Why did you join FIRST?

[Katie_UPS]

I think that I have an unusual story as to how I got involved in FIRST.
And I'm pretty sure that it isn't normal proceedure. So I was wondering,

How did you get involved in FIRST?

Whether you're a mentor or a student, a volunteer or a teammate, FRC or FLL, how did you get involved?


And if you were wondering my story;

When I was in 6th grade, my mom woke me up one Saturday and my parents and I went to Chicago. I had no idea why we were going, but next thing I know, I'm walking into this arena, with a bunch of kids in matching shirts and robots on a colorful field (Triple Play)('05). I was going to my first regional to watch the robot that my two siblings helped make. It never occured to me before then that they were even on a robotics team (or that such a thing existed!), but I was watching, and it looked like so much fun, and just really cool. Ever since, I’ve been hooked. I pretty much knew as I left the venue that I was going to join the team when I went to high school.


What's your story?

[Billfred]

I saw a sign in the Irmo High tech center advertising a team starting.

It looked like it could be fun.

The rest is history.

[Zach O]

Mine is a rather boring story.

This year (my freshman year) I was at a orientation for my parents at school. During this, there was a marching band member (I am was in marching band too, but I didn't know them at the time really) asked me if I was taking any drafting classes. I said I was and they asked me if I wanted to join the Robotics team. I guess you can see the rest :P

[gorrilla]

1557 put an add out in the paper......then they dragged my down with them;)


I dont really know "why" I joined FIRST.....but Im sure glad I did:D

actually...maybe i just wanted to get out of my house and do something...
I had no idea what i was getting myself into:P

[ATannahill]

My story is actually pretty close to Katie's, Except I didn't go to one of my brother's events. When I got to high school, I decided on East Lake because of the robotics program and got hooked during my freshman season. I am sorry I did not get involved earlier.

[EricH]

I first saw a FIRST robot back in the dark ages... My school, along with about 3 others, had a team in 1997's Torroid Terror that did a demo at my school. I didn't pay much attention at the demo... I probably should have.

Then my dad started helping out the (now single-school) team as an engineer in 1998, the last year before alliances. Naturally, I hung out with the team when I could. I remember one of my friends and I cleaning the floor of nuts and washers and passing them to the sorters. That's kind of how it went from then to 2000. Then the team changed locations, so I couldn't hang out at the shop any more.

2001 and 2002, I went to competitions, as I'd been doing since SVR started (anyone else remember the blimp hangar we were in the first year?). I'd gone to the 1999 and 2000 SVR events, and the 2000 Orlando competition (also known as: Nationals).

For the 2003 season, the team leadership decided to allow 8th grade students on the team under certain conditions, which I met. (Later, the age went back up.) I, of course, jumped at the chance and got to work, as I was in 8th grade that year. Back to hanging out at the shop... but this time, I was actually working.

[gorrilla]

another thing.............

back in 2006, I saw an add for my team(1557) and called up one of our mentors Lee Johnson..then I found out that it was only for highschool grades' so I kinda forgot about it untill next year when I saw another one in the paper

[Rich Kressly]

A few individual stories, including mine, are here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1583 Compiling a recent set of these kind of stories from a wide variety of sources can be a powerful tool in your region.

[Josh Goodman]

I joined robotics club with my friends because I'm a geek. I didn't join FIRST until around the end of my freshman year, during my first Championships. It was at that point where I "got it". It's been a wild ride since then just for joining the school robotics club.

[Katie_UPS]

A few individual stories, including mine, are here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1583 Compiling a recent set of these kind of stories from a wide variety of sources can be a powerful tool in your region.


Thanks. I searched through the threads for something similar, but I didn't think about documents or anything.

Although I still like hearing people's stories. Keep 'em coming!

[Rick TYler]

Because the judge said, "Either five years in prison, the French Foreign Legion, or become a robotics mentor." To think, I'd be getting out of prison right about now...

[Scott Morgan]

My team had a demo with their stack attack bot at my freshman orientation. I was really interested because robots are awesome, so I signed up to join the team. However, I forgot about it and didn't end up going until one of my friends invited me to one of the meetings several weeks later.

[DarkFlame145]

I first fount out about FIRST when I was my my boyscout meetings (I made it all the way to Eagle), I noticed that all of my older friends (freshman at the time) where coming into the meetings late. After a few weeks I asked why they where always late, they told me about first and for 3 long years all I wanted to do was FIRST. Finally my Freshman year of High School came around and I got on the team asap. I went from a Rookie Welder for Team 145 to one of the more influential members of the team by the time I was done with my Student career. When I moved to Orlando, I didn't want my FIRST career to be over so I started asking around about teams in the area and became a College mentor for 1902.

I know I gave my whole FIRST history, but it was because of my older friends talking about FIRST and getting me hooked that started the madness I love.

[SamC]

The robotics team is basically the only extracurricular at my school so I always knew about it. But then I found out that you got to go on trips for the competitions, so I joined. After the first year I returned not only for the traveling but mainly for the robots and different learning opportunities.

[typharn91]

i was on a fll team in middle school and spam hosted the tornement we went to and had thiers robots at the comp and i was awesome and i got hooked then and there and been in it since

[EricH]

The robotics team is basically the only extracurricular at my school so I always knew about it. But then I found out that you got to go on trips for the competitions, so I joined. After the first year I returned not only for the traveling but mainly for the robots and different learning opportunities.
And, as I recall, we not only roped you in, but your dad, and your brother is waiting his time to join...

[harleywhite]

Because my mom told me to... kind of.

I've been around the Bomb Squad since 2001 (I think) so I pretty much grew up with the team. (FIRST is a way of life at my house.) I have always known I would be on the team one way or another and there was no escaping. So after a year and a half of being in FIRST officially, I am pretty much addicted.

[Chris is me]

I was about to write a massive post until I realized it became my entire first history. So here's the shorter version.

In 2006, my "house parent" (live in mentor at a boarding school I went to) wanted me to try out robotics, so I joined the FVC team the school started. We ran into our share of problems, but what really got me going was the competition. The frenzy of scrambling to get our robot together, then helping out other teams witht he same problems while talking to a wide variety of kids was amazing. We ended up being 8th seed and losing right away.

It's what motivated me to start a team with my friend and my dad in 2007, FTC 63 "The Rebels". The idea is that we both left our boarding school for various reasons, so we were joining to compete with them (that and our love of the competition). We really had no idea what we were doing, so we showed up with a barely working robot. My teammate and I had a fight and she quit while I proceeded to take apart our robot to try and salvage the chassis.

At this point, a team I helped out from Wisconsin Lutheran High came by and helped me out. I was 5 seconds from quitting and they wouldn't let me. Finally we got the four wheeled... thing on the field and I ended up helping out in every match with strategy. I was the third pick of the 1st seed alliance and long story short I qualified for Atlanta entirely because of the brilliant amazing kids in Wisconsin Lutheran.

Right there I knew that I couldn't quit FIRST, it was WAY too much fun. Luckily, one of the event volunteers was on an FRC team with Vex parts so they agreed to let me use theirs to compete in Atlanta. Long story short, everything in Atlanta went wrong, but I had fun the whole way through, and then the FRC team invited me to join them for 2008-9 I just couldn't say no. Every single hour long drive to the shop is worth it.

[Abra Cadabra IV]

I actually got dragged into FIRST through Girl Scouts. About mid-2007, I got a flyer in the mail advertising a robotics program for girls. It was mostly targeting FLL-age kids (there's a zillion Girl Scout FLL teams in the area) but it did have something for people my age. My mother convinced me to apply to join, and I went along with it, thinking that it would be another generic activity that would be over in a month or two.

That "something" turned out to be one of the first Girl Scout FTC teams - Team 25, the Rock-n-Roll Robots. That first year, we had 7 girls and 3 mentors. One of the girls was a former member of Robodox, and one of the mentors was a former member of WildStang. Nobody else had much FIRST experience or (in the case of the girls, myself included, any robotics or engineering experience whatsoever) any robotics experience whatsoever. We had a rough start in the beginning, placing dead last in our first competition, but after a huge re-design we went on to take 2nd place at two regionals plus winning the Inspire Award (equivalent to Chairman's in FTC) and qualifying for Atlanta. And then when we got to Atlanta, not only did we win an award, we also ended up taking second place.

That something inspired me to join my school's rookie FRC team the same year. That was a whole different experience; we had trouble with mentors and funding and our first year was not so great, but we won the Rookie All-Star Award at our regional and in the process got inspired by all the other teams out there.

