Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

Well said James.

As a menor I wish I had FIRST when I was in high school / college.

I have learned so much from working with he "kids".

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

All right, I'm just going to try to jump into this without making it a thousand words lol. When I first joined, I was a freshman and a cheerleader... I had been taking piano lessons since I was four and vocal/performance lessons for a few years. By that time I had recorded a demo and my mentality was "why spend four years of time and a lot of money in college when I could be advancing my music career!?". I happened to have a study hall for a semester that year of high school and one of our mentors would ask me every day "So, want to be an engineer yet?". I would just shrug off the question. The Granite State Regional came around, and the answer was simply yes. I'm now in my senior year of high school, one of our two "co-CEO"s (like a president/captain) on our 65-student team, and going to Florida Institute of Technology next year with a FIRST scholarship for Aerospace Engineering. Why do I do FIRST now? To somehow, hopefully, allow what happened to me to happen to at least one other person. It doesn't mean making a person go into engineering, it's encouraging an environment where kids can learn what's fun for them and feel confident about their choices. Every day I come to FIRST and think "I want my job to be just like today's meeting... oh, wait! I'm going to be an engineer!" I also mentored an FLL team this year, and an 8th grader on the team e-mailed me when he found out about my scholarship (his dad's now a mentor on our FRC team) congratulating me and sent me a wonderful letter on how I've inspired him and he can't imagine not joining the team next year. He also said that I've inspired him to mentor an FLL team when he joins the FRC team too. I almost cried... there are ways to tell that I've helped others on the team over the last couple of years find their niche, but for this kid to flat out tell me that what I've done to him he wants to do to others was eye-opening for me. I do FIRST because I want what happened to me to happen to others, and I've kept on keeping on because it's working! As a side note, I also plan on mentoring an FRC team through college :).

Oh... and it's FUN! I've made so many friends not only on my team but on a lot of teams in the area. We still hang out with our friends from other teams that we've both won with and competed against :).

Well, so much for not a high word count!

-Gen

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

Cause my siblings did it and I was dragged to a regional*. I didn't join cause I wanted to build things- I wanted to write when I started high school. I joined cause the regional looked like fun.

They taught me to weld and the rest was history. :)

*To this day, my most prominent memory of the event is Wildstang's multi-colored fan section. Team parents and myself couldn't believe that a team could be that big.

Make her join. In the few relationships that I've been in, the best one was with another kid on the team. :P

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I've asked myself this a couple of times and not necessarily in good humor. I originally joined robotics because my brother wanted to and my mom didn't want to drive him across town unless I joined as well.

I'm not good with mathematics and science. I don't know how to code. I can be a bit of a priss.

But then I realized that I don't have to be good at math and science to be on the team. I don't have to know how to code. And being worried about getting messy is no fun when there's gluing to be done!!

I'm not the person who draws up the robot's design. I don't figure out which parts we'll need. I don't even understand some of the language used in building a robot.

But I love putting things together and taking them apart. I love building our practice course. I love the indescribable feeling of joy when the robot works, or when a difficult problem is resolved. I love going to competitions and cheering on the team, meeting new people, and knowing I'm a part of something far more important than any small-town sport. I love watching and videotaping competitions. And I absolutely adore feeling like I'm in a huge, worldwide, crazy, and absolutely fantastic family.

That's why I joined.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I do it to learn, I do it to teach others what I have learned, I do it to be a part of something bigger, I do it because I know it makes me better, and others better too, I do it for the mentors and for the students, I do it for the love of FIRST, and for all they have given me

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I know I have already posted a response, but I will add one final post. To all the above students who have taken the time to explain their reasons for joining, here is my answer. I do it for all the students who have made something of their lives & possibly played a part of.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

Why do I keep coming back? Many, many reasons.

As a teacher, there's nothing better than seeing students be successful, especially when they overcome a challenge through their own hard work and persistence. Being a part of an FRC team also provides an opportunity for them to learn coping skills when things don't go right, and also those sometimes elusive interpersonal skills. In other words, it gives the students real life experience that isn't always available in a traditional classroom setting.

I get to work with a truly amazing group of parents and mentors that also believe in the values of FIRST, and I'm grateful to them for working so hard to provide opportunities for the students to learn and excel. Their dedication inspires me to do what I can to keep this program going strong.

And of course it's fun! We laugh a lot, dance a lot, and have a blast at competitions. I've found the place where I can truly be myself. Some of the relationships we've made will last forever. And that's the best gift of all :)

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

From a student, even though you're not mentoring my team, that means so much!! 1073 will see Aces High if you come to Connecticut again :)

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I joined FIRST simply because when I heard about the robotics club at the freshmen orientation last year, I thought, "Well, cool. It's a robot that's working. That looks cool." I attended the first meeting for robotics, which was like after school on Tuesday. I missed a few meetings (because I was on the XC team also) by accident. The 2010 kickoff came around then. After the announcement of Breakaway, I was literally thrown into a frenzy that I wasn't aware about. 1529 then made the trip to DC, and that was when I knew where I was supposed to be.

The thing though was that from the beginning FIRST was very faaaaar back in my head. I had music and running going on for me at the time, and the last thing I needed to worry about robotics. I'm glad the Mom kept pushing me to go on Tuesdays.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I do this because there's nothing like taking a pile of metal, some sheets of plastic, and some wires, and transforming it into a robot, made with your blood, sweat, and tears. There's nothing like that 11 pm meeting the night before regionals (for you FRC'rs, the equivalent to ship date), rebuilding the robot again. There is nothing like going nuts over winning a match 11-10 against the second place team when you're currently ranked 49th in the 50 team division. There's nothing like seeing your team name up on the board in the running for the Inspire award (Chairman's award analog) and thinking: "no way, no way, it can't happen, there's no way, we're just a rookie team, our robot didn't move for 2 matches... OMG WE'RE GOING TO ATLANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: " And there's nothing like being in the middle of a massive crowd in the Georgiadome, doing the slow wave while watching a bunch of massive metal contraptions generally being awesome and knowing...it was worth all the late nights, the hard work, and all the madness....because THIS IS FIRST.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I do this because of the jokes. The fun times when its late at night and we all want to just keep going. I do it so I can remember the funny things me and my friends would do. I do it because the team is my family. I do it because when I wake up in the morning I have something to look forward to. But I mainly do it because of the people, not just my team, but all the people I meet at competitions.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

Aces High will be there. I will be a volunteer on the field as the FTAA. Stop by & say hi.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

This. Exactly this.

Re: Why do we do this anyway?
 

I feel I have learned more about myself, leadership, and engineering in the past 4 years on this team than I could have in any courses at the high school. I went from a freshman who knew almost nothing about mechanical systems to a captain calculating gearbox ratios, designing robot frames, custom gearboxes and passing on my electrical and pneumatic knowledge to other students.

I have met many great people at competitions and through Chief Delphi that I hope will be friends for a lifetime. Despite still being a student is makes me proud to see the impact I make on students who come in with entirely different aspirations.

And the pride I get in seeing what I have put so many hours into run (good or bad on the field). Those who commented on blood, sweat, and tears; that really applies to me, I am pretty sure I managed to bust up my knuckles at the very least on every robot usually resulting in a little blood on it.