How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

(If this thread already exists, I apologize, I couldn't find it.)

I was just thinking about the tremendous impact FIRST has had on my life since I joined 811 over the summer. The people and the community are amazing, and the feeling of belonging I got at regionals and nationals just by walking around and talking to other teams was incredible. Before I joined my team it felt like there was something missing; and I filled it in with FIRST. It's been a fulfilling experience for me and has really changed my life.

What I want to know from you is what affect FIRST has had on your life and/or how it's changed you since you joined the FIRST community. Any input would be greatly appreciated..

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

Check this out

Impacts and whatnot from some of the most famous FIRSTers

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

Thanks!

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

The biggest impact of FIRST on my life so far has been that I'm actually considering a career in engineering. I'd never had any experience with building or engineering virtually anything before this season. I'm hooked now, and I can't wait to learn more.

FIRST has also caused my mom to worry about my sanity... :)

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

Ditto.....

FIRST has taught me to trust and rely on others because one person can't do everything.

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

That's so true.. You come together and work with people towards one common goal, while learning along the way- plus you get to build robots; act like a maniac, and no one can judge you for it because they're all doing it too! I love FIRST!!

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

In addition to the standard nerd pride, sense of belonging, inspiring role models, etc I got out of FIRST I was offered (and yesterday enthusiastically accepted) an internship at an unimaginably cool place: Aurora Flight Sciences. This summer I'll be writing code to munge data from this fully autonomus UAV. All because the president of said corporation was at VCU (he's the father of one of our sophmore members).

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

Congratulations, that looks really cool! Good luck!

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

i must say./.. . first taught me to apreciate knowledge. .and embrace it,,
also it provides me with a playground to explore my ideas in electronics and such.. ":D

Re: How has FIRST impacted your life?
 

That is so true with me also. I am so addicted to FIRST and it is absolutely awesome. My old life was so boring before this, now I actually have something constructive to do, lol. It is so wonderful being able to talk and become friends with other teams because they are nerds just like me who have a found a place to belong. It was also great making friends with the people on my team. We did pretty much live together for six weeks. I have also had the chance to learn so many new things, like new computer software, building a robot (obviously), and making a scrapbook. FIRST has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life.