[DUCKIE]

I don't know the final count of our team at the moment... but it is really depressing when you have twelve girls at the September Kick-off meeting... and by the January kick-off there are only three. Since I am now a College Mentor on the team I have been trying my darnedest to keep as many girls as i can in the program.

[I apologize now that this will be a long post.]

I noticed quite a few people have mentioned that the guys on a team can be intimidating... and i wont deny it... It is especially true with MOE because as we have taken to saying this year -> "Welcome to the Cult!" <- because we are so tightly knit, we all wear the same colors, and we do the MOE chant at random times.

I personally am slow to warm-up to new situations, and FIRST was definitely a new "situation." I spent my first year on the team doing PR, Videography, and Mascot with Gwen. Lucky me got to wear the original uppet for three days straight in the Florida Sun. There were like 6 girls on the team my first year, I honestly don't remember what they did... but all i did or knew about the robot that year was I helped spray-paint some parts... and get high on the fumes..., what the grippers and wings did, what a robot should not do during a match, and that we won nationals.

My second year i was SO ready to work on the robot and wanted to be on Pit or Competition team. I took the initiative and started almost religiously following "Lou the Pit Lord" around the first meeting... and REALLY paid attention to the Machine Shop Training and Tutorials. I volunteered to help build our swanky pit just after Christmas, and got used to working on the machines, with our Machinist, and got to know the other guys who i was working with a LOT better. I worked on the Mechanical sub-team under Lou; working on the goal pushers (which we took off during the first competition. nothing like making two difficult pieces... and never getting to use them. I got to keep one though.) I don't think any one was as excited as me when i was voted onto the pit crew. (the first girl to do so if i remember right.) I also was voted co-captain that year. And won one of the ASME scholarships at nationals. A very swanky year for me... even though MOE-Hawk came off the field in pieces after EVERY match!

Last year i did not do as much... since it was hard to commute sometimes... and college work/classes in general. I did make the mascot again though. I hope to do more work with the robot again this year along with taking photos.

It just goes to show that Girls CAN do anything they set their minds to. They don't HAVE to settle for the lower jobs if they don't want them. I try to tell all the girls on the team now that "If there are a bunch of guys working on something... don't be afraid to elbow your way in and find what they are doing, and help."

I do have to give kudos to the guys on MOE though. They are pretty comfortable having a girl in there working with them... i hope other teams are as accepting of girls doing more than PR.