Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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. :)

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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 $$).

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

More stories?

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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 :)

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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. :)

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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...

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

My parents made me.

...

:D

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

:D

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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!

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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) 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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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.

Re: Why did you join FIRST?
 

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