That something opened up a whole new world for me. It let me find something I love to do, and it let me make friends and it let me be part of FIRST, something which I will never give up.

Things have come a long way since then; 2429 was proud to be a picking alliance at Los Angeles this year (even if we did lose in the first round), while Rock-n-Roll is coming back to Atlanta after being a strong force at every regional we've attended. And I am so incredibly glad that I got that flyer in the mail.

[Meredith Novak]

Because my mom told me to...

Oh, she's never done anything her mom told her to :p

The reason her mom got involved and "forced" the FIRST lifestyle on all 3 of her kids is more interesting:

The nicest man in the world told me he wouldn't be a very good husband because he had "a thing for robots." Not to be deterred by this admittedly bizarre attempt to avoid commitment, I decided to investigate this "hobby" of his. He even signed me up to volunteer at our FLL tournament the weekend before our wedding. It was about the most fun I had ever had...poor guy...

[ezygmont708]

I wish that I had the opportunity to join a FIRST team in High School. My senior year I found out that such a thing existed, but it was only open to students taking specific courses.

I did however have a few friends on the team... And did some material "acquisitions" for them. I was working as a computer technician at a machine shop at the time.

I started working for that same High School about two years ago. When I got the job they asked me if I would be interested in sponsoring the team, as no other teachers or employees were interested in sponsoring the team.

I am now at the point where I spend 40 hours at work a week, and probably another 25-30 hours per week on robotics. We are currently trying to take a barely functioning program, and reconstruct it into a world class organization. As you all know these things don't happen over night.

We are especially thankful to our sponsors:
MOTOROLA
CENTOCOR
Hatboro-Horsham Education Foundation
Upper Moreland Education Foundation

I deeply enjoy seeing students who are enthusiastic about their prospects, and work hard to accomplish their goals. That is why I am an adviser for TEAM 708 - Hardwired Fusion.

[jamie_1930]

My Dad use to take me to the Finger Lakes Regional every year, and although I didn't get it that much then as soon as I was a freshman I grabbed five of my friends and told them the have to come to this meeting, four of them are now ending their second year in the program.

[Boydean]

I believe it was in 2004(FIRST Frenzy). My dad came home and was talking about it after hearing about FIRST(and the Palmetto Regional) on the radio. He then pulled the site up and watched the promo video. I fell in love with that video and showed it to everyone I knew.

When we went to the Palmetto regional a few weeks later, we fell in love with it and then took a trip to Championships. The following year my dad decided to start a FLL team(I was in 6th grade) with three of my friends.

That first year we got the name "Cyber Storm" and moved with two years of FLL, a year with FVC(now FTC) and last year the was the first time being in FRC.

With being the first FIRST team in our town, and my dad pushing the whole thing. What has now grown into two FLL teams and pretty well known FRC team in our community, with my dad pushing the whole thing forward; volunteering at anytime and mentoring FLL teams, I can't imagine life with out FIRST.

ps. To this date FIRST Frenzy still has a special place in my heart, for being the first game I ever saw.

[NorviewsVeteran]

My first exposure to the organization was when I was 7 or so, it was the game with the purple playground balls that fell from over the driver stations. My mom called me into the room where she had the TV on the channel that was showing a regional, "It's robots!" I went in, saw the kids driving them and said, "neh, they're not fighting." (Yes, I'm guilty of it)

In 5th grade, I got picked up from school to go over to my brother's middle school where they had an FLL team (I had no idea what was going on in there), but I hung out with them, helped build their field, and ended up going to a competition with them (they didn't do too hot).

I went to a different middle school, one without a team, but there was a robotics class, so I was set. In 8th grade, I was interested in 3D animation and such, so My mom took me over to Norview, where my brother was in their FRC team. I didn't watch him, though, I hung out with Paul Jones (he goes to JMU now) but I gravitated to the shop where they were building stuff (I grew up on Legos). Not only that, but the robotics class they had there used VEX, and at some point I picked up the controller for one and was instantly deemed a driver (too bad I wasn't a high school student) because I was carefully driving the bot through table legs, over shoes, between legs, etc.

Over the course of it all, I was in the 'gifted' program (was mysteriously dropped from the list), dabbled in TSA (wasn't thrilled with the leadership at the school), and offered a spot at the technical center. You won't hear me complain the one I stuck with. My mom brought up the interesting point that I've done more leading than the LCSE (Leadership group at Norview) and we both thought that's pretty funny.

[santosh]

I missed the bus and wound up at a meeting

[keehun]

I took part in Team 2502's rookie year. The senior who had started the team left for MIT so basically, a bunch of freshmen and juniors were left with the job of making the team's second year as successful as possible. I saw the chance and grasped the opportunity to lead the team and program our robot. I'm one of the team leaders with 2 other sophomores and a senior. Our regional is in 4 days! I am so excited to see the fruits of the work of the second year team.

I must say, the senior leaving and me trying to fill his gap taught me a lot and gave me a ton of challenges, but also glued me to the team :)

[MasterRobot]

I joined FIRST when one day I got a call from the parent who coordinated FLL. Apparently an old tech teacher from my elementary school was good friends with her and suggested that I might be a good addition to the team. The following year I was able to lead a FLL team that was able to go to Atlanta after winning our regional.
Thanks to this parent, and the success of the FLL teams, the administration of the team took more notice and thanks to them and Hawaii embracing robotics for the new FRC regional, a FRC team was created. I was lucky enough to move from FLL to FRC during that year, showing me the diversity of programs FIRST offers and how amazing they all are.

[waialua359]

May 1999-in my high school library, looking at a Cheesy Poof Rookie robot with Jason Morella and 2 students from Broadway HS.
Some other teacher told me to come check out this thing called FIRST Robotics. :P

[Bomberofdoom]

Our future-Mentor came to our school (pretty late, actually, in the end of December) and introduced the FRC to my class, explaining that the project involves mechanics, physics and programming, which of course, I was interested in.
I was about to start a programming project with another friend, related to image processing, but we weren't give too much help, so I thought that programming a robot and not a program on a computer would be much more fun and challenge.
When I saw my other team mates joining, I thought to myself that I was better than them in programming (guilty :rolleyes:, but I really was) so I decided to volunteer for being the programming team leader.

I wanted to join the program because I saw this as an oppurtunity to experince first-hand, in high school, on how to work in a high-tech buissness.
There was no other place for me to expereince this, and I knew that this project would deffiantly give me something for the future.
That's why the following year I was the CEO of the team. :D

[Jimmy Nichols]

Jan 2004 I overheard a group of students talking about their senior design project working with this group of kids on a robot. I thought that would be awesome and I would love to do that. They said it was really hard to get the as your senior design. The next year, 2005, I wasn't able to get on that group, until one of the guys on the group called and said they were dropping it for something else. I swooped and in and the rest is history

[GaryVoshol]

My story starts with my daughter's story. Her elementary teacher heard about FLL and said, "I really think you should be on the robotic team." That first year, they didn't compete, but they did start in Volcanic Panic the next year. Now it's nine years later ...

Thanks, Mrs B.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Way back in 1996, my son, who was involved in the video and broadcasting club was asked to document the newly formed robotics team. He was shooting throughout the build season and editing like mad at school. He needed some help and a chaperone so my wife and I jumped in to help. I never set a hand on the robot that year. The second year, video was even more intense and Motorola had a facility for post production and my son was now on the mechanical crew. We continued video and editing but that was the first year for the Midwest Regional. So I attended and the robot had some issue with electrical. My son dragged me from the stands into the pit to help out. That was the first time I learned not to let a mech student go drilling holes in the tubing that electrical has run it's wires through. I could also anticipate what tool Raul would need next so he let me stay. The rest is history. My daughter started attending robotic events before she entered high school. Now both are graduated but attend events from time to time. My daughter as a spectator and guiding cheering sections. My son as a mentor on team 2041 from Clemente High School in Chicago.

[D.Stephenson]

2001 my Dad was mentoring 270 Deer Park's robotics team, my Uncle was there and asked my Dad to help him a few hours a week with the project, My Dad took my family to the SBPLI regional on saturday i was 13 and I loved it, Freshman year of high school I found out my school was starting a team, I showed up at the meeting after kick off, next day asked my Dad to come help us, and we have been with 871 since then

[petek]

I blame my daughter for it. At the start of her freshman year in HS she had to pick an extracurricular activity and saw that there was a robotics club. She'd had a preview of this club when her middle school tech class went to the Philly regional the year before, so she signed up for it. The "club" was Team 103.

I tried to stay out of it and let her grow without my meddling. Really, I did! I managed to give her her space and just helped out a little on Saturdays during build season. Then I went to my first regional (J&J, at the Rutgers College Ave gym) and decided that it was way more fun than one daughter should be allowed to have by herself.

