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Unread 27-01-2017, 02:09
Ekcrbe's Avatar
Ekcrbe Ekcrbe is online now
MIssin' the MItten
AKA: Erik Boyle
FRC #4640 (Metallic Panthers)
Team Role: College Student
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Rookie Year: 2012
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 336
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Re: Why do you FIRST?

Anyone who knows me knows first and foremost, I'm competitive and a big sports fan, plus I like problem solving. Those are in line with the FIRST experience, but they barely scratch the surface.

FIRST meant the world to me in high school, and it still does. I found a great community of like-minded friends. It set me on an amazing path to pursuing a major where I'm excited to go to class, studying at a school where I had never imagined I'd go. It took me from being a smart kid in middle school who liked getting good grades but didn't really feel a calling to a confident engineering student—capable of understanding failure, but never satisfied without success—ready to take on the world.

I continue with FIRST because I want it to become as important to someone I mentor as it has become to me ever since I first walked in the door to my high school's shop five and a half years ago. I see the power of FIRST as a life-changing program because I've felt it. It's so integral to who I am that it stings only being able to go to one competition per year (maybe two this time!). I still itch for kickoff and for competition, and from time to time I roll around impossible ideas about how I could maybe make it back for hometown Detroit champs next year.

Above and beyond it all is the unbelievable atmosphere FIRST maintains even at its size. FIRST reports to have around 400,000 students involved, meaning that, including parents, mentors and coaches, and volunteers, there are likely somewhere near three quarters of a million people under the FIRST tent, and yet the community still upholds the highest standards of character no matter where you go. I don't know of any other organization that can stop FIRST from cornering the market on the best people in the world.
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Four years of FRC 68 Truck Town Thunder
2012 Championship Newton Division Finalists—Thanks 330 and 639 for the Full Court Press!
2013 Kettering University District Chairman's Award Winners!
2014 Great Lakes Bay Region District Winners—Thanks 288, 4819, and 5166! | 2014 Waterford District Chairman's Award Winners! | 2014 Michigan FRC State Championship Chairman's Award Winners—Congratulations 33 and 503!
2015 Center Line District Chairman's Award Winners! | 2015 Lansing District Winners—Thanks 314 and 1684! | 2015 FIRST in Michigan District Championship Chairman's Award Winners—Congratulations 503 and 2137!


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