL Tournament); not a slump by most teams' standards - but it has been for us.

We have used your VIAIR pump and have been successful with it. We hope that VIAIR continues it's support of FRC in the future!

This is my story of what FRC has done for me.

[DJB11]

When I moved to Mount Olive back in 2002, Parents told me the HS had a robotics program. Joined FLL in fifth grade, then joined our robotics team last year.

[Koko Ed]

How did you hear about FIRST?Ironically through my ex-wife.
What made you decide to join?It was an opportunity to work with the animation program.
What attracted you to the FRC team?It was through the school my ex wife worked at and it looked like something we could do together. In the end I stayed with the team and she didn't.

[S.P.A.M.er]

How did you hear about FIRST? I heard about FIRST 10 years ago through my elementary school gifted program. I was in third grade at the time and our 4/5th grade gifted teacher was seeing if there was any interest in starting an FLL team that would participate at the FRC Team 180 S.P.A.M. FLL Qualifying tournament. The teacher's husband was ironically both the engineering teacher at my future HS as well as a Teacher-Mentor for S.P.A.M.
What made you decide to join? I joined FLL because my mom was an engineer with Florida Power and Light (FPL) as well as the entire gifted class I was in (same 12 kids I had been with since Kindergarten) had all decided to join the team. We did everything together and the team survived until we hit 6th grade when we were no longer able to be on the Elementary school team due to district policy. From 6-8th grade I would go with my friend Frannie Pawlak (the amazing artist on S.P.A.M.) to the FRC tournaments and always knew I wanted to join. I joined in summer 2011 after making the mistake of playing a varsity sport I love on a team who wanted nothing to do with me. My time on FRC 180 has been the best times of my life, as I've been able to become a better speaker and more confident in what I do. I feel that FIRST provided me with the skills I needed to become a good Army Engineer before even going to AIT, as well as helping to secure me a full scholarship to college. FIRST and SPAM are going to be a part of my life forever, I'll be mentoring/starting teams across the globe wherever my career may take me.

[Libby K]

One might think my answers are pretty obvious, but here goes:

How did you hear about FIRST?: Okay, this is the easy one. I started being brought along to FIRST events in 1992 as an infant. I never really 'heard about FIRST' as a new thing, it was just always a part of my life. It wasn't until I was maybe 6/7/8 that I really started to understand the program or the robots, but I've just always been around FIRST to watch it grow.

What made you decide to join?: In the Epcot days of the World Championship (side: it hasn't been Nationals since I was a kid, please for the love of god, people, stop calling it Nationals), there were far fewer rules about kid volunteers. At around 6, I started doing field reset. I got a really good look at the robots, and eventually I would just wander around and ask teams about their robots on my breaks. My dad was a judge, so sometimes when he needed to go do his own thing, he'd stick me with one of the teams he knew, and they'd take me in. I'd get to learn about their robots and even 'help' repair them - more like 'hey kid, hold this part real quick', but still - I was hooked. I knew I wanted a team of my own when I got to high school.

What attracted you to the FRC team?: The year I started organizing for 1923, FTC (then FVC) was still in the 'pilot program' stage, so it wasn't like there was much of a choice. I knew I wanted to play with the big robots, so FRC1923 was registered in the fall of my 9th grade year.

Welcome to Chief, Ryan! Thanks for collecting our stories. I'm sure you can also find some more stories by asking marketing@usfirst.org - they have also collected some great ones across all the programs, from students, mentors and volunteers alike. :)

[VIAIR_Ryan]

Hey guys,

Wow! I wasn't expecting to get this many responses so quickly.

After reading through the comments, I found that friends/family/mentors/school programs are reason why you all joined. (In that order.)

But what I found most interesting is when you all described what got you hooked. From those details, I gather that the energy from the event and the team morale is a rather large component to this experience, which is something that everyone can relate to. It might even be as important as an interest in robotics and engineering.

So i'm going to take the advise from Andrew Lawrence and belle94 - Our next video will comprise of testimonials that focus on what the student gets out of the FIRST experience and what impact it has on their lives.

We probably won't start working on this until next year and when it is done I'll be sure to post on this thread. But since David8696 has plenty of time on his hands, maybe we can arrange for the first testimonial. ;)

Thanks again guys,
Ryan Shaw

[Christopher149]

How did you hear about FIRST?
I first got into FIRST through FLL. (caution, this was a while ago, so the details might be fuzzy) At the school, you could join spring of third grade for "preseason". I think my mom heard about it, and I joined and I loved it.