[James1902]

When i was in about 6th grade my grandparents volunteered me to be a ball boy at the 2002 championships at EPCOT. I was swept up in the excitement and immediately went around the teams trying to find one from my future high school. I soon found out that Winter Park (the school I was zoned for) didn't have a team. So in 2005 when i became a freshman I joined 1083, another local high schools team. The year flew by and I had a blast, meeting tons of great people and creating friendships I still have today. Sadly that was 1083's last year so I, along with a very dedicated group of mentors and students, decided it was time to start a new central Florida team, and 1902 was born.

Another funny story is how one of my friends joined the team. It was 1902's second meeting ever, we didn't even have a name yet, and we brought a tray of Chick-fil-a to the meeting so we could eat and ponder over the game hint. My friend heard about the food and stopped in to mooch our chicken. However after she saw what the team did she decided to come back the next meeting and all the meetings after that.

[Collin Fultz]

During my freshman year of HS, I had Mr. Steve Wherry for geometry. He was one of the teacher sponsors for team 234. I wasn't on the team, but he spent so much time during second semester (Spring 2001) talking about FIRST, their robot, and the competitions that I was intrigued. He even went so far as to diagram the fabled "710 Match" during one of our classes then show us the video from the webcast. That spring break, my family went on a cruise then hung out in Orlando for a few days. The Saturday before we drove home, my dad took me to see my teacher and the robotics team he had heard some things about at work. I was blown away. As soon as I got home, I convinced my three best friends to apply for the team with me for the next season.

Eight years later, I have a BSME from Purdue with significant help from a Purdue/Delphi/FIRST scholarship, and a full-time position as a system engineer at Rolls-Royce (a sponsor of team 234 and 8 other central Indiana teams), and am back mentoring team 234. The circle of FIRST-life continues. All thanks to an enthusiatic geometry teacher and a father willing to take a chance and do something different with his son.

[JaneYoung]

During my freshman year of HS, I had Mr. Steve Wherry for geometry. He was one of the teacher sponsors for team 234. I wasn't on the team, but he spent so much time during second semester (Spring 2001) talking about FIRST, their robot, and the competitions that I was intrigued. He even went so far as to diagram the fabled "710 Match" during one of our classes then show us the video from the webcast. That spring break, my family went on a cruise then hung out in Orlando for a few days. The Saturday before we drove home, my dad took me to see my teacher and the robotics team he had heard some things about at work. I was blown away. As soon as I got home, I convinced my three best friends to apply for the team with me for the next season.

Eight years later, I have a BSME from Purdue with significant help from a Purdue/Delphi/FIRST scholarship, and a full-time position as a system engineer at Rolls-Royce (a sponsor of team 234 and 8 other central Indiana teams), and am back mentoring team 234. The circle of FIRST-life continues. All thanks to an enthusiatic geometry teacher and a father willing to take a chance and do something different with his son.


This is another one of those posts that should be an entire spotlight. The whole thing.

Wisdom.

[RoboMom]

My older son joined a team his freshman year of HS. He will be graduating (we hope :rolleyes: ) from college in May with a degree in ME and a minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship. FIRST introduced him to both areas.
He introduced me to FIRST and I tried to help his team.
I still don't speak robot, but I helped with the other stuff.
Kathie and I started NEMO when we discovered there were others like us out there who helped with the other stuff.
In 2004 I was recruited to help more teams and joined the original class of FIRST Senior Mentors.

[JoshD]

My dad saw a flier while touring the school before we had even moved here. I went to a meeting a few weeks after we moved in. It was the middle of my sophomore year, and my parents thought it was the best way to make friends quickly in a new school.

They were right.

[Katie_UPS]

I reallly like reading (and sharing!) these stories!

Even if you think your story has been told a million times, share it!

(Also, if any teams are having recruiting issues, I just realized that this thread might be benificial for them (for ideas))

[Alan Anderson]

I wanted to join FIRST before FIRST even existed. I saw a program on TV about Woodie Flowers and the 2.007 Engineering class at MIT, and felt a little cheated that I'd never have the chance to participate.

Fast forward about twenty years, with my son entering high school and joining the TechnoKats -- no WAY was I going to let him miss out on it! I attended the 2003 Ford Sweet Repeat off-season competition, watched the 2004 FRC Kickoff in Kokomo, and generally hung around the shop for the first couple of weeks of build. The team's software mentor was called out of the country on business at an inconvenient time, and I was asked to step in and help out.

Knowing nothing about the control system, I said yes anyway. A visit to Wildstang gave me a solid foundation to learn how to program the "new" IFI system, and my place with the team was made official. I'm still "helping out" two years after my son graduated.

[Anna B.]

Well.... when I was in sixth grade, my little sister was a girl scout, and we always got their brochures with all the camps and stuff in it. There was one that looked really interesting, apparently the girl scouts were sponsoring an FLL team. It sounded pretty cool so I became an illegal girl scout for a while just to do robotics. Sadly the team died out the second year, but I was hungry for more robotics. Then when I was in eighth grade, my older sister had a lot of friends from band that were on a robotics team. They let eighth graders on and so I showed up at one meeting and was hooked. My first year I was the pit boss and safety captain, and now I am the lead programmer since the lead programmer from last year graduated.

FIRST changes you in a lot of ways, before being on the team, I wanted to be a professional dancer. But now that I've had a taste of the world of engineering, I don't want to leave it.

[Allison]

When I was a junior in high school...I was sitting in A+ Certification class when the teacher strongly encouraged me to join this new robotics team that they were starting. I was hesitant yet he made sure I got my application in (I wasn't very good at turning things in on time). I thought I wanted to work on computers then and had no idea if I was going to college or what I was going to do. I ended up attended Purdue and getting a BSMET, while I was there I happened to be walking to class as a sophomore and walked over a call out flier for Purdue FIRST and thought why not. The rest is history I will forever be a FIRST mentor thanks to an amazing group of kids that taught me that while the robot is an important avenue for teaching engineering, FIRST has a lot more to offer than just robots.

[XXShadowXX]

A robotics team was starting my junior year in high school. I was kinda interested but i had a large class load. Grant (who was a senior) attended a meeting, and saw some match video of team 1718, kept trying to convince me to join. Finally one day he handed me a application and said show up today after school in the physics room. I did.

[Koko Ed]

My wife (ex-wife actually but were still on speaking terms so I still call her mine) got me involved because I had the opportunity to get my hands on 3D Studio Max. So I eagerly jumped at the chance.
Seven years later and i still can't figure out how to use it.

[vivek16]

I was misinformed. :)

I guess my story is a little boring compared to others but the day of the pre-kickoff meeting, my friend told me it was like battle bots and I figured I would see what it was. I was a freshman and it was the rookie year of the team. We had 5 dedicated members at the end of that year, 4 went to the regional. 3 years later, we've grown significantly and there isn't an end in sight (for both me and the team :P).

-Vivek

[scottmacdonald]

In grade 7 I went to see my brother (grade 9 at the time) and the Coyobot compete in "Aim High" (in my opinion the best game) I saw it again in grade 8 and when grade 9 came around I went to see him in the lab one day in early January and I was "recruited." :)

[LilGrohnke2013]

I joined FIRST because my elementary school wanted to start a team and I like math and science, so I decided to see what it was all about. 4 years later, I'm still involved and on an FTC team in my Jr. High we were the first FTC team in our county! :D

[robotlover]

I'm not sure if I've told this story yet, but last year in myy freshman year one of my mentors Mr. J was my biology teacher and one day at the end of class he showed us this really amazing video about robotics. I saw it and was like OMG I HAVE TO JOIN!!!! but last year i got too distracted with other things and then this year I was determined to join and I started of with VEX and continued onto FRC and now i'm addicted :P

[DustinWyke]

hmm.. lets see...
i joined because a few of my really close friends where in robotics and they wanted me to join. I mainly joined in the beginning to hang with them and all but my motives have changed. now im here to learn .. and have fun.. XD

[Zyik]

hmm.. lets see...
i joined because a few of my really close friends where in robotics and they wanted me to join. I mainly joined in the beginning to hang with them and all but my motives have changed. now im here to learn .. and have fun.. XD

You, Cheif Delphi and FIRST, can thank/blame me for that one. :rolleyes:

My story tho... hmm, lets see.

