[Aaron Lussier]

This is the essay that is hopefully gonna get me into either Wentworth, RIT, or Clarkson
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If you had told me four years ago that I would be building a robot to compete against other robots in an educational competition, I never would have believed you. Most of my High School career I have been on my high school’s F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) team. Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and I-Bot, started F.I.R.S.T; I believe that because of F.I.R.S.T. my life has been changed forever. I’ve learned that if I put my mind to it I can do anything.

My very first day on the team I knew nothing about robots or any of that mechanical stuff, but days became weeks, weeks became months, and months became years. Over this time I have learned many things about my self, such as my public speaking skills and my outgoing personality. The development of these skills got me chosen as presenter for most of the demos that we conducted with our robot. Some of the demos took place at the Boston Museum of Science, where sometimes I would be talking in front of +200 people.

During the six week build season the team had to build the robots I realized what a commitment I had to my self to finish jobs and to the team to finish the robots it self. When the second year rolled around I was given many more responsibilities on the team such as: Student Representative, PR Director, Student Coach and Student Pit Lead. All of these positions I had to work on at one time or another, some time all at the same time. During competitions I had to keep the pit in order, talk to other team making our robot look good, and when our matches came up going out with the team to tell them what to do with the robot strategy wise. During my second year I also had to deal with many other things pertaining to the team such as School switches and advisor changes.

From my years being on the FIRST team I have learned that to be true to your self is to be true to everybody else. If I can take what I learned from the team and apply it to College I believe that I can be a Deans list winner and go on to do many things in the field of my choosing.