things you got to do because of first
 

just wondering what other people have been exposed to and done besides just attend competitions

My team has so far displayed our 2005 robot at a trade show, attended Fabtec trade show at McCormick place Chicago, and one of our sponsors is sending me and some other members to their annual trade show in LAS VEGAS yayy :p

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Got to spend an evening at Dean Kamens "WestWind" home (kickoff event) with about 2,000 of the coolest engineers and industry leaders in the country.

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Outside of meeting a bunch of cool or crazy (or both) people, my involvement with FIRST led me to getting a job last summer (via a post on Delphi, of all things), and it's helped me make some sense of the classes I take as a business student. (Believe it or not, FIRST teams and businesses share more than a few traits.)

It's also made me realize how much I enjoy travel--I've been everywhere from three blocks down the road to Maine to Florida (twice) to Georgia to New Hampshire. (And someday I'm gonna make it to IRI, lest the midwest think I'm snubbing them :P )

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Jump in car after an eight hour day of work and drive ten straight hours to Indiana without tellling your wife (well OK, I told her but she was 2000 miles away on an island so she couldn't do anything about it. It'll be interesting if I can pull it off this year). :rolleyes:

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I was offered (and enthusiastically accepted) a job here. I've been invited back this summer, and they are our team's main sponsor now as well, so everything has come full circle.

Re: things you got to do because of first
 

I'm on the same team and I'm going to Las Vegas too. And the same company thats sending us also hired me to make promotional videos for them.
I Finlay get to do professional work for a client! Who knows whats going to happen after that. Maybe 10 other companies will come knocking at my door asking for promo videos. :D

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FIRST isn't the only contributor, but it helped me get an internship at NASA over the summer, and sure as heck helped me get into my top college...with a scholarship!

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From our knowledge with FIRST control systems we entered an ROV competition and won...take that MIT!!! I got enough scholarships to continue my education without paying for anything and I'll have some pocket money....and I figured out what I want to do for the rest of my life..

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I read the article about you guys in WIRED... awesome! Where are you planning on going to school?

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Every job that I've had to date has been in some way because of FIRST.

And I'm talking some good jobs - Environmental Tectonics Corp., SAIC, DARPA...

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i got to hang around school and had to get admin privledges to use the easyC and other robotics related software... its awesome

and i got to do vex and totally make the best ball harvester in the land

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Well, for me, FIRST has been the main extracurricular activity, i spend so many hours on FIRST my 3 year old brother forgets my name sometimes.

Anyways, i have a question though, how do you guys apply to the summer internships or get jobs in a company over the summer?

I'm currently a junior in high school, the NASA internships were all for college students or students living near Goddard. My team doesnt have any sponsor at all, we raised the money the same way as last year--by asking local businesses one by one, our school district is really unsupportive. Our team name doesnt bear the name of our high school but the Yolo County who gave us some money.

Any tips in finding a good sponsor for our FIRST team? We're at Sacramento, CA, not a lot of tech business there that might support us i think.

Any help appreciated

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In a word Networking and not the computer kind....

networking with people.... to get a job you need to meet the right people, ask questions, and market and sell "YOURSELF", if the company that is hiring (read this as the person in that role) does not understand you, or what your skills and experince and talents are, then you won't get an offer.....

but the first step is to network with lots of people to find out about all the opportunities that are out there.... and then chase them down!

YMHO, but is also is what works for me :)

--Mike

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When it comes to schools and school districts, most are reluctant to shell out thousands of dollars for a group of twenty students at first. (No pun intended). When our team first started in 1999, we was told that if we would last at least successive seven years, then we would be considered a permanent part of our school district. This will be our eighth year in FIRST, and now, our town's Board of Education is now one of our two biggest sponsors.

Just last week, someone "from the top in downtown" had a contractor come in and wire 480 volt electricity for our lathe and milling machine in our new private machine room. We we told this was going to be a $8000 job, and it was donated to us for free. So good things come to those who wait. :cool:

Try to get your team as much attention as possible. Just keep at it. Keep trying to get media attention in every way possible. Try to get lots of articles in school newspapers/websites/announcements/etc. Go out into the community often - bring your robot - and promote FIRST. The more exposure your team gets, the better. Get your students psyched about FIRST. Aspire to win awards at competitions. Have fun. Make cool DVDs of your team during the build season and competitions. Send these out to schools and companies to show them how much fun you really have.

Eventually all these little things will come back to help you. As your team continues to mature and grow and expand, your school district will recognize how much of an impact you are having. They will soon recognize that FIRST is really amazing, and is something that they can be really proud of. It is at this point that you will finally get generous support from your school. ;)

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program... ;)

Re: things you got to do because of first
 

How do u guys go about finding these things for your robotics teams? The only thing my robotics team has done due to FIRST is go to the lego robotics. I would really appreciate any help with finding activities for my robotics team to do besides build and go to competitions.