I was in Jr. High School and there was an announcement over the intercom about a robotics club. I inquired, and was indoctrinated into Lego League. After that, it was a natural jump to the FRC team at the highschool where I've been ever since. I'm coming back to my team to mentor since I'm going to the local college, Cal Poly San Luis. FIRST has it's hooks in me, and I doubt I'll ever be able, or want to, get them out. :)

[Lydia Johnston]

I joined my school's robotics team this year only intending to stay on during the pre-season to work on the safety animation, because I thought I wanted to be an animator and design games. Then build season and Systems Integration happened, and now I intend to stay on the team for the rest of high school, become a FIRST mentor during and after college, and become a systems engineer when I grow up.

FIRST has significantly and unexpectedly changed my life. =)

[R Stephenson]

11 years ago, i was 7, my dad started to mentor 270 and brought me to the shops. I've been addicted ever since.

[blaxbb]

Lets start with my story
So sophomore year, two weeks before kickoff I realized i wasn't going to have much to do (cross-country ended and still had 4 more months until track) so I figured i would join this robotics team that the Tech Drawing teacher asked me to. Also two of my cousins were on team 25 (if i had known that i was getting into that HUGE competition they always talked about I might have been scared out of it...hurray for ignorance!!!). So two weeks after I joined...electrical sub-team leader (never touched a tool before) :eek:. A few months later Junior Team Leader.:eek: The next year i was team leader.:eek: :eek: In about 6 long months I will be at Ohio State University mentoring one of the teams that OSU helps. :) (i hope)

Some other strange ones from our team:
"I think I am in the wrong room" -Programming lead this year (his rookie year)
"I need to do something before practice" - helped quite a bit with build this year
"I heard you guys melt electronics, I could probably help." - someone who ended up joining

[waialua359]

This is easily the best thread this season.
Its great to hear about all of you.
As I read Al's story (Wildstang), I had coincidentally heard it from Andy Baker at the Hawaii regional as he was talking about Raul and Al this past weekend. Nothing but nice things to say......
I got to talk to Raul a lot at SVR where he was a ref for the matches. What a great competitor!

[Kimmeh]

A couple of my friends joined the team's rookie year (08). I almost did but eventually didn't due to transportation issues. Then the team makes it to Atlanta, I used to live about an hour from Atlanta. That was part of the reason for joining, but I'm glad that I did. (And we're not going to Atlanta. I love irony.) I'm bummed that I didn't find a way to join last year.

[ChristinaR]

I wish I had a great inspirational story (that's more like after I joined FIRST...), but I'll be honest - at the time, I figured it would look good for college. I knew a few people on the team, but they didn't have much to say about it. I went to the introductory presentation for students and parents, and my dad happened to be long time friends with the art team coach. I got the forms and the rest is history.
I'm waiting for the "What happened after you joined FIRST?" thread...:)

[andrew348]

My shop teacher (the main team mentor) brainwashed (well wouldn't stop talking about it until i joined) me into doing it.

[Brad Voracek]

I just kind of... Fell into it.

In '05 I watched Triple Play. Then I started high school, joined the team, and haven't looked back since.


I'm hooked.

[thefro526]

I Joined FIRST because it looked fun.

My Freshman year I joined 816. We were one of those teams that was just kind of "Meh". We never really were that awesome or great or anything but it was fun none the less. MY first FRC event was Duel on the Delaware 2005. It was awesome and perhaps one of my fondest FIRST memories, but I didn't really appreciate Triple Play for what it was. So, I was still kinda on the fence about the whole robotics thing.

I stayed in FIRST because of Vex.

One day in mid-October my Shop Teacher (head robotics mentor) asked me if I wanted to be on the Vex team. It was awesome and I was hooked. It was my first experience into the world of FIRST and I was baptized by Fire. I was the Freshman Captain of an all Senior and Junior team (except myself) and we were top 8 in our first competition. It was epic.

[mtaman02]

I joined in FIRST b/c it looked kind of cool when my H.S. was talking about their team.

I satyed in FIRST b/c to this day is still is cool and I enjoy seeing how creative kids can get AND I also enjoy using my time helping FIRST and seeing everyone happy and smiling =)

[Rabbit222]

I was forced to go to a meeting during the off-season of my freshman year. It was the Monday before the Ramp Riot Competition. And so when I got to the event, I saw robots beating the heck out of Rubbermaid boxes......AWESOME!!! I was hooked from that point. I had a very successful, and inspiring career in FIRST. I regret nothing!!

[jennifer_1547]

I got involved in FIRST because it was something different. I have never really been interested in anything mechanical but I thought i should try something new. I joined thinking I would just do it for a year because I thought I would totally dislike it. After going through the process I realized that I enjoyed it very much, and that I wanted to continue doing it. I met TONS of new people my first year and I experienced so many things which I wouldn't have experienced if it wasn't for joining my schools robotics team. I am now into my second year on the team and I'm enjoying every second of my experience! :)

[NorviewsVeteran]

FIRST has significantly and unexpectedly changed my life. =)

Welcome to the club:)

[Stephen Kowski]

I went to a meeting where they told me I got 3 days excused absence for each competition we went too, we were attending two that year

10 years later I'm starting to think I got the raw end of the deal....oh well ;)

[Katie_UPS]

I went to a meeting where they told me I got 3 days excused absence for each competition we went too, we were attending two that year

10 years later I'm starting to think I got the raw end of the deal....oh well ;)

While my sister had graduated and my brother continued the team, the other reason (besides seeing compitition) that I really wanted to go was missing school. My brother missed a bit (not alot, but enough) and I was jealous.

[EricH]

I never did get the missing school part... Just some rescheduled assignments. The good one was when my family took a 2-week road trip up the East Coast after Atlanta 2004, and when I came back (after missing a full chapter of science), I found I did one extra lab for said science class... Can you say "extra credit"?

Then again, that may have a lot to do with the school's structure. Somehow, I tended to get my robotics trips counted as field trips.

[Greg Peshek]

During 7th and 8th grade I built 12lb combat robots for local competitions. By myself, on my own dime, out of my own garage. When I got to high school I saw a flyer for a FIRST Robotics club. I went to the meeting and as soon as I found out I got to work with real drill presses, build a robot 10 x the size I was building now, and most importantly of all... get to build on someone else's money. I was in. Now I'm in my senior year and I get to use our machine shop and spare parts to build my robots along with building the FIRST robots. It's a great deal.

[fusionpitcher54]

Let's see.. it was this September when my math teacher came up to me and said "you are a ver smart girl and your talents should be put to use. This stuff is too easy for you." I then told him how he was seeing the wrong things and that really, I didn't need extra math homework. That was when robotics was suggested. I watched a few videos and the animation for 2008. I liked it and realized that this could be my place. Bribed with a few extra credit points in my coaches' classes, I joined and would do it even without the extra credit now:] I realized how many friends I could make and with people that all have the same interests as me:]

[synth3tk]

I was in a fairly new school since my family had just moved, I had no extra-curricular activities, and they had a not-so-convincing morning PA announcement about a robotics meeting. I like computers, figured I'd give it a try.

That was the best decision I've made during my HS years.

[shgshgshgshg]

My first robotic experience was a year ago. A friend of mine didn't want to go to the club, because she didn't know anyone who was in it, So i told her that I would go with her to the first meeting. That was my first robotic experience. At the time we only had one BEST team, and it lasted only one semester. I fell in love with robotics, and stayed on the team even though my friend wasn't able to make it. A year later we were doing BEST again, and midway through the BEST season we figured out we could get a grant from Boeing and just like that the FIRST team (original named the Jones's) was born. The Sunday after kickoff we decided to revise the team name and Identity and I suggested we change it to Mad ROC (short for madison robotics) Then we extended the roc to rockers for a clearer team identity. and just like that The Mad Rockers were born.

[robocritter250]

I was in 5th grade when FIRST changed my life.

My family was sitting at the dinner table eating, and my big brother uttered the phrase "Mom, Dad, there's this team at school and they build robots, and.. I think I want to join." Little did we know that this was a life altering statement for our ENTIRE family.

I was too young to be left home alone so I got to tag along. I hated it at first because I had no idea what was going on. Then I went to SBPLI in 2000, and it was so cool. I still had no idea what was going on but I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

I spent the next 3 years watching my parents mentor, and my brother build, going to competition after competition.

When I became a freshman, I "officially" joined the team, not that anybody knew the difference.

10 years later my parents are still mentoring, my brother and I have both come all the way through the program and we now both mentor, and volunteer at the Finger Lakes Regional.

I am grateful for the opportunity FIRST has given my family and me, to not only become closer as a unit, but to meet such amazing people and be involved in such a unique experience. With out FIRST I would have never had the opportunity to meet my best friend from team 103 and all of my other friends from around the world.