What made you decide to join?
Robots? Like I said, third grade was eons ago, so I don't know anymore. FIRST has always just sort of "been there", but not to the degree of Libby. ;)

What attracted you to the FRC team?
When I moved in seventh grade, I specifically was ecstatic that the new school had FLL and FRC. I didn't want to stop in high school (or college now, for that matter).


I think part of what has kept me (especially through FLL) is the chance to advance to further events (states, CMP) by performing well. That competitive recognition that makes FIRST more than a fair or exposition.

[April_robo]

I joined because a friend said I should come check it out. Three years later I am now the captain of my team. I love the hands on experience you get and the fact that you can meet so many wonderful people from all over the world. FIRST has made such an impact in my life, it showed me what I wanted to do when I grow up and taught me how to be a professional in a stressful environment.

[Ben Martin]

How did you hear about FIRST?
I saw an article in the local paper back in 2001 talking about the local high school's robotics team.

What made you decide to join?
In 2004, a friend in my robotics troop suggested I should join, mentioning that I would enjoy it.

What attracted you to the FRC team?
I was interested in technology and looking for a fun extracurricular to get involved with.

[Chris is me]

How did you hear about FIRST? I went to a cool boarding high school in northern Wisconsin for a year. In the fall, my "house parent" (live-in advisor/teacher essentially) announced he was starting an FVC team. We watched the game animation during announcements and I thought it looked interesting, but very difficult. I didn't initially reach out to do it because of how hard it looked, but my house parent bugged me about it at dinner that night and he said not to worry about how hard it is. I joined after that and I've loved it ever since. Very thankful to that mentor for having such a huge impact on my life with a little encouragement and strong leadership.

What attracted you to the FRC team? After I left the boarding school, I started my own FTC team. Through basically entirely luck, we ended up winning our event as the second pick and being invited to Worlds. I was talking with one of the event volunteers throughout the day and when I qualified, she offered to have her team help me compete at champs with extra vex parts and students. This was my first exposure to the huge FRC competition which was incredible. After missing championship eliminations, I joined the FRC team and started scouting. I'm forever thankful to 1714 for their generosity in 2008 and taking me on as a student in 2009 - without them, I don't think I would have ever been exposed to mechanical engineering and my life would be much different.

[Whippet]

Where did I first hear of FIRST?
Beginning around kindergarten, I developed an obsession with robots probably stemming from my watching the original "Star Wars." During the second grade in 2005, I picked up a book from the library entitled something along the lines of "How to build an award-winning robot." Curious, I picked it up, and became aware of FIRST as the foremost robotics program available. It was at that point that I started watching the occasional robot reveal/competition video online.

How did I become invalided in FIRST? /What made me attracted to the FRC team?
I originally became involved in FIRST with team 3043 while I was in sixth grade. I had been attending a combined middle and high school, and had joined the robotics club. As it turns out, there were two robotics clubs, and I went to the "wrong" one. All of the middle school students were supposed to go to a different club with LEGO and really no idea what they were doing (This was a year before the FLL team was founded). I had walked into the FRC team's meeting while they were improving their 2009 bot in preparation for the 2010 season. I was hooked. After asking, I was allowed into the FRC team as a "build assistant," or "sit here and file this PVC." However, I was able to contribute some significant design changes, and the next year I was promoted to captain of the Minibot subteam. That's basically it. The next year, I was promoted to captain of the electrical subteam. We moved to Odessa, and I became co-captain of team 4301, the team at my current school. This is my second year in that position, and I will be taking over the position of captain this coming year, after our current captain graduates.

[Shrub]

My brother became the gunner for our school's team, and I got to stay after one day to bring dinner and work on the robot from the Ultimate Ascent season. Our coach was really glad a girl was participating, but it was too late in the season to join. I decided I wanted to because everyone was really nice and it seemed interesting to actually build a robot with my bare hands (so of course, I became the webmaster instead).
I joined to get to hang out and get free food at first, but at this point I stay for my team, food or no food.

I know a junior on my team joined because he wanted to do something after school, since he was new to the city and now he's mascot/spirit on our FTC and FRC team.

[belle94]

Also, this is a few years old but still relevant:

http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/first-robotics-and-alumna-hood

I'm sure that's not the only piece of its kind out there so if anyone else knows of any others I'd love to read them.

