[ratdude747]

Simply put, a coin toss.

When I was a freshman at Harrison High School, during activity period, I was kinda split between the robotics team's (1747) call out and a board game club's competing call out. It's a good thing the quarter landed heads up... or else I wouldn't be posting this (and I probably wouldn't be an EET Junior right now either).

It was odd as I was the only freshman that year. But the team took me in anyway. While it wasn't my only extra-curricular in my high school years, it was my favorite and honestly the only one that I could say was in any way a success (and a huge success too!). Band? I was a lousy tuba player at best. Last chair. Emphasis was on winning awards (contrary to the "student centered" claims made by the department). Hated it by the time I quit at the end of my Sophomore year. Tried a few other things, didn't like them. FRC? Tons of fun. The awards, including a 2010 dean's list nomination/semi-finalist that I am very grateful for (thanks HBR!), were icing on the cake.

But the best part for me? Portability. As fate would have it, my dad finally escaped a really lousy job and moved on to a much better federal job... but that also meant moving after my junior year. Luckily, yet another team, 2783, took me in. While there may be separate teams in FIRST, we truly are at the core a single connected community.

While a coin toss got me in the door, it's the awesomeness of FIRST that made me stay and keeps me involved to this day.