[Storcky]

I first heard about FIRST briefly mentioned at a student council meeting my freshman year and promptly forgot about it. Several weeks later, one of my best friends told me that she had gone to a meeting and that she was the only girl. She dragged me to the next meeting and I've been hooked ever since.

I was safety captain for all 4 years and then became one of the head student programmers. Now I'm at Bucknell University studying Computer Science and Engineering and hoping to start up a Lewisburg team soon!

[StephLee]

^^ I was the best friend that made Storcky join. :)

I was recruited by a teacher at my school. It sounded like fun, and I was a highly optimistic freshman; I was in way over my head but I just assumed I'd catch up eventually. I did, but I miss that optimism; I'm not sure where it went.

I was a coach for all four years, and I think that's what really got me hooked. It helped me develop into a much better communicator and leader, and was a large part of how I got to where I am now.

[DiehardCybercard]

I think I blame part of my interest in FIRST on lego. I always loved legos and when my parents found out about mindstorms they purchased one for me. back in my middle school years I was in boy scouts. The troop was made up of kids who were in the perry and southport areas of Indianapolis and the troop decided to make a field trip up to Purdue the last year I decided to stay in the troop. That year was Triple Play. When I watched the matches on that Saturday i fell in love.

By time I was a freshman the interest in robotics had had plenty of time to cultivate. I had no clue what FIRST was, no clue what it took to put a robot together, and no sense of what I was getting into. All I knew was that I liked watching them, and I wanted to put one together. When my school (1529) had an orientation like event for people interested, I was the first person to sign up to go.

From the day I went to my first meeting I've been loving it since.

I know know FIRST is much more than robots, but robots are what caught my interest. They are a great tool for learning and I am glad I am a part of a generation that has this opportunity.

[MishraArtificer]

I shall tell you a tale, a tale of good and evil, of light and darkness...or not...

Saw a few people working on a robot towards the end of the '03-'04 school year, while waiting for my chance to audition for Symphonic Band at Jefferson High School. Didn't get in, and completely forgot about my first encounter with FIRST.

One of my friends the following school year told me about The Team Formerly Known As Mach Vee, and invited me along to their first meeting of the year. We became TEMPEST Robotics that year, and Triple Play still has a place in my heart, sharing it with a lot of good memories. We all signed the robot that year, putting our names on the parts we worked on.

I still remember my first trip to the Great Lakes Regional. The second-to-last match of the event, Team HOT finally became the first team at the Regional to score a vision tetra on the center goal during autonomous mode, and the whole crowd in the Convocation Center went absolutely NUTS.

I've never looked back.

All these years later, I still try to go to events. I went to the GLR (cough, cough) Michigan State Championships, to show the flag even though my old team didn't qualify. My only regret in the whole of my first career is that I never got to drive the robot at a competition, not even an offseason one. Such is my fortune.

They took apart my robot this year, raiding it for parts. They let me take the piece with my name on it. I thank them for that, and I hope to see them all at MARC, if they're going. If not, I'll be there, in my Team 240 shirt. Or my button mail armor shirt. Maybe I'll finally fill up the ****ed thing.

Good Luck, All!

[ttldomination]

I was a young and eager freshman. I wanted to be in all of the clubs and I wanted to have a shirt for each club.

I like the Robolion's shirt the best so I chose to do robotics. :D.

Nah, out of honesty, i was determined to do as much as I can and over time i realized that robotics was simply too engaging for me to pass by.

And bam, 3 years later I lead an FTC team, i'm the VP for an FRC team, and i have a great network of peers.

[Katie_UPS]

:D

[Luckyfish05]

How did I get involved in FIRST? Well... Let me share...

First off, you have to understand. My parents are engineers, my grandfathers were engineers, my uncle is an engineers, and many of my guy friends are engineers. Oh yea, my brother's a physics major. Needless to say, me being me, I was bound and determine NOT to be an ENGINEER!

It was my senior year of high school, and my friends (most of them) had been involved for years. I, being a swimmer, didn't see the point of getting involved. I heard robotics competition, and thought what I'm sure most people think that don't know about FIRST, bunch of "geeks" tinkering over these machines and nothing exciting.

Well, then came physics class. I was stuck in a class of everyone being involved in PantherTech except for me and one other person. Physics was actually PantherTech with physics on the side. Watching match videos, getting on CD, and talking about robots, and thunderchickens and who knows what else. Then, all of my friends really started to push to get me to travel with them (I think for some reason that if I went the cost for everyone went down), and I caved.

First competition, music, triple-play matches with the Beast, meeting new people, dancing, and seeing GP in action....

Long story short.... I now bleed FIRST instead of blood. Joined for friends, and five years later, of those friends there are just two of us are still involved. I'm sure no one believed I would be one of those when I started five years ago.

[A-train]

Here is my story:

It all started back in 8th grade when my brother was a junior on the team. I was dragged along to the 2007 Midwest Regional thinking that it was just a big nerd fest. Turns out i was WAY wrong. The music, the team shirts, the game, the field, and lets not forget about the robots, were just awesome! Granted, I wasn't totally hooked because i really loved to run(still do). So, IRI rolls around and I'm brought along again. It was so amazing! I was hooked. My freshman year was awesome and this year was even better! Reasons: 2 regional wins and I was one of two Chairman's Speech presenters which helped win the Midwest Regional Chairman's Award. It was an honor.

And that is my story

[MrFixIt2719]

my story is pretty cool i think it was my freshman year and it was four months before kickoff for triple play 2005 and a mentor from team 240 came to ur school and was talking to some us kids in the engineering class we hold at the school and i was working on the lego robot and he came over and pithched the idea of FIRST and showed me some videos and then a month later we started 1528 so with only two months before kickoff, so we did some research and found out that our administartor was part of team 279 so he help out and we built a descent robot and i was voted drivier and was the drivier for the next three years and now graduated me and the new class advisor started rookie team 2719 and did pretty good with the in class school team so thats my story on how i got started and i have been loving it ever since

[AcesJames]

My story

Being only a Freshman now, I'm still learning why I joined FIRST. Basically, I've been a nerd for as long as I can remember. Everyone around me knows me as one, and it only came natural that when signups for our team came around, some of the people on the team asked me to join, specifically my neighbor, who is now a senior on the team. At first (no pun intended), I wasn't totally excited about the team. I really had no idea what was going on. I went through the shop, learning safety and wiring, and went to a few off season events, not quite knowing what was going on. For a while I was labeled battery boy, or cart kid.

Then at kickoff I got really interested. I analyzed the game animation, came to almost every build season meeting, and finally decided on a sub team, programming. At our first regional this year, I really still didn't quite know what was going on, but after staying up all night finishing the robot prior to our scrimmage, I knew what our robot did. Being a programmer, I stayed in the pits often with the rest of the sub team, and helped with a few things. Our only other programmers are 2 seniors, and another freshman like myself, so I suppose I was being prepped for the full load of code next year.

After the first regional we attended, I think I really understood what FIRST was about, and I fully understood the game, and alliance picking, and scouting. Robotics was not what it was back in October. I had grasped the meaning of FIRST, after hearing the guests speak at opening ceremonies. Our next regional happened much the same way, and then a week ago we left for nationals

I had a great time at the championships. I saw a lot of robots, and a lot of really compassionate teams, along with the best Dean Speech I've heard yet. I felt the excitement in the crowds, and in the pits as well. But then the season ended, and we came home to a shop littered with spare parts and old robots, and I began to think back on my first year in FIRST, and how it had changed my look upon robotics and technology as a whole. I got thinking about the next year, when our team would only have 2 seniors, and our entire drive team, head designer, and head programmers would be gone. Our graphic designer and safety captain, the "awkward couple", would be gone as well, the girl in that couple being the one who first pushed me into the team.

I've met some really cool people through FIRST, whether they be a mentor, a teacher, a student on the team, a random person at an event. I don't really know why I joined FIRST, but I know I'm glad I did

Boy...I write a pretty good 5 paragraph essay in 3 minutes. :yikes:

[MishraArtificer]

...and it was four months before kickoff for triple play 2005 and a mentor from team 240 came to ur school and was talking to some us kids in the engineering class

DO you remember offhand who that mentor was? If it WAS Triple Play (2005), it would have been Bill Geal, George Teriberi, or Dan Katanski.

[Katie_UPS]

I know I'm reviving my own dead thread, but I still like stories. :)

[jpmittins]

In my 8th grade year, I moved into my new school system. I went to a few Lego Robotics meetings, since my old school didn't have a team of any kind, but I didn't much like it.

