Back at my first FRC event (an offseason of Breakaway in the fall of my Freshman year), I remember looking around at all the different robots. I knew nothing of the schools, the robots themselves, or engineering. However even with all the robots on the field, I always kept my eyes on the little blue machine that seemed to score a lot. I had no idea who they were (or that the numbers on the bumpers meant that I was looking at a Hall of Fame and future World Champion team), but I just thought their robot was the coolest thing ever. I looked at their robot, and then back at ours, and asked "Why can't we do that"? Of course, my mentors at the time bitterly told me they always won because "they had more resources than us", but I was determined that by the time I graduated we could make a robot like theirs, and maybe even win an event. So I went to work doing research. I looked at this team's website, studying how they ran their team. I joined an online community of people who also competed in the competition my team did and tried to learn as much as I could (although I admit in the beginning I posted a bit too frequently).

As the year passed on and my Sophomore year came. I continued learning and passing the knowledge onto my team to make our robots even more amazing. My goal that year was to do what our mentors said only the teams with lots of funding did: Make a second robot for practice. I knew it would be tough for us, but nothing good ever came easily. Not only did I convince the mentors to build a practice bot, but we even experimented with a new material and a custom frame, both of which worked wonders for us. After our last regional event of the season, I was inspired by the professionalism of our 2-number younger neighboring team, and wanted to then change the attitude of my team. Not gonna lie, when I started, 256 was of the group of teams who said "We're not going to win anyways because the other teams have lots of money". My involvement in Chief Delphi and the friends I gained through it taught me otherwise. Since then, our team has definitely changed its attitude towards the elite teams (albeit a little problem person here or there....).

Since my Freshman year, 256 has definitely changed a lot, and will continue to change. The ball has started rolling, and it's gaining momentum. I honestly think 2013 is going to be the best year for us yet. In the words if Karthik, we are chasing perfection, hopefully catching excellence on the way.