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I've been interviewed on one of our local t.v. channels as well as our whole build season being filmed by PBS... it's pretty cool

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One of the things I got to do because of FIRST was over the summer when a bunch of students on the team got to go to a training course for technicians of Allison Transmissions. It was called All Products Familiarization. In this we all got to see the factory workings and even a hybrid transmission for buses. This was one of the coolest things I got to do because Cyber Blue 234 has Allison Transmissions as a sponsor.

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Last year as a rookie team one of my teammates and I drove two hours to meet with an animatronics expert
....he ended up being an invaluable resource because he pretty much taught us all about pneumatics and how they could be implemented not only in our design but in the real world
....he also had tons of toys to show off :D ( a full size raptor that could move and talk)

Another would have to been the times when we went to companies in the area that decided to donate metal to use and we ended up getting tours of their factory and learning how their product is made :)

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Bingo on the networking answer. At a competition event, there are TONS of very important people present. Listen to the judges being introduced...an awful lot are CEOs, vice-presidents, and managers. Strike up a conversation and you'd be surprised at the opportunities that are presented.

For your first internship - and especially if you are still in high school - don't expect to get paid much if at all. You don't do internships for cash (although if you do a good job, it will start to pour in; I'm making a respectable wage for doing robotics/control systems programming all day!).

So to sum it up, find someone important and talk - don't be afraid to ask about their company and inquire about internship positions. Don't beg and grovel, but if you can make it apparent that you will be able to help a company out, they will quickly bring you in if they can. Still, some (mostly larger) companies have a more formal college-only (sometimes graduate-level only) internship policy. But it never hurts to ask.

After all, for what the average intern makes, the company is making off like a bandit :D

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One thing I got was access to cool software I always wanted but never could get my hand on. I was using the 30 day demo of milkshape and loved it yet it ran out, started using Blender but wasn’t a fan of it, then I started using MED. Which also stunk, finally I joined robotics and hopped on the animation team and scored a copy of 3ds. To say the least I've gotten better. Also this proved to my parents that 3d modeling wasn’t some hobby and that it can be turned into a career.

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I got to have my head shaved on Good Morning America.

I got to meet three Governors of NJ on three different occasions

I got to learn a lot of new stuff totally outside my area of expertise (biological/geological science)

I got a first name relationship with the Hawaiian shirt manufacturers in Honolulu

I got to torment hundreds of kids around the country and have them keep coming back for more....

Working with FIRST has opened a number of doors for me as a teacher and hopefully I've held the doors open for others who come after me.

wc :cool:

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Well, besides the obvious things like going to atlanta, building a robot (cool enough in and of itself!), and etc...

I was featured in Philadelphia Magazine...

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I met Dean Kamen. :)

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Met Dean and the Governor of NY.

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I have gotten to go to a medical devices convention (and meet dean)

-vivek

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got to spend some great time with my son:)

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FIRST got me a summer internship at FANUC robotics and pretty much locked my interest into a mechanical engineering career.

Also, because of our FIRST display at the MI State Fair this year, I got to personally meet Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan.

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FIRST got me interested in mechatronics engineering, and helped me get into my first pick university with a scholarship.

It also got me a sweet co-op job at General Motors along with the opportunity to mentor Team 1503.

Also because of FIRST, I got to travel to a lot of cool places like Disney World, ride a Segway for the first time, and meet a lot of great people.

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I've been able to meet the celebrities of FIRST; Dean, Woodie, Dave, the list goes on and on. I've met people all over this country through this forum, and in person. I've been able to overcome great shyness and actually speak in front of a roomful of people (although I am still not comfortable with it). I've become the director of an organization of wonderful mentors. I've had the opportunity to escort VIPs around events and explain the magic of FIRST.

(And I echo the suggestion about talking with the judges if you can. And don't forget that if someone is bringing a VIP through the pits and you have an opportunity to say a few things about how FIRST has impacted you, DO IT! The anecdotes in this thread are some of the things that will impress VIPs more than anything an Ambassador could relate.)

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Aside from meeting all the amazing people, I've been thrust into public speaking often enough that it's almost second nature, been to more major cities than I would otherwise have been to, re-directed my career path, and discovered what I'm truely passionate about.

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Met some pretty high up people in the California Government and an internship with Northrop Grumman that is 3 years running.

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we got into a satellite factory!

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To many to count.
Probably the most memorable is Meeting VP of GM
Most *cant speak in Public* Is when a few of us on the team got the nickname "Lockdown Crew"

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I got a job thanks to my involvement in First. It also allowed me to met some really cool people.

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Met new friends from Israel thanks to FIRST(and I'm hoping to getting to meet some friends from out of Israel too :D ).

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One of the coolest things I've gotten to do due to FIRST was to meet and talk with Steve Wozniak.

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I flew on a plane for the first time, was on TV three or four times, met awesome people and have seen a number of guys through hissy fits when the robot doesn't move. :D