Enter 9th grade. I went to the activities fair in the beginning of the year, and seeing the Aim High robot from 2006, I found it quite interesting. I went to a few meetings at the other school on my team, and they gave a few speeches about how important commitment was. That's probably the reason I became so involved in it (also, I didn't want to miss a meeting to hang out).

In 10th grade, I continued robotics, except now I was teaching new people. The same went for 11th grade this year, and next year I'm going to try even harder to up recruitment and involvement, so that the team stays alive and educated in the future.

[Mr. Pockets]

I had a friend whose brother and sister had both been part of robotics and he kept bugging me about how I had to be a part of it. I really didn't think about it a whole lot (I didn't think that i would have time for another activity especially one which he said had sessions everyday for six weeks :eek: ) I ended up picking up the flyer and coming to the school meeting (where interested people are supposed to come). I decided I would keep coming and it just kept getting more and more fun. By the time build season started going I couldn't have quit if I wanted to ^_^

[dbs12693x]

My brother saw a demo of the "Aim high" robot of my team and told me the school had a robotics club that made a robot which could play basketball.

Well, I didn't know much about robots (or at least NOW I know I didn't know much) but I thought it'd be the sort of thing I'm interested in.

I didn't think much of it at the first few meetings pre-season (I almost didn't come to kick-off) but it did interest me and I fit into a new crowd of people my freshman year of high school, which was a good motivator to stay there.

Now...gosh, I don't know what I'd do if I quit...maybe homework?

[alubin237]

Well for me it started in 8th grade when I joined the middle school FLL team. It was so much fun I knew I had to continue. Especially after I saw how cool the robots were. So I joined our high school’s team this year. From there it is just the same story as everyone else. This is my first FRC season that just past and I can’t wait till next season.

[Kmo]

OK so the way I got involved in FIRST was because of my mentor Mr. Lajvardi from Team 842 Falcon Robotics. My Freshmen year close to the end of the school year as I was looking through the scrapbook of the Falcon robotics Ledge suggested that I should join the team next year me and my friend Nilo. By my Sophomore year I became historian, the next year secretary, historian, electrical, and semi-builder. By my Senior year I became the driver and a builder.

I never knew about FIRST til my Sophomore year. I am proud to be part of FIRST.:D

[J93Wagner]

My 8th grade year was terrible. Bullies and what not kept on coming at me. For that reason, I decided I wanted to open enroll somewhere. A couple of days afterward, I saw an article in the local newspaper about an open house for an engineering charter school. So I told my parents about it and we ended up going to the open house. Afterward, I was SO enthusiastic that I decided I wanted to open enroll into the Appleton Area School District and Tesla Engineering Charter School. In fact, I mailed my application the next day. My parents hadn't seen me so happy in such a long time they decided to put up a lot of their time and effort taking me inbetween home and school which are about twenty minutes apart. When school finally started, I found out about Team 93 somewhere, I can't even remember where. And after the FIRST (pun intended) meeting, I was hooked, since that time I have been learning what was expected of a rookie, which isn't much except be on Inventor and learn that to help out the vets on the design team.

In effect, FIRST basically chose me. It has had a major impact on my life at school, at home, and at other places, all in a positive way.

[NorviewsVeteran]

In effect, FIRST basically chose me. It has had a major impact on my life at school, at home, and at other places, all in a positive way.

Yeah, it does that occasionally...:rolleyes:

[ExarKun666]

In the year of 2008 I got sucked into the vortex known as FIRST. My chemistry teacher just randomly came up to me one day, and said, hey we are starting a robotics team here at the high school would you be interested. She described it as a project that you work on with members from JPL. My thoughts back then were: "Oh cool I can work on robotics, and do the stuff that JPL does like the Mars rover". Which I now think is a weird first thought to have. We started the club with just four members, including myself and we moved to little robots (half of the size of those used in FTC games). After that another teacher came in and told us about a competition in January, and the entire team [since it was or Rookie Year] had no idea what was going on until the kickoff day hit, and then we were thrown into the mess not knowing really where to start. We had sign ups for who wanted to be on drive build, attachments, programming,strategy,ect..., and I choose programming, which was odd back then because I felt obligated to despite the fact, that back then I hated programming because the only thing I ever programmed was 3D video game, which was extremely frustrating. As the club grew, the programming part of the team started with six, by the end of the second week, I was the last one in the programming group, but I did not pull out. We had very little mentor help, and the entire team didn't have much, if any experience with engineering. Through persistence and determination we got to the LA Regionals that year, and won the Rookie All-Star Award, went to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia, and by that time we had grown to twenty members, we didn't win anything, but it was an incredible experience for our team! This second year we were placed 7th, and 6th seeded team. We didn't win any awards at the regionals, but this past second year was more of a learning experience to find out how to become a strong veteran team. I never regretting joining the club or just dropping out because of the lack of people in the club (in the beginning), and never wavered when it came to my tasks as the only programmer for the team for the past two years. Since I am a senior this past year I had to choose a replacement, which was the hardest thing to do, knowing that I was being replaced, and that I was leaving as a student competitor. On the brighter side, I do plan to come back and mentor when I can during college, and later on as well.

[Akash Rastogi]

My brother said I had to otherwise he'd beat me up.

True.

[flyingcrayons]

My brother said I had to otherwise he'd beat me up.

True.

well now your glad he made the threat arent you??

i joined FIRST unknowingly. when i joined robotics last year, i thought it was just a bunch of nerds getting together and building a robot for fun. then i heard a competition was coming up, and i got curious. i talked to a friend who was already on the team, and he explained the concept of FIRST. the first competition i went to was BE 6... i got a glimpse of rack n' roll... after that i was hooked, and proud of it!!

[galewind]

brunswick eruption --- getting people hooked on first since (at least) 2002 :)

[FRC4ME]

Back in 2003, I was homeschooled and was involved in very few activities, but I always had a passion for science, technology, and "the way things work." Anway, so one night I was watching the Discovery Channel and saw a documentary about this thing called FIRST Robotics. They followed three teams through the competition season. All I remember thinking is that it was really cool, and I would love to be involved some day, but I thought it was only for "that group" of super-elite young geniuses that I could never be a part of. Oh well. I quickly forgot about it and never thought I'd see anything about FIRST again. Being very young at the time, I didn't remember detials such as team numbers and such. I just remembered it was called FIRST, it was about robots, and the detailed rules to Stack Attack (not sure why I held onto those particular details).

Fast forward to 2007. FIRST had grown significantly. I moved, and my parents decided it was time to let me out into the world with public high school. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I heard about a local FIRST Robotics team. My mind went back to the Discovery Channel documentary from years ago. I didn't remember much, but I did remember that it was something I had liked and wanted to try. I decided to go to a meeting to check things out.

It is nerve-wracking to think of how close I was to not joining. I missed the official informational meeting at the beginning of the school year, and almost decided to just forget about the idea. Then, after going to a (rather boring) first meeting, I wondered if the program was worth 20+ hours/week of my time during this six-week period they called, "build season." In the end, though, I decided to stay and give the program a shot for one year. I now consider that to be the greatest decision of my life.

This past build season - my senior year and the last with my current team - couldn't have been a better cap. I got to see my team win its first ever Championship award - for the design of a component I was directly involved in creating. But perhaps the best part is, it took me until my senior year to realize that the team I was on - Team 339, "Kilroy" - was one of the three teams covered in the 2003 documentary. Yes, that very group of students and mentors I remember seeing on TV six years ago, wishing but never daring to believe that I could one day join their ranks, I am now a part of.

Needless to say, I no longer have doubts that anything is possible, no matter how unlikely. :)

[BrendanB]

Back in 2003, my brother got involved at Londonderry High School in founding team 1058 The Dragoons (Later renamed the PVC Pirates from their 2004 robot that resembled a pirate ship). I went to GSR with some other homeschooled friends and we started an FLL team that fall. I competed two more years after that in another FLL team and then took a break from FIRST in 2007 to take some computer and engineering classes at BAE. At that point, I didn't know if I desired to pursue engineering anymore and that was when my brother began to pester me to get involved with FRC as he saw that I would be good at it based on what he saw from mentoring my FLL teams. Some friends I had met through homeschooling recommended that I join Mechanical MAYHEM and I did for the 2008 season, and have stayed on.

Getting back into FIRST was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And now I am working to get my younger brothers involved with FLL.

[Katie_UPS]

My brother said I had to otherwise he'd beat me up.

True.


My siblings, on the team its rookie year, would prolly beat me up now for my contributions. Its crazy how they just thought of it as an "after school thing" and I see it as a lifestyle.