[debbiemusselman]

How did you hear about FIRST?
I heard about FIRST when Team 708 hosted the week 1 MAR District event in 2012. I had been hearing things from a few of my friends about having a robotics team but I wasn't really sure of what they were talking about so when they hosted the event, I had the opportunity to go down with a few of my classes and it was a great experience getting to see what my friends had been telling me all along. This was a great way to hear about FIRST and I am really glad that I did.

What made you decide to join?
There were actually a few things that maid me decide to join Team 708 in my junior year. One thing was my interest in Computer Science. Since my freshmen year, I was interested in Computer Science and was interested in finding something to do that involved programming and I found it. Joining the team really helped me to realize that I want to major in Computer Science in College.

Another thing that made me decide to join the team was the influence of my friends that were already on the team. After seeing the 2012 competition, I started talking to my friends that were already on the team about what they really do and how the whole FIRST program works.

The final thing that I can think of that made me decide to join the team was the connections that are made and the amount of fun that is had.

What attracted you to the FRC team?
The main thing that attracted me to the FRC team was the relationships that you made and the amount of fun they were having while still learning things. There are so many amazing people that are a part of my team and FIRST in general, that you would be missing out on a lot if you had not joined. My team is like a family and even though we may disagree on things, we still value others opinions. It is great to be a part of a student based organization that is focused on getting students involved in STEM fields and there are no limitations as to what you can accomplish not only as a team, but also as individuals.

[lakecat]

My school is very art and sports focused, and I was desperate for any sort of engineering focused club. I found out about my team at a school fair, and came to the very first meeting. After a couple of months on the team, I decided that it would be best for me to be on programming team. I've been hooked ever since!

[GreedLeprechaun]

My sis was on the team back in '05. She told me how great FIRST was and convinced me to join the team. And after my first year, I now know how right she was.

BTW I'm new to the forums and this made my day: ::ouch::

[alexander.h]

At the end of the rookie year (when I wasn't on the team), they put out a video to summarize the 2012 season. Once I saw it, I told myself : "That's what I'm doing next year..." And the rest is history.

[DevBal5012]

I joined at first our FTC team 7372 because I just thought it was another after school activity I could use to pass the time. I later joined Team 5012 Gryffingear because of a whole new reason. I learned how much fun robotics was and I wanted to continue, so I took a leap of faith and I wouldn't trade my experiences with FIRST for the world.

[Clem1640]

The first time I heard about FIRST was at a Front End of Innovation Conference held by the PDMA in 2004. Dean Kamen was an invited speaker at the conference's dinner and spoke about FRC. I thought FRC was a really cool idea, but I was very busy. Traveling a great deal on business. Nothing developed.

But my eldest daughter was recruited by her high school's FRC coach in the Fall of 2005. My job responsibilities had changed and I was traveling less frequently. When I took her to her (and my) first off-season competition, Ramp Riot, I was sucked in. It was absolutely the coolest and most amazing thing I had ever seen. During a follow-up parents' meeting, I realized that with my equipment and systems design and project management background and CAD experience, I could contribute to the team as a mentor, I signed on.

I was attracted to team 1640 because my daughter was on the team.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

The spring of my freshman year of HS (2006), the physics teach at my school described the game to me and suggested that I join in the fall since they had just completed the competition season the previous month.

The team participated in an offseason competition that October called Sweet Repeat, and I've been hooked ever since.

Before hearing about FIRST, I never knew about a competition that valued Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition, and used robots to compete in sporting-like events. It blew me away. I mean, I was already busy w/ Marching Band, Science Olympics, Spanish Club, and a bunch of other stuff, but this was an entirely different animal, worth investing my time in.

[RoboMo786]

Hello Ryan. My name is Mohiuddin Baig and I am a rookie member of Team 3538, The Avondale Robo-Jackets, from Auburn Hills, MI.

First, I want to thank you and your company for all the support you have given FIRST teams. VIAIR compressors help us greatly since they're a powerful, light weight solution for pneumatic systems.

I first became interested in robotics when I was 5. I used to see robotics matches broadcast on PBS. I believe they were combot matches. I loved to see them whiz around, pushing and shoving at each other. That fascination stuck with me, but I started to leave it behind since I thought I could never be a part of something like that. Then, one day I met our team leader, Mr. Abbott. He himself is a rookie, but he was just amazed at what could be done with these teams. This fall, I was one of the first to sign up for our robotics team.

