Team Specific Questions:
1. What is your team name and number?
Kinetic Knights - Team 781
2. Where is your team from?
Kincardine, Ontario, Canada
3. What is the gender break down of your team? Specifically regarding:
Overall: 72% Male 28% Female
A. Team Leadership: 33% Male 67% Female
Mentors? 67% Male 33% Female
B. Drive Team: All male
C. Pit Crew: Again, all male (due to not enough females to provide a female student room on pit crew)
4. Have you dealt with or seen a gender bias on your team? Please explain.
Not that I can remember. The only bias that I can really comment on is the fact that we don't have enough females on our build team with enough dedication to create the demand for a "female pit crew room" at our hotels that we stay at for competitions. Although the number of females building this year has increased and I'm hoping will continue to increase next year so that our team can offer said females a position on our pit crew.
Family Life Questions:
1. What is your gender? Male
2. What are your parents’ jobs/careers? both were engineers in the Canadian nuclear industry
3. What is your career/your spouse’s career? (If applicable) Student
4. Do you have brothers and/or sisters? What are their hobbies/jobs? I do not (only child)
5. Roughly describe your childhood: (i.e. who did you spend time with, what types of toys did you play with) an assortment of friends, computers, video games and lego
Person Specific Questions:
1. Why did you join robotics? Recruited by a friend when I entered high school
2. Why do you think that there are so few women working in science and technology fields?
Historical impact of Man>Women (not true, but once believed) maybe?
3. What do you do on your team? I do an assortment of tasks on the team, everything from organizing our highschool ROBOTICS COURSE, building the robot, minibot, etc. Basically everything except CAD and Awards. I am head scout this year so that is my primary job (in addition to organizing our team trips)
4. What are your post high school aspirations? (Include college majors etc)
I have narrowed my interests down to the following: Science, Engineering or Aviation (What do you expect from a FIRST student?)
I would like to either major in Physics and further specialize from there or continue my training as a young pilot to further my endorsements and liscenses. (Currently a recreational pilot, might end up as a commercial
)
I just recently started considering the option of Engineering. I have not explored it enough but it is becoming increasingly interesting.
5. Have you considered going into a science or technology field? Why or why not?
Haha, read my answer to number 4. Why do I want to go into a field of science? Because a long time ago (grade nine) I discovered it as a interest to which I have unlimited time for. Put simply, I love it and that is why. To answer why I love it would take far too much time though.
6. Have you ever been discouraged about your career aspirations? By whom? (Relation and gender, no names please)
I have many times been discouraged about my aspirations. I feel that the majority of these discouragements were internal to myself and just something I must get past. In terms of being discouraged by other people, many times but, who cares what other people think right? It's what's inside that counts etc. etc.