I reallly like the stories. :)

[Akash Rastogi]

Haha, well the first event that got me involved was PARC from 2000. It was just an awesome time with lots of big machines. I was hooked to FRC at the age of 8. Us doing well at the competition wanted me to get into robotics even more. We were finalists I think.

[JaneYoung]

But perhaps the best part is, it took me until my senior year to realize that the team I was on - Team 339, "Kilroy" - was one of the three teams covered in the 2003 documentary. Yes, that very group of students and mentors I remember seeing on TV six years ago, wishing but never daring to believe that I could one day join their ranks, I am now a part of.


This is a wonderful and incredible journey. You might consider sharing it with the FIRST marketing team. The link and information is here (http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=874). The wow factor for me is that you remembered the name, FIRST, and that you committed to trying it and stuck it out, ending up living the dream.

Amazing.

[Richard Wallace]

...Needless to say, I no longer have doubts that anything is possible, no matter how unlikely. :)FIRST runs on volunteers, and some say that means we don't get paid. But it isn't so. Stories like yours are the pay that keeps volunteers coming back, season after season. :)

[Jay H 237]

FIRST didn't exist at our high school when I graduated from there in 1995.

I did spend all my free periods and time after school hanging around the wood and metal shops working on projects. After I graduated I still kept in touch with some of the teachers. In 1998 the woodshop teacher decided to begin a FIRST team at the school. He had some students interested and was looking at getting some mentors together. Needless to say I found out about FIRST when I stopped in at the school one day and choose to become part of it. He was able to get enough people and support that Team 237 (Sie-H20-Bots) was formed in the fall of 1998 to compete in the FIRST's 1999 season that January.

I'm still with the team, one of the few original people from when the team was created. There was two seasons I missed many meetings due to work schedule changes but I like being part of the team and it gives me something to do for the winter months. I just hate traveling and only been to a few comps. ;) The build is more fun for me.

[David Brinza]

This is one of the best CD threads ever. Take the time to read the stories!

I blame my oldest son, Matt, for getting me hooked on FIRST (sound familiar, petek?)

At Matt's request, I attended the inaugural St. Louis Regional in 2002. After Bomb Squad emerged as regional winner, Matt asked me whether I'd go to "the Nats". I told him I couldn't, but somehow found myself at Epcot a few weeks later. That definitely was a life-changing experience. The energy in the pits, the open-air Einstein field and Zone Zeal was, like, Disneyland for me. As I roamed through the pits, I came across Team 980. It turns out their founding mentor, Robb Hogg, worked across the hall from my office at JPL. (Yes, I flew 2200 miles to make that connection!) Robb invited me to help mentor the team, and the rest is history.

A couple of follow-up notes:

Both of my sons graduated from Team 16, an outstanding organization. Matt received his BS in Computer Science from UCSB in 2007 and is "stuck" in Santa Barbara. Clayton, robot driver on Einstein in 2008, is now a business major with IT emphasis at Univ. of Arkansas.

I don't think I'll ever graduate from FIRST. Since 2003, I've inspected a couple hundred robots, taken over the reins for Team 980, helped form Team 2404 and, in my spare time, became an FTA.

For me, there's no exit strategy. Then again, FIRST pays me very well (just not in $$).

[delsaner]

I will be completely honest...

In middle school, I was very gullible and I believed the robotics stereotype. I did not join it in middle school, since I did not want to be considered a geek.

When freshman year came along in high school, I wanted to start an extra-curricular activity that would help me with engineering, since that is what I aspired to be (I am still aspired to be an engineer). I decided to join the robotics, wondering what it was like. Now that I have been on the robotics team, I was CLEARLY wrong about what robotics students were like. Robotics was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I still couldn't believe that I thought the robotics stereotype was true. I met some of my best friends through robotics. I definitely have a better chance of getting into college. I am so glad I decided to join FIRST robotics. I am a geek, and I am extremely proud of it.

-Eric

[Katie_UPS]

More stories?

[Joe Matt]

A kid down the street that my parents knew joined 384 as it started back in 2000, and upon finding out that my dad is an electrical engineer, he asked him if he could sponsor/mentor. My dad brought me to kick-off and the 2001 VCU competition. I joined my freshman year through senior year.

A significant part of my life just so happened to be based on happenstance, which is somewhat hopefully yet scarry.

[Aureanicole]

My older brother joined the team and had seemed to like it quite a bit. He can be hard to entertain, so I figured it had to be good. This was my 2nd season on the team, I love it, and am now a student leader. Not to mention I can say we held 1st in Galileo division while in Atlanta :D

[Chris is me]

My older brother joined the team and had seemed to like it quite a bit. He can be hard to entertain, so I figured it had to be good. This was my 2nd season on the team, I love it, and am now a student leader. Not to mention I can say we held 1st in Galileo division while in Atlanta :D

For about 20 minutes our team was first seed in Newton this year. If I recall correctly, we walked back from a win and the pit crew was applauding, then my mom showed me a picture she took on her camera. It didn't last long and we all knew once 1625, 1918, 2970 came back with wins we'd bump back down, but nonetheless, I can truthfully say I was the coach that got us to first seed in Atlanta :)

[Phoenix Spud]

I have always wanted to be an engineer, so FIRST was natural for me. Also I used to live in NH where FIRST is a BIG deal. Almost every high school has an FRC team, and every home schooler knows what FLL is! Also most home schoolers who like science/technology do FLL.

[Katie_UPS]

They say "be the change you wish to see". So I'm assuming this can be converted into "bump the thread you'd like to read".

Thus being said, I just justified my thread revival, and am requesting more stories. :)

[Boron + Z]

The transition summer between 8th grade and freshman year I saw a special on FIRST Robotics on the Science Channel. I remember watching the 2004 game, not understanding much, but thinking that it was so awesome. It's funny that three months later I was hooked on FIRST after a friend dragged me to a VEX robotics meeting. Four years of FIRST later and I'm completely addicted to the program and REALLY excited for IRI.

[Blue_Mist]

In 2005, 766, with 217(!) and 245(!), won Archimedes. A couple of months later, they realized they needed to recruit because much of the team was graduating, and visited my 8th grade science class. Christina, one of the founding members and the only girl there, mentioned needing anyone who was interested, not necessarily experienced. Later on, in fall of my freshman year at Club Rush, Christina invited me and two friends to the 2006 Kickoff. One sign-up sheet, four insane years, hundreds of hours and thousands of emails later, I'm coming back for more...

[jmanela]

heard a cool annoucement over the PA at my school and saw a robot (team 469's) from last the overdrive season and thought it was cool. ended up being the best experience. ever.

[rsisk]

My sister and her husband have been involved with First for many years, both judging and refereeing. They got my wife involved judging in LA for a couple of years, but I never really had a clue what they were doing. I just knew that she would head to LA for a couple of days and I would be at home with the kids on our own for the weekend.

Then she started a team, 2493 Robokong and I was to be the programming mentor for the team.... and then my life changed in strange and mysterious ways :>

Now we compete in San Diego, judge in LA and Phoenix and do field setup/teardown at all three regionals. We also made the trip to New Hampshire for kick off this last year. Next year we plan to go to Championship for the first time.

My only reget.... I didn't start sooner.

[Ken Leung]

My parents made me.

...

:D

[Richard Wallace]

My parents made me.

Four words? FOUR words?! Ken, is this your shortest post ever? :)

[JaneYoung]

Four words? FOUR words?! Ken, is this your shortest post ever? :)

This is not a good start to the day... I fear the world will tilt. More words are needed to bring it back in balance.

[Pavan Dave]

I never "joined" FIRST, nor do I plan on "joining" FIRST.

Robotics entered my life when some guy in class said I should join and I heard some fellow band kids talking about it. Rest is history. Joined team, got overly involved, grades dropped, banned from CD twice (by request of course), countless phone calls, countless hours of sleep lost, countless competitions ran and participated in, many games designed or impacted design of, soon to be board member of organization, many smiles and happy kids along the way, etc., etc.

I don't do FIRST, I do Robotics. At that I do Robotics Education. That means whatever it takes to get people to realize or acknowledge the effects of technology and stuff in their everyday lives and hope that it sticks.

Robotics = EARLY, BEST, VEX, GEAR, FLL, FRC, Botball, among others which will soon be released!

Pavan Davé

[demosthenes2k8]

I did our team's lego camp...and my classmates were the counselors. It was a bit awkward.....but it was fun, so it was worth it! Then after I finished that year's Shakespeare play, I searched for the FIRST team until I joined.