Just having a team at our school is a really big deal. We didn't have a team for over a decade, then Team 3538 started in 2011, but unfortunately died right after the 2012 season. The fact that we are a resurrected team is one thing that has driven me throughout the season. I've been giving my all to the team, because I wanted a program like this so badly and I don't want to see it go. So now we're wrapping up this season, and preparing for the next, but this time we're implementing fail-safes to keep the team alive if things go awry.

Now I'm going to help you. Getting students interested in robotics isn't hard. It's getting them dedicated that's hard. We had over 200 people sign up for our team in the fall. Out of those 200, 30 came forward to dedicate. Once theater started, 30 dropped to 15. That's what we've been running with since.

So why aren't kids dedicated? Well, one reason is that many put "too much on their plate", and then have to cut back on activities. The biggest reason though is that many don't think they're "smart enough." Every single kid in my school that I've tried to recruit tells me this. I even doubted myself when I joined. Every member of the team doubted themselves to a certain extent. We had absolutely no experience at all with CAD, programming, mechanical, or electrical work, but we still managed to rank 11 out of 40 at the Troy District Competition. We even moved up to become the seventh alliance captain. The point is we need kids to know that anyone, and everyone is capable of learning, and contributing to their robotics team.

FIRST is widespread enough, so that isn't the issue. We need to get kids to dive in.

Thank you once again. I hope I could be of help.

[VioletElizabeth]

How did you hear about FIRST?

I was meeting someone before a math camp we were both going to, and somehow our parents decided to make the meeting place SVR in 2011 and we ended up sitting with the Space Cookies. (I think maybe my mom read the Girl Scout notices?).

What made you decide to join?/What attracted you to the FRC team?

Around the same time, I was thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, and after going to an engineering night at the school, I remember thinking, "This is what I want to do." I was also influenced by something my mom said when I was little and making a big mess or something. She said that in this world, there are people who destroy things, and there are people who build things, and that it was our choice which kind of person to be. (I suspect I took it rather more literally than she meant.) I went to the recruitment event and they had an activity where you could sit down and break chain, and I thought that was fun. (It's the biggest thing I remember, three years later, from that day. They phrased it like a challenge--can you break this chain without losing the little pin?) So I started going to the meetings, and I thought the people there were pretty cool, and that they did some pretty cool things. Our meetings were very inclusive--we would all sit around the same table and discuss stuff.

By this point, I've been on the team for three years, and it's been a huge part of my life. I can't imagine what my life would've been like without my team--certainly much more boring. I've absorbed more technical knowledge than I ever knew existed, but I think that, more than that, I've grown as a person. I went from being a shy freshman to someone who leads and teaches others, who enjoys public speaking and is not afraid to speak out. I'm still learning, but I've come a long way. And I've made some of my best friends. Robotics and specifically my team has changed my world, for the better.

Best of luck getting more people involved, and thank you for being such a dedicated sponsor.

[Chris Endres]

I heard about FIRST back in 2006, when my mom was invited to be a judge at our local FLL regional. After visiting that regional, and many others, my mom I started a team with several of my elementary school peers.

I joined my mom's team mainly due to my encounters with technology, LEGOs, and my huge passion for learning and building. After our first season, and earning the highest table score at state, my team and I went on to win the Illinois state championship title twice, as well as earning third place championship title. We traveled to the World Championship in 2011, and there, I took great interest in the "big robots" (FRC). That is when I learned I could conveniently join a prestigious team at my local high school, 111 WildStang.

I love robotics, it is truly my life. I was the freshman that worked on the robot, over 600 over the whole ~13 weeks of the season. Where this year it was about 900 hours during the whole season. I am currently looking into starting LEGO robot clubs for younger, elementary students. And possibly fall projects for middle-schoolers. It was great to have someone who gave me the experience and opportunity to join such a great program, why not do the same?

[Charles Boehm]

My freshman year(last year) I joined my schools cross country team in the summer and fall. Since I go to a smaller school(~415 kids 6-12th grade) I was able to make very strong friendships in that short. As the Next robotics season started to roll around the hype around the runners at practice started to grow. At first I was very intimidated about joining but looking back on my experiences in FLL and the great friends I had made that year, I decided to go for it.

I don't even know what I'd be doing with my life right now if I hadn't, FIRST is an amazing program and has opened my eyes to my passions.