[kazzykaty]

My father knew the mentor of our school's robotics team and when I became a sophomore, my dad told me I had to join the robotics team. I didn't argue with my dad and just figured I would show up at a meeting here and there and hopefully lose credit & get kicked out. I dragged my best friend, Heather, to the first meeting.
We both slowly got more and more involved. We were good at getting the little things done that most people think are unimportant to the team and the guys wouldn't do. But they HAD to get done so we did them.
Before you knew it, we made the travel team.. maybe just because they needed to bring two more girls to fill a room. But before I knew it, I was project manager and had brought 6 additional girls to the team because of my passion for Team 223.
At first I thought it was just a stupid, geeky club. But now it's my entire life. I can't imagine life without FIRST robotics.

[Katie_UPS]

:D

[Kelsey Draus]

My mom told me that she was going to take me to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house, in Chicago. I fell asleep in the car, and when i woke up, we were at the UIC pavillion. My mom told me that we were just stopping by so that my brother could see some of the robotics competition that was going on. Needless to say, I was dragged into the competition to watch a few matches, after i walked around the pits I had decided that I wanted to be involved in FIRST. That year I helped out with my brother's FLL team quite a bit with their presentations and displays and little stuff like that. Later that summer I was recruited to help out with a robotics summer camp, because I was good with the little kids (most of the guys on the team weren't soo great). After meeting all the kids on the team at the camp and finding out that i didn't need any prior experience to join the team, by the end of the week, I was hooked on robotics. Now I don't even know what I would do without it :) It was even cooler to compete at the midwest competition, a year after when i saw it for the first time.

(also i should probably throw in there, my first year on the team i was the only one from St. Charles, and the only one from my school, batavia was the closest team around. it was really fun, so anyone who has issues with joining a team because they don't know anyone, you meet a gagillion new people who are probably way cooler than friends that you had before) :D

[xxjgdancexx]

I did not know of my robotics team until school registration for my freshman year in high school. I signed up, went to the first few meetings and i was hooked. I love the grunge work in gerneral such as cannibalizing old robots and then building the new one. Thats pretty much my story....can't wait till next season!!!! ^___^
P.S. I love the term "nerd" :D lolz

[exprg:melonhead]

went on a field trip to the 08 competition. i was, at the time, working on a couple robots for science olympiad. the competition for FIRST was way more fun, and i recognized a few friends on the team. i decided to grab my best buddy (how he got started) and talk to the robotics coach about joining. that was the best move of my life.

[Bethie42]

First I'd like to applaud the poster above this [kazzykaty]...the 'little stuff that the guys won't do' is very important to the success of a team...no food = no robot...no planning = no robot....no organization/logistics = no robot....ANYWAYS.

FIRST has been part of our family's life since 2002 when my dad [teacher at small private school] got, as he says, lured into FIRST...enticed by Dean Kamen's inventions....hehe. This resulted in him started a team at the school, and some years teaching/facilitating a robotics class.
As little-kid, I saw Dad come back late every night during build season, but didn't really know what it was about until 2006 when our team went on the road to the Sacramento regional. That was Step 1 on the path to robotics-addiction. I wish it were feasible to ship a big load of students to all our regionals, it would result in a lot of new recruits....

I sort of forgot about robotics until two years later [freshman] when, about two weeks before regionals, I got randomly recruited to be a scout [that was the year we had 5 people on the team]. I got completely hooked, although all through middle school and part of high school I hated math and never thought I'd do anything with engineering [now I enthuse over math and want to go into computer science].

The next year I was filming a movie in my spare time and wound up not doing much, except scout at competition....but now [2010] I am the most enthused person on the team, I believe. Going to Championships with another local team [as videographer] helped with that ;)

Next year we have only 3 students returning [graduating-genius problem] but I am more dedicated than ever....you know you're a FIRST junkie when you fill out an end-of-season NASA grant survey with endless praise for FIRST...sit back, and realize you meant every word.

I tend to view FIRST-the-organization with a jaundiced eye but [to quote another CD member] I'd still throw myself under a bus for FIRST-the-idea.

[carolyn]

I never wanted to be an engineer when I was younger, actually until sophomore year I was dead-set against becoming an engineer. I slowly became open to the idea of engineering by attending two free engineering camps over the past few summers. This past summer, many of the kids were on the topic of their robotics teams quite a few times, and I asked them to explain it to me. Once I had gotten the concept down, they really encouraged me to join a team when I got back home (thanks again Maddie from 2486, Nitesh from 461, and Hanne from 3006!). When home, I decided to start looking up teams in my area I could join. Surprisingly enough to me, although I had received several polite declinations due to school liability issues, I received many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the many teams willing to let me join as well! I chose to join team 348, Norwell Robotics, who were only 20 minutes away. As soon as I started attending meetings, I realized all of the fun I had missed out by only discovering the world of FIRST in my senior year. I decided to try and make this year count for all the year’s I had missed. At first it was a challenge because I didn’t know a single person on the team, but that quickly changed. After spending countless days and nights working on the robot this year and going to the WPI Regional and Championships, I know that I made one of the best choices of my life.

[MagiChau]

Mine isn't rally exciting. I saw the 2009 robot in 8th grade during a demonstration and said cool I want to build a robot next year. When there was an announcement on when the informative meeting I went and signed up.
I probably am going to make some new member's reason to join at FIRST(see what I did there? :O) is we have mountain dew xD bribery but it might get them addicted to FIRST and dew at the same time.

[lil'est lavery]

I've been exposed to FIRST for quite some time. It's difficult to remember exactly how it all happened.

[paragon571]

so my brother the team after they were honored at our board of ed meeting and he was there for unified sports and then i walked into orientation and mr moore our mentor said you are signing up and so my brother brought my dad and i brought my mom.

[pSYeNCe]

My story:

When I was eight years old I got my second robotics kit, a Robotics Invention System set by Lego. Inside, along with the Lego parts, was a pamphlet describing FIRST Lego League, and it made me interested in FIRST. I was hooked on the kit, of course, and I was on a Lego League team for 2 years once they got it in our school. And now here I am on a FRC team!

[rotolomi]

there was an FLL team in my middle school, but from the time I was 10-13 I couldn't care less. My dad (Don Rotolo (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/member.php?u=9487)) was (and still is) a mentor on the district robotics team and tried to get me to show interest. We built and programmed a Vex robot when I was 12 and I watched all of the team's competitions on the live webcast (even though I had no clue as to what was going on). Come freshman year, my dad tells me I should come to a meeting and I laughed- I was a cheerleader and I didn't think robotics would be ANY fun. Grudgingly, I attended a new members meeting and agreed to volunteer for Pascack Pandamonium, an off-season event we held that year. I had fun, but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to the team. Within the first week of build season, I found robotics after school to be the best part of my day. I made tons of new friends plus I was having a blast working on the mechanical subteam (wooo power tools! :D ). Now, robotics is definitely the best thing that's happened- I know what I want to do for the rest of my life, I made some of my closest friends, and I'm constantly exposed to new experiences that you just won't learn in a classroom.

[Garret]

I got involved with FIRST in 6th grade after seeing the Hart High school team's 2004 FRC Robot at my first FLL tournament. After seeing their robot I was hooked on robotics and have been involved every year since. I have since started FLL programs at my junior high, the local charter schools, and a homeschool team. I currently mentor FLL teams every year and am hoping to restart the FLL programs at the elementary schools where I first started. I joined FRC in 2008 by chance in that the Hart team ended up being dropped and picked at my highschool under the same team number. The Hart Team is now the Hart district robotics team and is currently composed of three highschools and we hope to grow again this year. I currently am one the Hartburn team leaders and have dragged my whole family into FIRST. My dad currently is now currently the lead mentor for Hartburn, my brother is the team president, and I am the mechanical lead.
FIRST has become the main thing I do and the thing people attribute me.

[Captain Slacker]

In the seventh grade my best friend and I used to record conversations before class every day. One of my favorite recordings started with me commenting on her orange and blue braces. Her reply was "YEAH! Paragon colors. I mean, I know it's totally a boy thing to do, but I think I wanna join. Arjun is on it now" I remember thinking she was crazy, mainly because I had no idea what she was talking about. Then, in ninth grade, she was talking about joining. I was hesitant because I knew that it was going to take up a lot of time. I decided to go to one meeting, and I'm so glad I did. I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere and the people who were just there to have a good time. I had never picked up a tool in my life, but one of the mentors immediately explained everything to me. He then went out to the car and got my mom, who was making calls for Girl Scouts. Bash At the Beach was just a few weeks later, and by that time we were absolutely hooked :D