First off, thank you for your support of FIRST, your compressors are very nice :)
The only problem I had with the video is that it focused a lot on just this years game, although that is awesome for people who are already in the program it seems a bit confusing for people on the outside. I think a bit more history of the program would be more benificial.

[zinthorne]

Love the video!

I first heard about FIRST in the local newspaper. It was the year of rebound rumble and I saw a picture of 3 robots and one of them happened to be the team I am on now, 3663. I did not take much notice then to frc, but when I looked into it more I never looked back. I eventually ended up changing schools so I could join a team. I learned alot my freshman year, and now i just finished my sophomore season, and I am looking forward to 2 more years, and then hopefully helping mentor a team.

[thegnat05]

Hello Ryan!!

First off I just want to say that I absolutely love your video. Being able to see all of the teams involved at your regional and I feel you really captured the spirit of FIRST.

I just finished my 3rd year on FRC team 2531 and this is my story about how I have come to love robotics.

How did you hear about FIRST? The first time I heard about FIRST was my freshman year of high school in my Principals of Engineering course. There were 3 members of the team in my class and they were always talking about robotics the previous year and encouraging me to join. I was currently on the speech team and didn't have much time to commit to another team but in the middle of build season I dropped in on a meeting and that day I joined the team.
What made you decide to join? PEER PRESSURE! Haha everyone was always encouraging me to join and our head mentor welcomed me in the moment I walked in the door. The whole team was so kind and they all seemed so passionate about what they were doing. I just had to be involved!
What attracted you to the FRC team? The first time I heard about FIRST was my freshman year and my school only had an FRC team so it was the only immediate option and to me it seemed like the most exciting.

Overall I have had nothing but positive experiences through FIRST. I went from sorting screws, to designing t-shirts, to helping build a robot. I have made so many friends and learned so much from mentors and fellow teammates. I never miss out on an opportunity to tell people about FIRST because to me it is the coolest community I have ever been a part of. I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to learn and grow through FIRST as I have.

[VIAIR_Ryan]

Hey all,

I'm reading your replies as they come in.

RoboMo786, Charles Boehm - Thank you for the suggestions.
Charles Boehm - Is there any part of the history that you think we should focus on?
belle94 - What an interesting read! Anna's blog details a few experiences that show exactly how she got drawn into the program.

This reminds me of RoboMo786's point, that plenty of students know about FIRST but not all the students dive in.

I'll be sure to keep that in mind when we remake our 2015 video.

Cheers,
Ryan Shaw

[carlgrass32]

I tracked teams 67 107 85 (I'm an alum) and 74 pretty fun seasons for all 4 teams!

[PVCpirate]

Just having a team at our school is a really big deal. We didn't have a team for over a decade, then Team 3538 started in 2011, but unfortunately died right after the 2012 season. The fact that we are a resurrected team is one thing that has driven me throughout the season. I've been giving my all to the team, because I wanted a program like this so badly and I don't want to see it go. So now we're wrapping up this season, and preparing for the next, but this time we're implementing fail-safes to keep the team alive if things go awry.

Now I'm going to help you. Getting students interested in robotics isn't hard. It's getting them dedicated that's hard. We had over 200 people sign up for our team in the fall. Out of those 200, 30 came forward to dedicate. Once theater started, 30 dropped to 15. That's what we've been running with since.

So why aren't kids dedicated? Well, one reason is that many put "too much on their plate", and then have to cut back on activities. The biggest reason though is that many don't think they're "smart enough." Every single kid in my school that I've tried to recruit tells me this. I even doubted myself when I joined. Every member of the team doubted themselves to a certain extent. We had absolutely no experience at all with CAD, programming, mechanical, or electrical work, but we still managed to rank 11 out of 40 at the Troy District Competition. We even moved up to become the seventh alliance captain. The point is we need kids to know that anyone, and everyone is capable of learning, and contributing to their robotics team.

FIRST is widespread enough, so that isn't the issue. We need to get kids to dive in.

Thank you once again. I hope I could be of help.

My team had the dedication problem for a couple of years, where a large number of new students would show up in October, but almost all of them would drop out by January. The main culprit seemed to be boredom: we simply weren't engaging them enough to get most to stick around until the real fun started. The solution was having them participate in a one-off VEX competition hosted by WPI. By allowing them to do some engineering right away, it was much easier to get them hooked and for them to understand just how great build season would be.